Ali still could not figure out Minhyuk’s identity. However, he could tell with just that single smile. He thought, ‘This person… He’s special…’ 

Ali felt like he was looking at the top student in school. For some reason, the situation before with Kentaro and the rest of the players from all over the globe felt like they were envious and jealous students that were staring at the top student while saying…

‘Is it fun to just study like that~?’ 

‘Eyy, life is not all about studying.’

‘Have some fun!’ 

They would then looked at him with pity. Was this how it felt to be a top student in school? The more Ali thought like that, the better he felt. Even if they told him those things, he did not bother with them too much. After all, he was a strong person too.

‘Minhyuk probably feels like that…’ 

Ali only saw Minhyuk hunting the ancient warriors, but he had a strange intuition.

Then, Minhyuk said, “Let’s quickly climb up too. I’ll take the lead! I’m much stronger than I look!” 

“Ah, yes!” 

Ali liked Minhyuk very much. In fact, there was a fleeting moment when he also thought that it would be beneficial to abandon Minhyuk and join the others. That was the only way that he would be able to enter the Hall of Kings. However, he did not do so. 

The two of them began their trek up the mountain. Ali, while hunting the other mobs, could see that the ancient warriors’ appearances were increasing in frequency. Even the numbers of the ancient soldiers were also increasing.

“There are too many ancient warriors.” 

The difficulty had increased just like before. There were as many as three ancient warriors now. Ali once again used Great Undead Boom to deal with the mobs surrounding him. The only problem was the ancient warriors. He was not able to kill them since their high magic defense had reduced the success rate of the skill to an abysmal degree.

At that moment, Minhyuk’s sword suddenly glowed red. Then, he fired the power that he had gathered. 

[Splitting Sword.] 

[Two powerful red swords with an additional 115% attack power will soar and fly towards your enemy.]

Shweeeeek!

As soon as Minhyuk slashed his sword down, a crescent sword light cut through an ancient warrior. Then he swept his sword horizontally.

Shweeeeek!

A quick and fast sword light immediately cut an ancient warrior in two. After hunting two ancient warriors in quick succession, Minhyuk moved quickly to attack the rest of the ancient warriors.

[Intangible Sword.]

[Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy’s defenses.]

Stab!

“Keuhaaaack!” 

Minhyuk’s sword stabbed through the ancient warrior’s thick full plate armor so easily that it looked like he was just poking tofu with a chopstick. Minhyuk then quickly pulled his sword out and swung it again.

[Lightning]

[Two strikes!]

Bang! Bang!

Two lightning strikes fell down from the sky and quickly devoured the ancient warriors.

‘…Strong. He’s very strong. What happened earlier wasn’t just a coincidence,’ Ali thought, pupils shaking wildly as he looked at Minhyuk. Sweat had pooled in his hands, but he was still grinning widely.

‘So, my friend is very strong!’ 

Ali looked around. They were the only two people in this area. It seemed like they were the fastest. Then, he saw a group chasing behind them. It was none other than Kentaro and his team members.

***

‘How can this be…!’ Kentaro thought frantically as he chased behind Minhyuk and Ali. He could see Ali casting AOE magic while Minhyuk would dash forward and slash away at the ancient warriors which had high magical defense.

Kentaro knew that it was difficult to deal with the ancient warrior with his strength alone, since it had a high physical and magical defense. However, the mysterious and supposedly useless player whom he saw earlier was hunting and killing those ancient warriors at a pace that was faster than his.

“That player from earlier… He’s much stronger than what I thought.” 

“…I know. But we’ll definitely get there ahead of them. The summit of Berest Mountains is divided into three sections. The first section is where soldiers flock like this. The second section is a trick section. It’s the section that is infested with poison. The third section is the section where the Ancient Monarch is located. I know that we’ll be able to pass through the second section faster than they are.” 

“Oh. Really?” 

“Yes. I climbed the Berest Mountains before, you know? So, I’m fully prepared for the poison in the second section. It’s going to be harder than before, but I think it’s still possible.” 

“As expected of Kentaro.” 

“I trust Kentaro!” 

Kentaro smiled deeply. He believed that even if they were ahead of them right now, they would still arrive later than them in the end. No, perhaps even before the end.

