Crusoe was currently sporting an incredulous expression on his face. He had finished the trial faster than Minhyuk, and was currently resting with his troops. Those who had finished the trial were given the privilege to peek through what their opponent was doing through a crystal ball. This was Crusoe’s result…

[Crusoe. Completed the Trial. Expired troops: 19. Injured troops: 23. Achievement: 71%]

His achievement had reached 71%! This trial might be conducted by Crusoe, but he did not know of its contents until Minhyuk challenged it. In fact, the one who set this trial was the previous territory master, the Food God. For this trial, an achievement of 71% was already considered to be a very high record. However, Crusoe could only stare in shock and disbelief after seeing Minhyuk’s achievement.

[Minhyuk. Hunting the Final Boss Monster. Expired troops: 0. Injured troops: 0. Achievement: 85%]

“...N…no. This doesn’t even make sense, right?” Crusoe asked. He was left speechless after checking the crystal ball. Minhyuk did not have any dead nor injured members in his troops. This was completely nonsensical.

Only after looking through the crystal ball did Crusoe understand how that result came to be. In front of Minhyuk, stood dozens of ogres acting as tankers with the Harpie Queen. In the rear, stood the soldiers shooting their arrows and thrusting their spears to kill the monsters. Minhyuk was also freely attacking his enemies using his chained scythe. His reach was so far that he could even attack monsters seven meters away from him. And his skills were also very powerful! His sword could create hundreds of sword lights to attack the boss monster. Not long after…

Thud―

The boss monsters collapsed without being able to let out a scream. The notification rang right after that.

[Minhyuk. Finished hunting the Final Boss Monster. Expired troops: 0. Injured troops: 0. Achievement: 93%]

‘...This…this is crazy!’

A 93% achievement was high enough to make Crusoe speechless. Just then, Crusoe and his surviving troops were warped somewhere else.

***

[You have successfully hunted the final boss monster.]

[The Sword and Shield Trial has ended.]

[Your achievement has reached 93% and has overwhelmingly surpassed Crusoe’s achievement.]

Minhyuk nodded in satisfaction after hearing the notification. He wanted to have a higher achievement than Crusoe so he could proceed with the Food God’s Hidden Trial. After all, he would be able to obtain the Heavenly Beef once he completed this hidden trial.

“We did it!!!”

“None of us died!!!”

“Uwooooooooooh!!!”

All of the soldiers cheered loudly the moment the trial ended. It was because they would be able to live in Atlas for a day if they survived the trial. Even Park could not control his joy. Minhyuk tried to tell them that another trial was going to proceed, but before he could do so…

[The Hidden Trial will now begin.]

[Crusoe and all of the soldiers will be warped again.]

[The trial is a ‘Siege Battle’.] 

[Protect Atlas’ Castle Verdo for two hours.]

‘A siege battle…?’ Minhyuk thought in confusion. But then…

“Waaaaaaah!!!”

“Stop them!!!”

“Stop them from climbing the walls!!!”

The vision in front of him changed. Minhyuk could not understand what was happening. Thankfully, an explanation popped out as a notification.

[Atlas was originally owned by the Food God.]

“...!”

Minhyuk had been wondering why the Food God’s trial was hidden here but these words had solved his confusion.

[But one day, the Maestro of Destruction invaded, wanting to take ownership of the legendary territory, Atlas. The Maestro of Destruction successfully took away the ownership of the territory. The situation right now is a part of the battle back then. Please protect Atlas territory from the enemies.]

[You will receive a reward if you successfully protect Atlas from the enemies.]

[The trial’s challenger can choose one, and only one, helper.]

[You can recruit a helper even if they’re not your guild member or guild ally, as long as they are in Atlas territory.]

[You will be unable to become Atlas’s true owner if you fail this hidden trial.]

[To you, who wants to be the true owner of Atlas, prove that you have the greatness of being a king.]

‘A helper?’ Minhyuk thought. He immediately looked around. The troops that fought alongside him, as well as the troops that fought with Crusoe were all present. But there were also soldiers that he did not know of. The ones he did not know of had their names and levels popping above their heads.

