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The entire world was left reeling in shock. The players were left speechless as they watched the Argaon Continent, the Taiwanese Server, turn into tens of thousands of kilometers of wasteland. Life for most people came to a halt, as countless kingdoms and empires collapsed. Everything then fell under the control of the Luvien Empire, and it was all done under the name of ‘alliance’ and ‘protection’.
Of course, this was mostly the case for NPCs. As for players, they did not suffer any damage even after the other kingdoms and empires allied with the Luvien Empire. In fact, it might have been for the better for them since the players could freely enter the ‘Luvien Empire’ under the banner of an alliance.
In any case, Nerva Sephiroth had sent diplomats to each of the kings and emperors in the Argaon Continent. However, the Argaon Continent’s emperors and kings denied Nerva Sephiroth’s diplomats and their call for an alliance.
The current situation was the result of that.
[Eventually, the two empires and five kingdoms of Argaon Continent ended up being allied with the Luvien Empire.]
[The NPC casualties alone are said to have reached around 25 million.]
[Nerva Sephiroth is an unstoppable tyrant.]
[This is like the tale of the 2nd Athenae. Will the players be able to fight against Nerva Sephiroth?]
Many trembled at the might that Nerva Sephiroth had shown. At the same time, their interest and attention were pointed to one specific topic.
[Which continent will Nerva Sephiroth invade next?]
[I think it will be China’s Cairon Continent, right? Cairon Continent is much larger than the combined servers of America, Japan and Taiwan.]
[It should definitely be Cairon Continent. It’s the continent with the largest population of NPCs and would pose a great threat to Nerva. If he invades Cairon, he will be able to gain a lot.]
A lot of them mentioned the Cairon Continent. However, they were wrong. Right now, several diplomats had been sent to the two emperors and several kings of Asgan Continent.
The diplomats of the Luvien Empire came bearing gifts containing a tremendous amount of jewelry, gold and silver. However, the letter from Nerva Sephiroth that the diplomats brought was close to an ‘Imperial Edict’. In other words, while Nerva Sephiroth was promoting friendship on the surface, he was practically admonishing Empress Ellie and Emperor Asvon.
Ellie read the bullshit that was sent to her while Marquis Rand, the diplomat sent by the Luvien Empire, was prostrating on the ground. Marquis Rand thought, ‘His Majesty sees Ellie as the biggest obstacle to his quest of unifying the continents.’
She was the person considered to be the closest in becoming the ‘Continental Emperor’. In fact, even the operators of Joy Co. Ltd. consider her to be the one that would become the Continental Emperor. That was why she was the Absolute Supreme NPC, Continental Emperor Ellie.
‘However. Ellie will eventually be forced to kneel in front of His Majesty. Her army is no match for His Majesty’s army.’
“Listen here, diplomat.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
Ellie squinted at the letter in her hands, as if she had not read what was written inside properly, “I can’t tell if I’m getting old or your emperor just has a bad handwriting.”
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“…?!”
Marquis Rand felt fury and anger wash over him when he heard Ellie’s words. How dare the woman in front of her speak ill of his emperor, right?
“How impertinent! How dare you say that to the one bestowed by the blessings of the Battle God, His Majesty Nerva Sephiroth…!”
“Hey.”
“…”
“Do you want to get a beating, huh?”
“…?!”
Marquis Rand could not hide how flustered he was when he heard those words. There was a noble and majestic aura flowing around her. Her figure, as she sat there with a sword in her embrace and looked down at Rand, was emitting a beautiful yet mysterious air. The words that she said were vulgar and coarse. However…
“…”
…sweat had already started to drip down from Marquis Rand’s forehead.
“Do you think anyone will say anything if I kill you now?”
“…”
“Hey. Kill that bastard.”
“…”
Marquis Rand was fully aware of the greatness and majesty of Nerva Sephiroth, who descended to this place under the command of the Battle God, but now…
“I deserve to die! Your Majesty, I made a mistake…”
“You deserve to die?”
“…Spare me! Your Majesty, spare me! I have made a mistake!!!”
Right now, Luvien’s diplomat, a person that no other king or emperor dared to treat carelessly, was at a complete loss.
Ellie rose from her seat. She looked at him coldly and said, “Tell this to your emperor.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
“The Eivelis Empire has no intention of listening to your bullshit. From what I could barely decipher from his worm-like handwriting, it seems that there’s a part that said, ‘If you don’t fulfill this then’… Ah, whatever. Tell him to send his dogs to bark this bullshit in someone else’s house.”
