CH 744

There was a clear difference between NPCs and players. For players, Athenae was still a game at the end of the day. Even if they died, they would only be forced to log out and receive huge penalties.

But what about the NPCs? If they died, it was real death. Since NPCS faced the threat of real death, fear would often grip them tightly when it came to perilous situations. The same was true for Don and the Swords of the Gods. No matter how proud and arrogant they were, it would be a lie if they said that they did not fear death.

However, having sworn loyalty to His Majesty Nerva, Knight Commander Don had a heavy sense of duty. As long as it was ordered, he would give his all to complete his duties.

They had initially estimated the level of the weakened Great Spirit to be at Level 720. Now that it had gone berserk, all their estimations had been thrown out of the window.

‘I’m sure the Beyond the Heavens’ King can make excellent buffed dishes.’

‘He also has a variety of artifacts.’

However, the problem lay elsewhere. The Beyond the Heavens’ King had just used a cauldron lid to stop the Great Spirit’s Roar. They had to join hands with him. But the Luvien Empire was practically the entire continent’s enemy. On the other hand, the Beyond the Heavens’ King was a foreigner. He was different from them, who had to fight to survive. Even if he died, he would just come back to life.

The Swords of the Gods looked at each other. Even Knight Commander Don found it hard to bring the matter up. But for Knight Commander Don, his sense of duty was higher than his desire to live. He wanted to complete the mission more than anybody else.

Then, Minhyuk, who put his now-heated cauldron lid back into his inventory, turned to them and said, “It seems like we have to cooperate, yea? What do you guys think?”

“…”

“…”

They wondered if the Luvien Empire was truly the enemy of the entire continent after seeing Minhyuk ask them for cooperation without any hesitation. They just could not believe that Minhyuk would ask something like that of them so easily.

“You don’t like my suggestion? But, I think I really need your help.”

Knight Commander Don thought for a moment before asking, “Will that be really alright with you?”

“What’s there to consider? I already knew that this place might turn out to be far more dangerous than what I originally thought. Based on your reactions, I can tell that you already knew about this place and it has somehow become much harder to deal with than what you expected, no?”

“Then, it’s fine.”

Although they agreed, the Swords of the Gods felt like their pride had taken a huge hit. Somehow, it was as if they had been led by the nose by the man in front of them.

Knight Commander Don and the Swords of the Gods knew that Minhyuk was strong. However, the Swords of the Gods that participated here were at the 1st~5th ranks and were known to be the best of the best. Basically, they were leagues beyond the Swords of the Gods that Minhyuk had dealt with so far.

The 1st-ranked Swords of the God Beloch said, “Your Majesty Minhyuk, please stay at the rear. We’ll do the hunting. I think it’s better for Your Majesty to assist us with your dishes and support us with your cauldron lid at the appropriate time, or when you think that we’re in danger. After all, we’ll be in huge trouble if something happens to Your Majesty.”

To put it simply: Don’t disturb us and stay behind.

Basically, Minhyuk’s strength did not leave any lasting impression on the 1st~5th ranked Swords of the Gods. However, they knew that they would be able to receive support from him with his cooking skills and excellent supplies.

“Then, I’ll do that.”

Minhyuk was also curious about the Swords of the Gods and how they would act comfortably. After all, he had only heard about them before. Besides, he also really wanted to reach Level 600 as fast as possible.

Not long after, a set of notifications rang in his ears.

[A fragment of the Great Spirit that guards Mandala’s Prison has appeared!]

[The Great Spirit, including his fragments, is a special being that does not drop any artifact or gold. Instead, he gives enormous amounts of EXP.]

‘Ho?’

Then, at that moment, the Great Spirit’s fragment appeared in front of Knight Commander Don.

[Great Spirit’s Fragment. Level 674.]

“…?”

Minhyuk felt himself choke on his breath for a moment when he saw the Great Spirit’s Fragment’s level.

The Great Spirit’s Fragment was walking on two feet and looked quite similar to a man. However, his body, which was equipped with rusty armor and a sword, looked like it had melted down.

‘Shit, this is crazy. An ordinary mob’s level is around Level 670?!’

However, the shock did not end there.

[Because of the Great Spirit turning berserk, all of the Great Spirit’s Fragments will have a 10% increase in power.]

“…”

In other words, the fragment in front of them could now wield a force that was almost on par with a Level 730 being. Fortunately, there was only one in front of them.

“Bastard!” Accompanied by a loud warcry, the Great Spirit’s Fragment made a move.

“…!”

“…!”

The Swords of the Gods were startled by the fragment’s surprisingly fast speed. In just an instant, the Great Spirit’s Fragment closed the gap and appeared in front of Knight Commander Don, his rusty sword already swinging down on Don’s chest.

