They could not help but feel flustered, after all, this was something completely unexpected. However, Buckle smiled deeply and said, “That looks like a lot of artifacts, right?”

Minhyuk might be stronger than what they assumed, and the greatsword he summoned might be unusual, but he was still at a much lower level than them. That was why they believed that he was only relying on the power of his artifacts in this fight. They were four against one Minhyuk. Therefore, Buckle believed that they were more than enough.

[Buckle: Javin, go in front of him! Body slam him!]

[Javin: Yes!]

Javin was also brimming with excitement. There was a chance that he would drop that greatsword. She quickly stepped forward.

[Silver Golem’s Blessings]

[Your defense will double.]

Javin readied her sword and inched forward with a coy smile on her face. The artifact that she was currently using was a unique artifact that focused solely on defense. It had no other special abilities, except for having an increase of 500 in defense. When she added her skills on top of that, it would not be difficult for her to break through the defenses of a Level 400 ranker.

Flash!

Minhyuk smiled at them.

“You’re laughing?” Buckle asked, thinking that Minhyuk must have lost his mind.

In response, Minhyuk used ‘Step’ again, taking two steps back before slamming his greatsword into the ground.

“Blooming Sword.”

Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam━

Sword blades suddenly rose from the ground. The fastest of them, Barlong, instinctively threw himself away to avoid the danger. The same went for Buckle. However, Javin and the mage Leo, were not so lucky. The lower half of their bodies were penetrated by the swords.

“F*cker...?” Javin mumbled to herself. However, at that exact same moment...

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

…the sword blades exploded.

“Kyaaaaaaaaak!”

“Keuheoook!” 

Buckle was knocked backwards from the aftermath of the explosion.

‘Sh…shit...!’ 

There was definitely a 60-level difference between them. Yet, they were flabbergasted and wondering how the hell did this happen. Then, Buckle saw something more shocking. His HP had been cut down by 20%. He was fortunate that he was able to escape the heart of the explosion, but he was sure that had he been caught, he would have been forced to log out. In fact, the mage, Leo, had already dropped his gray staff after being forced to log out. Even their tanker, Javin, looked like she was in danger of being forced to log out, despite having used her skill that raised her defense.

“Ugh!” Javin groaned as she vomited a mouthful of blood and collapsed.

Barlong’s eyes narrowed dangerously when he saw this scene. Buckle hurriedly whispered instructions to Barlong.

[Buckle: This is unexpected. He has an AOE skill. But the punk’s using a greatsword. That sword is huge, long, and heavy, so his swing speed should be slower than regular swords. He also won’t be able to use both of his hands. We can kill him with your speed and my cooperation.]

[Barlong: Yes!]

Barlong’s eyes glinted sharply. Assassins were usually quick when they were attacking. He would use that to his advantage and drive the punk into a corner.

Vwoooooong!

Barlong turned on the spot and disappeared like smoke. Then, in a blink of an eye, he appeared behind Minhyuk. As soon as he moved, Buckle ran straight towards Minhyuk. He swung his ax high up. He was also in the warrior class, but he was more focused on his speed.

Sheeeeeeeeeek!

Barlong’s black dagger swung at Minhyuk’s neck. Minhyuk turned around and...

Clang!

Buckle smiled wickedly and thought, ‘Your back is defenseless. Moron!’

However, at that moment…

Claaaang!

…a creature suddenly squeezed out of a small opening in space and slapped his axe away.

“A…a pig?”

It was literally a pig. A baby pig had blocked Buckle’s ax with a spatula, effectively defending Minhyuk’s back. Then, he bursted out laughing from the sheer absurdity of the situation, “This crazy pig bastard...!”

“Oink!”

Buckle swung his ax in quick succession. However, what happened next truly did not make any sense at all.

Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!

The little pig that was only as big as his fist moved swiftly, protecting Minhyuk’s back from Buckle’s attacks. It even pushed him back.

Grin━

Buckle could see a smile curling up at the corners of the pig’s mouth. It was obviously mocking him.

“What, this...”

Buckle could not help but feel astonished and confused after being ridiculed by a pig. Then, Beanie’s eyes widened in shock, his eyes trained at a spot behind Buckle.

“Oink...!”

Beanie’s pupils shook in trepidation as if he was frightened deeply.