“…!”
“That’s all I have to say. Go now.”
“…”
Marquis Rand fled the Eivelis Empire like a fugitive. After Rand ran out, Ellie went out to the ramparts and looked down at the entirety of Eivelis Empire. She knew that many people would suffer if she accepted the things written in that letter. Her people would be forced into slavery while their young would be shamed and disgraced, pointed at by the children of the Luvien Empire.
Nerva Sephiroth was not yet completely done with his preparations.
“Ruth.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“I believe we should meet with the Collodis Empire’s Asvon and the kings of each kingdom right now.”
“I understand.”
Now, the Absolute Supreme NPC, Continental Emperor Ellie was about to make her full and complete appearance.
At the same time, in Joy Co. Ltd.
Everyone was watching the scene while President Kang Taehoon felt a blazing heat light up in his heart.
“The only person that can borrow and utilize the power of all of the kings and emperors of Asgan Continent.”
She was also the person that would unite all of the continents in the world in the future. ‘Absolute Monarch’ Richard was just a player. So, the only one that could possibly stop Nerva Sephiroth was Continental Emperor Ellie.
However, according to the scenario that Joy Co. Ltd. and Supercomputer Athenae had expected…
“Eivelis Empire will be destroyed in two weeks.”
That was right. Ellie would unite the world only after the fall of Eivelis Empire.
***
Minhyuk summoned Hanwoo and cleared the God of Shield’s Gate in just twelve seconds.
[Rewards will be given based on your phenomenal attack completion rate.]
[You have acquired 1,000 platinum.]
[Because of your phenomenal attack completion rate, you will be able to acquire an additional 1,000 platinum.]
[You have acquired the God of Shield’s ‘God of Shield’s Wall’ parchment.]
[You can acquire the God of Shield’s ‘Sealed God of Shields’.]
‘Can acquire?’ Minhyuk thought, tilting his head in confusion. ‘Can acquire’ and ‘have acquired’ were two completely different concepts. Then, immediately after that…
[You will receive special benefits if you achieve another phenomenal attack completion rate in your next Gate’s Trial.]
[If you achieve an attack completion rate of 80% or higher for three consecutive Gates, your ‘wish’ will be granted by the three Gods wholeheartedly.]
[However, if you succeed in challenging the three Gates, you will not receive any other rewards.]
“…Hmm.”
This was a gamble. Fortunately, the detailed information of the Sealed God of Shields was available for Minhyuk to peruse. After checking the details, Minhyuk rubbed his chin in thought. As expected, the shield was amazing. Although it was sealed, the moment that seal got lifted, the shield would be able to produce God-class power, perhaps even more.
However, there was just one thing. None of the executives of Beyond the Heavens used the shield as their main weapon.
At that moment, Bichor, who was sniffing his dog paws, said, “You can either choose to get the reward, or choose to challenge yourself and gain even better rewards.” Then, he licked his paws and continued, “Fufufufufufu. What choice will you make, you uncivilized human?”
Bichor kept on licking his paws, not feeling any kind of pressure at all. Minhyuk just looked at Bichor softly and thought, ‘Perhaps the best reward in the Abyss is…’
Perhaps it was something that was close by. Also…
[According to the quest given by Arlene, you have acquired the ‘foreleg’ and the ‘hindleg’ of the pig that Arlene carefully raised herself.]
Arlene had decided that she would give Minhyuk cooking ingredients whenever he cleared a gate in the Abyss. After receiving the ingredients, Minhyuk smiled happily and thought, ‘Let’s see, the dish for this will be…’
Minhyuk decided to make a Jokbal Set.
Forty minutes later, Minhyuk finished making his spicy and fiery jokbal and ordinary jokbal set, the dishes perfectly arranged on a table. The setup was complete with some ssamjang, garlic, Cheongyang peppers, lettuce, perilla leaves, white kimchi and dried radish leaves and many more side dishes.
“Fufufufu. Savage and weak human,” Bichor, who was gasping at the food that was set in front of Minhyuk, called out gloomily to Minhyuk, “give me a bit of the bones…”
“Alright. I will give you the bones, Bichor. However, in exchange, you have to tell me your story.”
Anyway, Minhyuk would eat all of the meat off the bone anyway.
“Fufufufu. You want to hear this great one’s story in exchange for the bones? Good. Let’s do it like that.”
“…?”