Search "pawread dot com" for the original.

Knight Commander Don easily avoided the attack, his sword moving skillfully as he aimed an attack of his own back at the fragment.

Creak, creak, creak, creak—

“…?”

The sound that rang when his sword met with the melted flesh was not the sound of flesh being cut off, but the sound of metal being grated. There was not even a hint of scratch left on the bastard’s neck when they separated.

Beloch, the first ranked Sword of the Gods, immediately moved and swung his sword down, slashing down on the fragment’s back.

Baaaaaaaaaaang—

Unfortunately, only a loud bang could be heard. From what they could see, the fragment did not even sustain any damage from the attack. Even though that was the case, the Swords of the Gods were seasoned veterans. The five of them immediately surrounded the fragment, restraining him and stopping him from releasing another attack.

The second ranked Sword of the Gods, Luma, was the Sword of the Gods that used a katana. Swinging his katana five times per second, he moved to cut down his opponent.

Clang, clang, clang, clang! Fwooooosh—!

At long last, rotting blood spurted out from the fragment’s body. But at the same time, the speed at which the blood poured out of the Great Spirit’s Fragment’s body began to speed up.

[Great Spirit’s Fragment’s Madness.]

[The Great Spirit’s Fragment saw blood. His movement speed will increase by 20% and he will launch consecutive indiscriminate attacks.]

[The amount of damage that the Great Spirit’s Fragment will incur will double.]

Slash, slash, slash, slash!

The fragment literally fell into madness as he started pressuring and attacking the fifth ranked Sword of the Gods Revor. He did not even care about the attacks that fell on him. Even if his body got torn apart and got cuts all over, he just continued to charge at Revor. Just when his sword was about to finally cut Revor down, a man appeared in front of Revor and cut off the fragment’s head.

Shiiiiiiing—

Thump—

Roll, roll—

[You have gained 93,315,461 EXP.]

[You have acquired Great Spirit’s Fragment(1).]

“That was a close one.”

“Ah, Your Majesty.”

The man was none other than Minhyuk. In fact, he could not help but be shocked deep inside after he beheaded the Great Spirit’s Fragment.

‘Crazy! It’s giving this much EXP?’

The amount of EXP was insane.

“It’s dangerous, Your Majesty,” Don voiced his concerns.

Minhyuk immediately got to using his glib tongue to wrap things up properly. “Well, the Great Spirit’s Fragment seemed like it's about to die and this friend seems like he’s in danger. Didn’t you say that before? To help when appropriate?”

In fact, what he was saying was only half correct. Minhyuk had stepped in because he was curious about the EXP that the Great Spirit’s Fragment would give. In any case, that amount of EXP would not help the growth of the Swords of the Gods so it would be better if he could just devour all the EXP himself. Basically, what Minhyuk did was to reap all of the EXP with just one sword strike.

‘In just a single blow…?’

‘Ah, it’s because we have brought the fragment to the brink of death.’

That was what the Swords of the Gods judged. Anyway, they pushed the thought aside and began to dive deeper into the prison and faced a steady stream of Great Spirit’s Fragments. Every time they triggered the ‘Great Spirit’s Fragment’s Madness’, someone would get pushed back.

‘The amount of damage that he would receive would double once his madness is activated. After around 13~16 attacks, I can kill him with a single blow.’

Minhyuk did some calculations, and stepped in whenever the Swords of the Gods would almost finish the fragment’s hunt.

Stab—

[You have gained 93,315,461 EXP.]

[You have acquired Great Spirit’s Fragment(1).]

Slash—

[You have gained 93,315,461 EXP.]

[You have acquired Great Spirit’s Fragment(1).]

Minhyuk took advantage of the situation by stepping forward at an appropriate time, taking the last hit and devouring the EXP. It was only possible with his thorough calculations.

But after this happened dozens of times, Beloch finally voiced his assumption. “Perhaps the Beyond the Heavens’ King can check the enemy’s status?”

“If that’s the case, then are you saying that he’s killing the enemy with just one strike because he can accurately tell when they’re about to die?”

That was a plausible reasoning. Otherwise, it could only be explained by the fact that he could deal a tremendous amount of damage that he could cut down his enemies in one strike. That was less likely.

“That’s very narrow-minded and cowardly.”

“From what I heard, foreigners can grow stronger by acquiring EXP.”

“What a weak king. He can only resort to such underhand methods.”

The Luvien Empire only acknowledged the strength of the Beyond the Heavens’ NPCs like Brod, Spear God Ben, God of Snakes Elizabeth, Evil God Obren and the likes. As for Minhyuk, who was in front of them, they thought that he was nothing but a weak and shabby king.