‘I…is there something behind me...?’

A pig had already popped out of nowhere, so it was entirely possible for something else to pop out from behind him. Buckle slowly turned his head around, only to find that there was nothing behind him.

“Huh?”

At that moment, Minhyuk had blocked Barlong’s attack and turned around to slash at Buckle.

Slash!

‘Nice catch!’

It was the fantastic chemistry between Minhyuk and Beanie. In other words, Buckle was completely tricked and hooked by the pig, Beanie.

“Keoheok!”

Buckle was pushed back by the force of the strike. When he turned to look at his HP, almost 40% of it was gone in just an instant.

‘I…impossible!’

Then, he heard a notification.

[You have received a strong impact. You will be subjected to severe nausea and dizziness for four seconds.]

Buckle’s vision started to turn blurry as his vision swarmed. However, despite his blurred vision, he was still able to see the sword that Minhyuk wielded against Barlong. It was truly a shocking sight to behold.

‘Am I seeing things right now?’

Buckle had only felt fear and terror once when he was playing Athenae. That was during the time when his Guild Master, Crone, became angry.  Right now, he felt fear once again.

‘H…how can he swing his greatsword like that?’

Minhyuk was blocking all of the dagger attacks that Barlong was launching at him, with tremendous speed. No, it was more like he had an overwhelming advantage in speed. Then, Barlong finally succeeded in landing an attack on Minhyuk’s back. However, instead of flesh ripping apart, a suspicious sound was heard.

Clang!

‘Clang?’

The same thought flashed through Buckle and Barlong’s heads. Then, the rapier slowly vanished, only to be replaced with a ‘frying pan’.

“...!”

“...!”

Barlong and Buckle both knew that Barlong’s strikes had an additional 200% attack power in the event of a successful attack. That was why they believed that Minhyuk would not be able to defend his attacks. However, the opposite had happened. This meant that the frying pan was unusual. Furthermore, there was only one player who carried a frying pan like that!

“F…Frying Pan Killer?”

Minhyuk took advantage of the gap and used his skill, leaving an afterimage behind as he slashed at Barlong.

Slash!

“Keoheok!” Barlong shrieked in pain as he hugged his body while staggering backwards.

At this moment, Buckle realized that he did not have the capacity to worry about others. That was because the third fear of his life was currently approaching him.

“Oink,” Beanie, the mysterious pig, called out as it smiled wickedly at Buckle. Beanie slowly smacked the spatula on his left hand in a menacing manner, before smacking Buckle on the head. Beanie was taking advantage of the fact that Buckle could not move because of his dizziness.

“Oink! Oink! Oink! Oink! Oink! Oiiiiiiink!”

Slap, slap, slap, slap, slap, slap!

“Keok, heok! Ack! Kkeok, ugh, aack!”

[Your head has been hit continuously, you will experience dizziness.]

[Your dizziness will last longer.]

Buckle felt that everything around him was spinning. In that dizzy state, he could hear the continuous ‘Oink!’ sound that the pig made with every slap. It was like it was saying ‘You’re the one who bullied my master, oink!’ to him.

Meanwhile, Minhyuk heard a notification while he was fighting with Barlong.

[Beanie is enjoying himself.]

‘...?’

Minhyuk was confused. What was Beanie doing behind him that was so enjoyable? However, he could not afford to ponder about it any longer since Barlong’s attacks were coming.

[Secret of Assasination. Life (Slaughter)]

[Your attack and movement speed will triple for 2 seconds. Successful attack will have 80% additional damage.]

Shwaaaaaaak!

Barlong narrowed the distance between them at the speed of light. Minhyuk’s eyebrows furrowed when he saw him. Barlong believed that this time, he would kill him. He thought, ‘If I succeed in this attack...!’

It was enough to turn the tides around. Just as he was rushing in at a rapid pace…

Flash!

…Minhyuk suddenly disappeared.

“Gasp?!”

Barlong suddenly stopped in his tracks. He turned to look around. He looked above, behind and below him, but Minhyuk was nowhere to be seen. Then, a sword suddenly appeared and thrusted in front of him.

Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!

[Scattering Sword has been completed.]

[A single attack will deal six additional damages with a 40% increase.]

“Keheoooook...!” Barlong groaned as the greatsword stabbed his body six times in a row.