Bichor started talking while Minhyuk ate his jokbal, “So, I’m telling you… woof woof, arf arf, whine, whine.”
Minhyuk smiled happily as he listened to the story. Then, he started mixing the tray noodles. The red sauce of the tray noodles perfectly covered the finely chopped cabbage and lettuce, creating a delicious cacophony of flavors.
Only after mixing did he place a piece of the thinly sliced jokbal in his mouth. The chewy texture and the slightly bland flavor of the jokbal lingered in Minhyuk’s mouth. The more he chewed, the wider his smile became. Then, Minhyuk dipped a piece in ssamjang before placing it in his mouth. The saltiness of the ssamjang meshed perfectly with the jokbal and danced around in his mouth.
This time, he gently placed a perilla leaf on the palm of his hand before placing two pieces of jokbal on top of it. Then, he added some dried radish, white kimchi, some garlic dipped in ssamjang, and some spicy pepper.
“Fufufufufufu, human. You really know how to eat… gulp…”
Minhyuk wrapped everything and pushed everything into his mouth. The scent of the perilla leaves tickled his nose as the various flavors of the ingredients danced around in his mouth. After that, he took a sip of the dongchimi that was covered with a thin layer of ice, allowing the clean and refreshing flavor to wash his taste buds.
“Kghhk…”
A sigh of admiration immediately flowed out from Minhyuk’s mouth. This time, Minhyuk’s attention turned towards the tray noodles that was right beside the jokbal. Holding his chopstick, Minhyuk clamped a piece of jokbal meat together with a mouthful of tray noodles, and placed them in his mouth.
‘Aaaaaah. This tastes just like the combination of bibimmyeon and samgyeopsal.’
The chewy texture of jokbal added a splendid charm to the spicy and sour flavor of the tray noodles. Then, Minhyuk turned to the spicy jokbal. He clamped a piece and immediately placed it in his mouth.
“Ho~”
Minhyuk hurriedly huffed and puffed as he tried to breathe the heat out of his mouth. Then, he grabbed a can of cold cider and gulped it down.
“Kghhk… Amazing.”
“…Hiiing, hiiiiing…”
“Continue with your story…”
“A, anyway…”
Next, Minhyuk made a lettuce wrap. He placed two pieces of jokbal, some garlic dipped in ssamjang, some Cheongyang peppers, white kimchi and dried radish on top of the lettuce, wrapped everything together and placed it in his mouth. The crunchy and fresh texture of the lettuce greeted his mouth which was immediately followed by a festival of flavors. After eating his jokbal set just like that, Minhyuk grabbed the jokbal bones and cleaned the meat off of it, leaving no trace of it behind.
“Chew, chew, chew.”
“Haa… haa… haa…” Bichor panted, his round and well-groomed tail shaking vigorously.
To cap off his meal, Minhyuk gulped a can of cool, refreshing cider once again.
“Gulp, gulp, gulp. Kyahaaa!!!”
After that, Minhyuk threw the big jokbal bone to Bichor. As for Bichor? He immediately jumped on the bone and chomped on it, his rounded tail shaking left and right from delight.
Minhyuk, who had listened to Bichor’s story while eating his jokbal set, thought, ‘Yeah. That’s what I thought.’, his mind was completely made up.
[You have chosen to give up the Sealed God of Shields and try to achieve an attack completion rate of more than 80% on three consecutive Gates!]
Another set of notifications rang with that.
[You have eaten Jokbal.]
[You have acquired a 0.5% permanent increase in all of your stats.]
As expected of an ingredient from Arlene, Minhyuk had received a shocking permanent increase in his stats just by eating it.
Minhyuk looked at Bichor, who looked crazy as he chomped on the large pig’s feet bones, and thought, ‘If I’m going to choose, I think the best reward in the Abyss is you, Bichon. It’s you.’
Bichor tilted his head when he saw Minhyuk looking at him. He said, “Fufu, weak human. Is this your first time seeing someone eat a pig’s foot?”
Minhyuk did not answer him and chose to ask the question that he was most curious about, “I have a question. Who’s grooming your hair?”
“Fufufufufufufu. It’s because I’m a great being,” Bichor said, jumping to his feet and taking something out. And the thing that he took out? It was none other than a dog brush. Then, using the brush, Bichor brushed his thick and tangled fur. He even brushed his round white tail carefully.
“Amazing… I have never seen a dog groom himself…”
“…”
Minhyuk looked at Bichor and thought that he was truly a very amazing bichon.