‘That mage’s MP will run out soon, right?’ 

Kentaro felt excited again by the words of his party members. Shortly after, he could hear the sounds from above them.

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

Fwiiiiiiiiiiiish—

“There are a lot of tricks and poisons. Perhaps the two of them are not able to move forward because of a powerful poison and curse,” Kentaro said, smiling smugly. 

Barmas, the archer player, opened his ‘God’s Eye’.

[God’s Eye.]

[You can see one kilometer ahead of you.]

Barmas was an archer so he could use God’s Eye to locate and shoot his enemies from a distance.

“Gasp!” 

“What’s wrong?” 

“What’s the problem?” 

The white of Barmas’ eyes were dyed black which allowed him to see the scene in front of him. However, what he saw shocked him. He did not answer the questions of the people with him. No, it was not that he did not want to answer, it was because he was counting.

“8 seconds, 9 seconds, 10 seconds, 11 seconds, 12 seconds…” 

“…?”

“Barmas?” 

“41 seconds…”

Barmas’ blackened eyes slowly returned to their original color.

“Why were you counting the seconds just now?”

Hearing Kentaro’s words, Barmas’ expression turned complex as he looked up the mountains. Then, he said, “…It’s the time it took for them to move out of the second section to a place that is devoid of tricks and poisons.” 

“…!” 

Then, the notifications rang.

[The Guardians’ Tower shines strongly.]

[The team that arrived first at the site where the Ancient Monarch is resting will get a special score.]

[Each team’s score will now be displayed.]

“…!” 

Kentaro just realized that what Barmas said a while ago was the truth.

As soon as the first team reached the Ancient Monarch, all of the teams’ scores would be posted. The scoreboard would not show the players’ nicknames, but they could only set the name of the team that entered the passageway. They could even place ‘anonymous’ on it. If they set it as anonymous, then the scoreboard would show the number of the passageway that they entered.

‘We’re in passageway 5 right now.’

[Passageway 5. 941 points.]

However, Kentaro was left speechless when he saw the score of the number one in the scoreboard.

“Cr…crazy…!”

[Korea Number One. 6,413 points.]

Kentaro realized that those two men, those Koreans, had started to go wild. Their score was completely ridiculous.

‘What in the world will their rewards be if their score is like that!’

When he saw the team’s name again, Kentaro could not help but clench his fists tightly.

‘Korea Number One… Korea… Number One…!’

It was clear to him that those words were aimed at them.

Then, Barmas said, “Oh, I forgot to mention, that Level 355 player is holding a frying pan.”

Kentaro’s eyes widened in shock. He said, ‘I… I missed the best player in Korea…?’

***

Five minutes ago.

Ali and Minhyuk were hunting the ancient soldiers and warriors when Ali suddenly felt an unusual energy up ahead.

[Scan]

[Detects nearby hazards and dangers.]

Scan was a magical skill that could inform the player about the potential dangers around them. It was a kind of detection skill but the only problem was that it could not exactly pinpoint the location of the danger. However, it was possible to detect all types of dangers.

“There are plenty of traps, poisons and curses everywhere. B…but this is not supposed to be this bad…!” 

Minhyuk stepped forward and asked, “Can you do a shield?” 

“I can do it. But why…?” 

“I’ll stop the traps, curses and poisons from the front. Ali, you use the shield to protect yourself and the rear.” 

“Wh…what are you…” 

“Ali.” Minhyuk called out to him in a soft and gentle voice.

“…?”

“I’m also a citizen of our country.” 

Ali was speechless. Of course, the same was true for him. When Ali decided to partner with Minhyuk, the other global players giggled and mocked them. Sometimes, he felt both bad and furious when others mocked his country, compared to when they mocked him.

“Shouldn’t we show them what kind of country Korea is?” 

Ali wanted to tell him that it was too reckless. However, before he could do so, Minhyuk pulled out the rapier on his back. The rapier suddenly turned into a frying pan as Minhyuk charged forward.

Baaaaaaang—!

A huge fire suddenly erupted right next to Minhyuk.

Clang!

Minhyuk hit the incoming magical attack with his frying pan. 

