The notifications did not end there.

[Mass Teleport]

[The Monarch summons all of his opponents.]

Light flashed everywhere as the players began to appear one by one.

“Cough!” 

“Treatment! Priests! Hurry up! Use heal!” 

“Shit, f*ck!! He’s too strong!!” 

“What priest?! All the priests and mages are dead now!!”

“Everyone else from my team is annihilated, except me?!”

“Is this a bug? How can we clear this?!”

The players were all flustered and confused. Kentaro, whose armor had turned into rags, stood firm as he maintained his defensive posture by crossing his katanas together.

‘This… We’re supposed to break this…?’ Kentaro thought with a frown. Something had gone wrong, terribly wrong.

‘Isn’t this mob impossible to hunt as of the moment?’

In playing Athenae, most of the players continued to level up. As their level grew, their strength would also grow. As a result of this, Athenae continued to provide new updates so the players would not get bored or tired of the game as they set new goals for themselves. However, the Ancient Monarch in front of them had gone beyond that category. Kentaro estimated that the tankers present now would only be able to hunt the Ancient Monarch six months later. To think that Athenae actually put a boss mob like this here?

‘Do you want us all to die?’

Looking around, Kentaro could see that most of the players were out of commission with just the blow from earlier. Most of them had lost their armor’s durability, and even the wounded players had to try and survive on their own after the priests were forced to log out. There was 20 surviving players. However, Kentaro could see that there were still two people that were standing strong. They were none other than Minhyuk and Ali.

The first strike of the Monarch’s power was meant to strike the other players, and not the two people in front of him. Just then, the Ancient Monarch swung his sword again. 

“Repent with your deaths! Foolish men who are against me!”

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

As soon as the sword struck out, the ground blew up and rubble shot out at the unprepared players.

Grrrrrrrr!

“Keuheuk!”

“Keuhack!”

The players let out shrieks. However, that did not mean that those players were just going to be pushed back so easily. They quickly came back to their senses.

“Kentaro! Give an order!”

“You have experience hunting him once, right? We’ll trust your orders!”

Their teams might be different, but every one of them had realized that this was not the time to vie for scores nor squabble for contributions. All they needed to worry about was whether they could survive and not be forced to log out.

“Archers, pull back and continue to deal damage. Tankers! Step forward and damage dealers follow right behind them. Use all of your skills and don’t hold back on anything! The moment we try to save just one skill, we will all be annihilated!”

“Yes!”

“Yes!”

The players quickly moved to follow his instructions.

[Wind Arrow!]

[Piercing Arrow!]

[Homing Shot!]

[One Shot!]

Twang, twang, twang, twang, twang, twang!

The arrows filled with strong power shot straight towards the Ancient Monarch. At that moment, a mysterious golden blade appeared out of thin air before ripping the arrows in half. Then, the Ancient Monarch began to run.

“Tankers!” Kentaro shouted hurriedly.

“Keuwoooooo!” 

“Uwaaaaaaaaaa!” 

The tankers’ bodies started to harden.

[Golem’s Heart.]

[Your entire body will become as firm as an Iron Golem.]

[Active Endurance.]

[HP increases by 180%.]

[Gold Knight.]

[The glittering golden armor increases your defense.]

Bang!

The player named Max clashed with the dashing Ancient Monarch with his large square shield. Just a moment ago, Max was feeling happy after using his ability ‘Golem’s Heart’ to make his body as hard as stone. He thought, ‘If I block this boss in front of the world players… I will be a hero!’ 

As a tanker, Max was more confident than anyone else about his defense. They were extremely high and his artifacts were also splendid.

Bang!

The moment the Ancient Monarch’s sword collided with his large square shield…

“Keuk!” 

…Max grinned. As he expected, his square shield was impregnable. He had personally commissioned a dwarf to make this Manir’s Absolute Shield!

Unfortunately, something unexpected happened. Something was rising out of the Ancient Monarch sword straight towards Max’s square shield.

“Hiiik?!” 

Max was frightened. Looking closely, the thing rushing straight towards him was a root of the tree. That was when he realized that the Ancient Monarch could freely control the surrounding ground, plants, and trees. Then, the tree roots began to tighten on the square shield.

Cra, crack!

“…Cr…crazy!” 

Since Max’s artifact had an infinite durability, no matter what happened to it, it would reset and return back to normal after 24 hours. However, this was the first time that he had seen this happen. Then, the Ancient Monarch swung his sword.

Bang!