“Enough,” Knight Commander Don spoke coldly upon hearing the insults and curses they uttered toward Minhyuk. “We will also be receiving help from his dishes soon. Anyway, we aren’t able to get that EXP, so it should not matter to us what he does.”

The Swords of the Gods shut their mouths at his words. At the same time, this thought flashed in their heads: If the Beyond the Heavens King was as useless as they thought he was, then distrust in him would grow.

As they ventured deeper into the prison, the surroundings became darker and darker. One of the Swords of the Gods tried to use a lamp in the pitch black darkness that surrounded them.

[You cannot use a lamp.]

“…We have to be careful.”

Everyone held their breaths. Everything around them was pitch black. They could not see an inch ahead of them and could only rely on their hearing to move forward. At that moment, a set of notifications rang in their ears.

[You have entered the Tomb of the Fragments.]

[Dozens of Great Spirit’s Fragments have moved to attack the intruders!]

[Most potions will only have ⅕ effectiveness inside the Tomb of Fragments.]

“…?”

Minhyuk was the first to realize something was wrong after hearing the notifications in his ears. The next was Knight Commander Don. He saw around eighty eye balls blink in the darkness.

“…Dodge!!!”

At Don’s cry, several lights flashed and lit up the area as dozens of Great Spirit’s Fragments appeared in front of them. It was a complete, utter disaster. No matter how strong Knight Commander Don and the Swords of the Gods were, it would still be too difficult for them to deal with almost forty Great Spirit’s Fragments at once.

“We’ve been lured to a narrow place to be killed off one by one! Damn it!” Don’s face turned ugly. He could see that the narrow pathways had already been filled with several Great Spirit’s Fragments.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

Just like that, they were besieged by countless attacks. All they could do was move constantly while trying to find a way to break out of the situation. However, the constant attacks had given them cuts, stabs and scratches all over their bodies. Someone was stabbed in the arm, someone in their thighs, while some had their abdomens pierced through.

“Keuaaaaaaack!”

“Aaaaaaaaaack!”

“Heuuuup!”

“Don’t lose concentration! Gather here!”

Everyone gathered in one place at the cry of Knight Commander Don.

“Release your sword energies,” Don commanded as he released sword lights and attacked the enemies that surrounded them.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

Hundreds of sword lights flew all over the narrow space that they were trapped in. However, that was a complete error in judgment. While their attacks did reach their opponents, the problem was that they could only restrain them for a moment. Everyone, including Knight Commander Don, had consumed their mana yet their opponents did not die at all.

The worst part was when the opponent saw blood, they would be consumed by bloodlust, losing their reason all the while increasing their speed by 20% as they charged forward.

Knight Commander Don stepped forward to defend against their attacks, his body spurting blood as he received severe injuries from the indiscriminate attacks that the opponents sent his way.

“Does anyone have any mana left?!”

“We don’t have anymore left.”

“I’m sorry. Haa… haa…”

Everyone could tell that there would be at least two Swords of the Gods that would fall in this place if things continued at this rate.

“Me.”

At that moment, a man wearing a white cape that bore the symbol of a fork and knife crossed together stepped in front of Knight Commander Don. At the same time, black flames appeared and licked the blade of Minhyuk’s sword.

Minhyuk had received several Memorize Parchments from Golden Mage Ali. What was Memorize? It was a parchment created by high-ranking mages that contained their magic. And one of them was a useful skill for such a situation.

“Compress.”

Shwaaaaaaaaaa—

The men that had been running crazily all over the place to avoid the attacks were instantly gathered in one place. But that was not the end.

“Summon Beanie.”

“Oiiiiiiiink!”

Minhyuk also summoned Beanie in front of him.

Crackleeee—

Of course, black flames were also crackling on the blade of Beanie’s kitchen knife.

Minhyuk attacked first, his sword engulfed in black flames slashing whatever was in front of him.

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang—

Blazing flames shot forward and swept away the enemies in front of Minhyuk. Then, Beanie immediately stood in front of Minhyuk and unleashed a similar attack.

“Oiiiiiiiiiink!”

Two seas of blazing flames devoured the nearly forty Great Spirit’s Fragments that surrounded them.

[You have gained 93,315,461 EXP.]

[You have acquired Great Spirit’s Fragment(1).]

[You have gained 83,450,100 EXP.]

[You have acquired Great Spirit’s Fragment(1).]

[You have gained 89,644,689 EXP.]

[You have acquired Great Spirit’s Fragment(1).]

[…EXP.]

[…EXP.]

[You have leveled up.]

The black flames devoured the Great Spirit’s Fragments, turning them into dust that disappeared in the wind. When the black flames were finally extinguished, Minhyuk turned to look back at them with a bright smile on his face and said, “At this rate, it’s not me that should stay behind and send support but you, right?”

His sharp words and smiling demeanor made them speechless.