[Magical Reflection.]

[You have returned the magical attack back to your enemy.]

[You have returned the magical attack back to your enemy.]

[You have fended off a trick.]

[You have acquired 25 team points.]

[You have acquired 25 team points.]

[Each person will gain 10 individual points.]

Their score continued to increase with every action they took. The magic was easily blown away. Then, a series of curses and poisons began to pour towards Minhyuk.

[Ancient Wind Poison]

[The poison will clog your airways and block your breathing.]

[You have an invincible body that can ignore and resist all abnormal states.]

[You have resisted an abnormal state.]

[The Curse of the Ancient Witch Parama]

[Auditory and visual hallucinations derived from your fear will descend upon you.]

[You have an invincible body that can ignore and resist all abnormal states.]

No poison or curse could harm Minhyuk thanks to his invincible body. When Ali saw this, he was astonished.

‘Ah… So this is why…!’ 

Ali was also a high-leveled ranker, so he immediately knew what he needed to do. A pike from a powerful trap suddenly flew straight towards Minhyuk’s back. Ali’s magic was cast when he reached out his hands.

[Dark Shield]

[A black shield that defends against an enemy attack.]

Crack, crack, crack—

Bang!

Clang!

Minhyuk used his frying pan to defend against the magic that flew towards them.

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

“Dark Shield! Dark Shield! Dark Shield!” 

Clang, clang, clang, clang!

It was a fantastic combination. All of the attacks that slipped past Minhyuk’s defenses would be covered by Ali’s dark shield. Minhyuk would run in front as he fended off countless traps, poisons and curses, while Ali stretched his hands to protect him with magic from behind.

If other players saw Ali, they would definitely be in shock. The speed of reaction and casting magic was too ridiculous. Anyone would think that this was ridiculous. After all, not anyone could read the attack and quickly counter it with magic. There might be some that could read the speed of attacks, but there were only few gamers that had reflexes that were fast enough to respond to such a speed.

However, Ali was able to do it. Minhyuk was the same. A fantastic combination was created between Minhyuk, the strongest close combat player in the country, and Ali, the strongest mage player in the country. Not only were they the best combination, they were friends.

In just 40 seconds, they were able to fend off and dispel all the tricks, curses and poisons that were thrown at them. The pair then heard the notification about their scores.

[The Guardians’ Tower shines strongly.]

[The team that arrived first at the site where the Ancient Monarch is resting will get a special score.]

[Each team’s score will now be displayed.]

Ali and Minhyuk both nodded. They could see the summit in front of them. The Ancient Monarch was just in front of them.

Then, Ali asked, “Should we name our team?” 

“Yes. I think we should name it.” 

“Hmm. I’m still very angry that they ignored us earlier.” 

Minhyuk nodded with a wry smile when he heard Ali’s words, and said, “Then, let’s just name the team as Korea Number One.” 

“Ah. That’s nice.” 

Ali grinned widely.

“Our Korea is the best!” 

This was how the team Korea Number One was created. Then, the two people stepped forward together. They finally arrived at the top of the mountains.

As soon as they stepped forward, they saw three sculptures lying on an altar. Originally, there should only be the head sculpture in here. This time, there were two additional sculptures placed beside it. The arms and the legs.

The three sculptures suddenly floated in the air as the Ancient Monarch began to take shape. His eyes were glaring sharply from under his helmet as his torn red cape that was hanging on his shining golden armor fluttered in the wind.

“Me… Please kill me… I’ve been suffering from the demon… save me…” 

Before his body took shape, he pleaded with them urgently. However, his eyes began to turn black as he shouted, “Dieeeeeeeeeee!” 

A great force shot out from the Monarch’s sword and like a firework, it bloomed in the sky. The beams of light created by the firework-like energy fell down.

[The Monarch’s Power]

[The power of the Monarch stretches over all of Berest Mountains.]

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

Explosions resounded from all over the place as the notifications rang in their heads.

[The Guardians’ Tower’s light has weakened.]

[The team in Passageway 1 has been wiped out.]

[The team in Passageway 8 has been wiped out.]

[The team in Passageway 6 has been wiped out.]

A ridiculously strong being had descended upon them.