Sand gushed out with every brandish of his sword. As soon as the sand touched their skin, it began to heat up.

“Keuaaaaaaack!” Max shrieked.

The two other players that tried to block the Ancient Monarch from behind him were also caught by surprise. This was because the roots of the trees rose like tentacles and had broken through their high defenses, penetrating through their bodies. That was not the end of it.

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

A powerful explosion broke out, shattering their bodies to pieces.

“Sh… shit! This f*cker!” 

“H… how can we kill something like that!” 

“This is crazy! I can’t be logged out!!” 

The players shrieked in panic. Since they were high-leveled players, they would receive higher penalties compared to other players. Even the thought of their artifacts dropping upon their deaths had made them dizzy. 

Shweeeeeek—

A powerful force shot up through the sky. When Kentaro saw such a powerful force, he could not help but despair.

‘We can’t stop that, this…’ 

Kentaro felt like they would be forced to log out right at this very moment. The same was true for the other players. The force split in the air and flew in all directions as it aimed for the players.

At that moment…

[Compress.]

[Drags all players in one place.]

…Black Mage Ali brandished his staff. All of the players were dragged by the power that Ali shot out and were firmly gathered behind him. Then, another powerful force shot out from Ali’s staff as it formed a protective barrier around them.

“Barrier.”

“…!” 

“…!” 

“…!” 

“…!” 

The players were shocked.

Barrier was the highest evolution that the shield skill could achieve. This skill could form a protective field that was ten times stronger than the normal shield. However, as a penalty, the mage and the people that he was protecting would not be able to use any ability or even prepare for combat while still under the protection of the barrier.

The barrier quietly surrounded the surviving players.

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

The power of the Ancient Monarch struck fiercely against the barrier. However, surprisingly enough, there were no cracks that appeared on the barrier.

The players were well aware that Alex, the world’s number one mage, should not have been able to learn the Tier Eight Magic, Barrier. This was why the players were all in shock.

Then, Ali said, “I didn’t let you live because I liked you. It’s just because we need to have a lot of people to help us.”

Kentaro gulped dryly at Ali’s words. At that moment, they saw Ali look somewhere else. There was a man who was standing outside the barrier.

“Like the Wind.” 

If they were inside the Barrier, they would be protected under a shield, but once they were outside the Barrier, they would lose all of this protection. However, the penalty that stopped them from using any ability, would also disappear.

The man appeared in front of the Ancient Monarch in an instant. Then, he used a skill.

“Rampant Sword.” 

The Rampant Sword that would last for 14 seconds! The skill that Minhyuk used began to create dozens of sword lights. These sword lights immediately attacked the Ancient Monarch.

Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab—

Twang, twang, twang, twang!

[Critical Strike!]

[Intangible Sword.]

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

Spurt!

Blood spurted out as the sword light penetrated through the Ancient Monarch’s thick and sturdy full plate armor.

“Keuaaaack! You, little bastard!” 

Vwooooong!

The Ancient Monarch wielded his sword. However, Minhyuk just defended lightly, he was not backing down. It even seemed like he was continuously pushing the Ancient Monarch back.

“…”

Kentaro was left speechless.

“Crazy…!” 

The same was true for Ali. Ali already knew that Minhyuk was strong, but he did not expect his strength to reach this extent. It was hard for anyone to gauge someone’s level when they were fighting against relatively weak opponents. However, they would be able to see the true power of that person once they fought against an extremely strong adversary.

Baaaang!

At that moment, the roots of the tree that were wrapped around the Ancient Monarch’s body stretched forward as it shot out towards Minhyuk. The Rampant Sword chopped off the incoming roots, but there were still gaps that allowed it to gain access to Minhyuk’s body.

That was the moment when Beanie appeared.

“Oink!” 

With its flipping blade, Beanie chipped away at the incoming roots at a high speed. Then, it grabbed Minhyuk’s arm as it urged him to spin it around, before kicking off Minhyuk’s arm.

“Oiiiiiiiink!”

Beanie’s small body flew straight towards the Ancient Monarch. It continued to attack while skillfully avoiding the roots trying to catch him.

Clang!

Thanks to Beanie’s buffs, Minhyuk’s speed increased again. It was at that moment when the Barrier disappeared.

“Let’s go!”

“Run!”

The global players began to run forward, following Minhyuk’s lead. Kentaro clasped his hands as he placed his two index fingers together.

Poing!