[Hans. Level 474]

Crusoe hurriedly approached him and asked, “How did this hidden trial appear…”

Crusoe looked like he was in despair as he watched the enemy troops appear. The enemies all had black robes covering their bodies as they rode on horses made of bones. Suddenly, deafening explosions rang loudly in the area.

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

[The ramparts’ durability has decreased to 132,136.] 

[The ramparts’ durability has decreased to 113,478.] 

The enemies attacked the ramparts. Minhyuk was confused at the sudden changes presented in front of him. However, he was able to come back to his senses quickly.

“Sir Crusoe!”

“You’re the commander here, please don’t speak politely with me!”

“Crusoe! What kind of enemies do we have?!” Minhyuk asked, waiting for a briefing as he walked quickly.

Crusoe realized what he was asking as he followed next to him and gave him a quick briefing, “Our enemies are the Maestro of Destruction’s underlings. The Maestro of Destruction was the one who unified the entire continent through force. He has strong troops.”

“How much damage did the enemy incur and how much damage was taken whilst protecting the territorial castle?”

“Back then, all of the troops guarding the territorial castle were annihilated while the enemy troops only incurred 20% damage.”

“...!”

Minhyuk turned to Crusoe in shock.

“Back then, I was the only legendary figure in the territory. The Food God has also passed away and the enemy’s military force…”

After walking for quite a while, Minhyuk finally reached the ramparts. And that was when he saw it.

“...What is this? Isn’t this too overwhelming?” Minhyuk asked, frowning. Just like how he could do it with allies, it was also possible for him to check the level of the enemy’s troops. So, Minhyuk checked the enemies dashing forward with black robe covering their heads!

[Dark Knight. Level 513.]

The average level of their enemies was above 500. Then, Minhyuk turned towards the upper left corner of his vision. There, he saw the number of his allies and his enemies.

[Number of Enemies: 2,135]

[Number of Allies: 1,735]

“Keuaaaack!”

“Ugh, aaaaaack!”

“For Atlas territory!!!”

“For Atlas!!!”

The soldiers shouted loudly, determined to face death to protect their territory. They were soldiers who would not back down and face a glorious death to protect what they love. The average level of his troops was around 470. There were a few elites who were around 530. On the contrary, their enemies’ average level was around 500, while their elites were at around 550. There was an overwhelming difference. One might say that it was just a difference of 20~30 levels, but that difference had a great influence in large-scale battles. What was worse was the fact that their enemies were already at an advantage in terms of numbers. And…

“Your king is already dead!!! We will spare you if you swear your allegiance to us!!!”

[The ‘Maestro of Destruction’ has appeared!!!]

[The Tyrant that unified the entire continent in the past!]

[The person who successfully hunts the Maestro of Destruction will receive a reward.]

[Maestro of Destruction. Level 664.]

“Stop speaking bullshit!!!”

“Even if I end up getting a blade down my throat, I won’t let you have this territory!!!”

“Attack! Forward!!!”

Despite his words, none of the soldiers surrendered. The Maestro of Destruction was wearing a black, full plate armor, with a pitch-black sword in hand. He also had a black robe covering his horned helmet.

“Then, death is the only thing that awaits you!” The Maestro of Destruction said while brandishing his sword. Then…

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

…a powerful force slammed into the ramparts and devoured the soldiers, killing a lot of them in an instant.

[More than 2% of your troops had died.]

Minhyuk muttered to himself, “Was this created… for me to clear?”

***

[Was this created… for me to clear?]

Team Leader Lee Seokhoon looked bitter after hearing Minhyuk mutter to himself.

“It was created for you… but it wasn’t meant for you to clear it now…”

That was right. If he had received these quests as scheduled, which would have been around one to two years later, his strength would have been enough to challenge the trial. Minhyuk’s 2% probability of winning would have been at least 50%. But right now, Minnhyuk’s level was too low.

“We’ll have to give Player Minhyuk a reward after this.”