Scattering Sword’s power has become extremely strong now. It was mainly because of the greatsword that Minhyuk had equipped.It was already a scary force to reckon with, with just the six strikes with additional 40% damage. However, what if these six strikes were used with a greatsword with a higher attack power? Of course, the damage would increase.

Barlong was taken aback when he saw his HP being cut down by 20% with each attack that struck his body. In the end, he was forced to log out. 

After he finished dealing with Barlong, Minhyuk turned around only to see a logged-out Buckle, with Beanie standing next to the grayed-out body and looking up at him innocently.

[Beanie is looking at you curiously.]

It was like Beanie was telling him ‘I don’t know anything at all~’. Minhyuk also tilted his head in confusion, but soon shook his head. There was only one person left.

Javin. She was already out of commission. She could not even move her body and she was slowly dying due to continuous bleeding.

‘N, no...!’

Javin was in a full chaotic state. She was in the same state as the rest of her guild members who had been forced to log out. Having a full chaotic state meant that they had filled the PK bar. Assuming that the chaotic state had a bar with a limit of one million, they had already filled it to the brim, which meant that they had killed countless players. 

If they died while they were in the full chaotic state, they would receive double the penalty compared to ordinary players. If she died, then she would not only drop one or two artifacts. She shivered just looking at the outcome of Buckle and the rest. They had dropped plenty of gold and artifacts. They would even have to face the penalty of their levels going down.

Javin slowly crawled up as she vomited another mouthful of blood on the floor. She begged, “S… sorry... I didn’t mean to… please forgive me just this once. I won’t do it again.”

She even shed some tears. However, she thought about piercing him in the abdomen with the dagger hidden in her chest. She would pretend to be pitiful, hugging her body in pain, and she would surprise him with an attack once he got close to her.

Javin knew that Minhyuk was a good man. Even though he took all of the artifacts and gold that dropped from their hunt before, she knew that he still had a sense of innocence. He looked happy when he ate those spicy mixed noodles. He also had that simple smile, that simple smile that he unconsciously let out from time to time. She knew that she might have one final chance if she did this well. Just when she was crawling like that, she turned her head down as she slowly took out the dagger that was hidden in her bosom. As soon as she got it out, she saw Minhyuk holding a huge frying pan. She could see him twisting his body as if he was trying to swing a huge baseball bat.

“You want me to forgive you? You tried to kill me thrice.”

“Ho, hoho. F…forgive...”

Clang!

Javin flew back after being hit by the frying pan. Minhyuk approached her to finish her off since she looked like she was still not dead yet.

“W…wait! Before you kill me, I have a question...”

She wanted to know something before she died.

“Are you an eunuch?!”

Minhyuk looked at her in confusion, thinking, ‘What the hell is she saying?’

“I…I’m pretty, right. Huh? Aren’t I extremely pretty?”

Minhyuk frowned when he heard her words.

‘She’s pretty?’ He thought, before saying, “This is my serious answer.”

Then, Minhyuk spoke what was on his mind.

“To be honest, a Monk is much prettier than you.”

“...Mo…Monk?”

The image of the monkey mob suddenly popped up in her head. Those little monkey monsters that picked their teeth wickedly. They were picking their teeth as they grinned and laughed at her!

Minhyuk thought, ‘A monk gave me a banana once before.’ 

At that time, the monk looked so cute and sweet to him. In fact, it looked a whole prettier and cuter in Minhyuk’s eyes since it gave him a banana. Maybe about 10,000 times cuter than this lady? His expression looked sincere. It was as if he was really telling her the truth.

“Hey, you f*cker®$!$a®#%®!$!$!”

Stab!

Minhyuk immediately logged her out. He looked at her grayed-out body in suspicion and muttered, “Why did she keep on asking me if she was pretty? She has been doing it since earlier too. Does she have princess syndrome or something...” 

In his mind, she was someone that was less pretty than a Monk. Minhyuk picked up their dropped artifacts and gold in confusion. He blinked his eyes in a daze when he saw the drops.

‘Ho?’

Among the items that Buckle dropped, there was a parchment. Minhyuk reached out with his hand and...

[You have acquired a Parchment of Rewards Choice.]

[The Parchment of Rewards Choice can only be used in the sixth trial of Ructo’s Tomb.]

“...Huh?”