Kentaro suddenly became three as he continued towards the Ancient Monarch. All of the players prepared their attacks as Minhyuk silently fought in front of them.

“I’m… the Monarch…! The Monarch… who can shake the world with just a swing of my arms! I am stronger and greater than anything… I won’t lose to such puny little punks like you!”

Minhyuk did not answer the words of the Ancient Monarch. Then, the Ancient Monarch roared loudly.

“Keuaaaaaaaaaaack!”

“Keup!”

“Ack!”

“Ugh!”

“Keok!”

All the players screamed. It was because of the notification that popped in front of them.

[Monarch’s Roar.]

[Your magic and skills will be unavailable for five minutes.]

“…!”

‘This is a failure.’

The strength of the high-leveled players might be influenced by their stats and items, but the biggest influence and contributor to their strength were their magic and skills. Their skills and magic would grow together with their levels. For example, a Tier One Mage would only be able to summon a fireball the size of a fist, but Ali could summon a giant fireball by using Hellfire.

‘You’re telling me that all of our skills and magic are out of comission?’

Kentaro’s clones that were running with him also scattered and disappeared.

‘That person will die now…’

Kentaro sighed deeply. The hunt for the Ancient Monarch was a disaster and there was only one man who was facing the fiercely monstrous Ancient Monarch.

The Ancient Monarch fiercely struck the ground with his fists. Then, at that moment…

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

…A loud and powerful explosion engulfed the players.

“Keuhaaaaack!”

“Kaahaaaaack!”

“Aaaaaaack!”

“Keup!!!”

Kentaro saved Ali by flinging him away. He said, “I’ve repaid the life that you saved once.”

Ali stared at Kentaro before looking around. Except for one Chinese player, Ali, Kentaro, and Minhyuk, all the other players were forced to log out. He saw the remaining Chinese player smile subtly at them. He was none other than Haochen’s guild master, Bedu.

‘Everything is going according to plan…!’

Once the three other people died together with him, they would not know what they had done. They would all disappear leaving only their artifacts behind. Right now, Bedu was grinning widely.

‘There are artifacts all over the place!’

There were also players that were wiped out along the way, so he was sure that there were artifacts there too. All they needed to do was to go back the same path when climbing up and pick up those sweet, sweet artifacts. It was literally the epitome of awesomeness in his books.

Then, at that moment…

“I will punish you, you arrogant bastards!”

…The Ancient Monarch demonstrated another AOE magic spell. The grounds twisted as the roots of the trees elongated and shot out towards them. 

At that time, Minhyuk shouted, “You don’t have that many abilities! This is the end?!!” 

“Puny bastard!” 

The Ancient Monarch gathered all of his strength.

Brrrrrrrr—

It felt like the entire world was vibrating that even the lazy birds from the nearby trees flew away in a squawk. A powerful force penetrated and flooded the players, including Minhyuk.

“What a provocation!” 

Then, using ‘Like the Wind’, Minhyuk appeared in front of Ali. He could see Kentaro and Bedu standing next to him. They saw Minhyuk pull out an artifact from his inventory.

“…?” 

“…?” 

“…?” 

Ali, Kentaro and Bedu all looked at him incredulously. 

What he took out was none other than the Bowl and Mixer. The Bowl was usually used to store ingredients while the Mixer was used to whip eggs or dough. However, Minhyuk just suddenly started turning the Mixer with an empty Bowl.

‘What the hell? What’s this idiot doing?’ 

‘Mi… Minhyuk… yo… you’re acting strange…’ 

‘What the hell is with this person?’ 

The Ancient Monarch felt that he was too preposterous. He said, “You moronic human!” 

Just as the power that the Ancient Monarch released was about to strike down, a white light appeared in the Bowl of the Mixer. The more he turned the Mixer, the brighter the light inside the bowl became. Then, the light burst out.

And…

Shashashashashashak—

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr—

The twisting roots disappeared back into the ground and the raging land sank down again. Even the surrounding trees that started to rage returned back to their original form. All of the abnormalities that were caused by the Ancient Monarch returned back to their original form.

[Cancel.]

[All of the magic and skills will be nullified and void within a five-meter radius from the player.]

Then, Minhyuk quickly stored the Mixer back in his inventory before shouting, “It’s fake! Complete bullshit!!!” 

“…!”

“…!”

“…!” 

“…!”

“…!”

The three people around him were all shocked.

Then, the Ancient Monarch said, “Ridiculous…”

The Ancient Monarch looked as puzzled as the rest of them.