“You’re right. In a way, this can be considered to be a balance breaker. The fact that Player Minhyuk can reach and awaken a trial that should not be awakened yet means that Player Minhyuk is good enough to put us in this embarrassing situation. This is totally our fault,” President Kang Taehoon said, shaking his head.

“I think we can give Player Minhyuk the rewards that he had obtained so far from the Sword and Shield trial and the Small World Tree growing in Atlas territory.”

“I believe that’s enough compensation too.”

“That’s right. This is our own fault, but we have to make sure that Player Minhyuk does not get too much damage as possible. Let’s have a separate meeting for this.”

Just like that, they had confirmed that Minhyuk had already failed in his trial, even though it had not started yet.

‘Why are they saying that he’s definitely going to fail?’

Meanwhile, Lee Minhwa was feeling both sad and irritated at all of the people present in the room. Team Leader Lee Seokhoon said that there was a 2% chance of winning. But what if Minhyuk pulled off a miracle and grabbed that 2% winning chance? Then, a notification popped up on the monitor.

[Player Minhyuk has moved to Atlas territory to pick a helper.]

Minhyuk was now trying to choose a helper. Once he tried to choose a helper, time in the trial would be suspended for a while inside the trial and Minhyuk would be able to enter the territory to find a helper. The helper could be an NPC or a player, anyone could be possible.

“Who’s in Atlas territory right now?”

“Are you talking about the players?”

“That’s right.”

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap―

Lee Minhwa’s fingers tapped on the keyboard quickly. However, her expression turned strange quickly. She said, “I think all the members of Legend Guild are not online right now?”

“Huh? Weren’t they all there just yesterday?”

The Special Players Management Team did not know, but today was the day that Legend Guild gathered together in reality to have a serious meeting. In fact, today was the day for the Legend Guild to discuss delegating the guild master’s authority to Minhyuk.

“Then, are there only NPCs?” President Kang Taehoon mumbled to himself.

Suddenly, Employee Lee Minhwa tilted her head and asked, “Huh? Who’s that?”

“A person?”

“Yes. I think it’s a woman? There’s also a kid next to her! Wait, what? Why do I think that the woman looks familiar…?”

“Huh?” Lee Minhwa asked dumbly as she immediately zoomed in on the view in the monitor.

“...!”

“...!”

“...!”

“...!”

The entire Special Players Management Team was left astonished.

***

Minhyuk came back to Atlas territory to choose a helper. Seeing that no one was around, Minhyuk hurriedly sent whispers to the Legend Guild members.

[Minhyuk: Genie, where are you guys?]

[Genie is currently logged out.]

That was when Minhyuk realized that he had made a mistake. He finally recalled that today was the day when all of the guild members were set to have a meeting. They told him that it was a very important meeting. Minhyuk usually did not attend meetings ,so it was not strange for him to not be present. But right now, Minhyuk felt that he was facing a very big challenge.

‘There are no guild members around…?’

Even if Minhyuk was able to get in touch with one of them and urgently asked them to come inside the game and leave the meeting, it would still take an incredible amount of time. After all, one hour in reality is equivalent to four hours in Athenae. He did not have any time to wait since he only had fifteen minutes to choose a helper. Just then, at that moment…

“Hyung!!!” A boy happily called out to him while running cheerfully. The boy continued to say, “Conir!!! Conir successfully became a great ramen merchant!!!”

‘Ah, Conir…! Conir’s here…!’

Minhyuk looked down at Conir. Sword Saint Conir! That was his identity. However, Minhyuk hesitated.

‘If Conir dies in the trial then…’ 

Conir would be sent to the summoning room once his HP reached 10%. However, if he received a huge amount of damage that could make that 10% disappear at once, the gap that would allow him to be sent there would also disappear. And there was definitely an existence that could do that inside the trial. Just then…

“Hello?” A woman greeted him nicely. She smiled softly at him and continued to say, “Let's be friends?”

“...?”

Minhyuk thought, ‘So suddenly?’