Ellie had pondered deeply about this matter. She was aware that the appearance of the Continent Cloud system gave them a slight increase in their chances of winning. This was something that she was very grateful for.

However, just like the rumors, the Cairon Continent was a huge continent. In other words, their reserves of resources and strong individuals were deep and overflowing.

Ellie was also aware that the concept of the Eight Pinnacle Attack Skills existed only in both the Cairon Continent and the Asgan Continent. But to her knowledge, there were skills comparable to the power of the Pinnacle Attack Skills in other continents beyond the two. Ellie might not know this, but the Athenae operators only gave the Pinnacle Attack Skills to the Korean and Chinese servers, and gave the other countries skills that were on par with the Pinnacle Skills, but under different names.

Ellie recalled that there were two Pinnacle Attack Skills in Asgan Continent. One was her Ellie’s Swordsmanship, and the other was the swordsmanship of a mysterious person that was known to be second only to the Sword God of the past.

‘If the remaining six skills are in the Cairon Continent then…’ 

If that was truly the case, then they were facing the worst possible situation. Fortunately, the Ranker Destroyer Hu Yitian’s Pinnacle Skill was only at the half-pinnacle level.

That was when Ellie thought of a way for Minhyuk to reach the realms of the true Pinnacle.

‘He can learn half of two Pinnacle Skills.’

Ellie’s Swordsmanship had never reached the complete Pinnacle form. But, if Minhyuk was able to learn the halves of two Pinnacle Skills, then a new form of Pinnacle might be born. However, there was still a problem.

‘The Pinnacle can only be obtained by the chosen ones.’

One had to be strong to reach and learn the Pinnacle. Ellie was also aware that Ellie’s Swordsmanship was the most dangerous, and the most powerful among the eight Pinnacle Attack Skills. That was the reason why she felt a lot of pressure on her body whenever she used the skill. And it was also the same reason why she had to test Minhyuk. She had to know if Minhyuk deserved to receive that power.

‘Will he be able to land an attack on me?’

Successfully doing so would prove his talent and skill. That was all Ellie needed to know.

“Dieeeeeeeee!!!” Minhyuk shouted as he rushed forward with all his might. But just like the soft dance of a gentle woman, Ellie’s sword moved gently to parry his attack.

Clang!

Minhyuk’s sword bounced back. Seeing this, Ellie laughed and said, “So, you’re weak.”

Ellie leisurely moved her sword to stop Minhyuk’s attack. Despite his failed attack, Minhyuk did not stop. He turned around and used the power of Sword God Valen that resided in his body, increasing the power of his swordsmanship. One of the skills that was strengthened was ‘Like the Wind’.

Dash!

Minhyuk dashed forward with ‘Like the Wind’ and narrowed the distance between him and Ellie, before unleashing his Rampant Sword.

Slash! Dash, dash, dash! Dash, dash, dash! Slash! 

However, even with the hundreds of sword lights that Rampant Sword had created, Ellie was still able to somehow easily dodge the attacks. No, she was even able to rush forward and narrow the distance between her and Minhyuk.

“Step.”

Ellie’s Swordsmanship was originally Ellie’s own. She could use the skill far better than Minhyuk. The distance that she could cover with the skill was longer than when Minhyuk used it. Even the movements of her sword that struck Minhyuk were as clear and fluid as a gentle, flowing stream.

Slap!

“Ugh!”

“With this strength, you think you can get any ingredients that you like? Can you even kill me for stealing the eggs for cold noodles?”

Minhyuk’s sides were struck by Ellie’s sword but he was smiling happily. He thought, ‘This is fun…!’ 

Minhyuk definitely found it to be fun. After all, he was also a very strong person that could rival and surpass the Olympic gold medalist, Carr.

On the other hand, Ellie had held her sword since she was born. At seven years old, Ellie had killed and slashed the necks of those that tried to kill her, all by herself. At thirteen, she slaughtered hundreds of soldiers with her own hands. At sixteen, she surpassed the previous Emperor. And at twenty, her abilities to lead and govern had been recognized as the people sat her on the Empress’ throne. Ellie’s strength and power was beyond one’s imagination.

“Blooming Sword,” Ellie said as she gently lowered the tip of her sword on the ground.

[Blooming Sword]

[A sword will rise from the ground and attack your enemies indiscriminately within a 20 meter radius from your position. It will cause an additional 450% damage even if the sword failed to stab the opponent.]

Ellie’s strength was fundamentally different from Minhyuk. Compared to Minhyuk’s Blooming Sword, Ellie’s Blooming Sword could deal an enormous amount of damage with thousands of sharper, longer sword lights. Even the radius was twenty meters. That was not all. It would even cause an explosion even if it did not stab through the enemies.

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

Minhyuk was momentarily put into a daze from the powerful explosion caused by thousands of blooming flower sword lights. Ellie took the time to tie her loose hair up during the commotion. However, even after being engulfed with thousands of explosions, Minhyuk was still able to summon Beanie.

[Absolute Defense.]

[No attack will be allowed to touch Beanie and his master for two seconds.]

With the Absolute Defense skill, all attacks that came towards Minhyuk would be nullified. Once the thick cloud of dust settled down, Minhyuk appeared and said, “Noona! Isn’t this really fun?!”

“...Ha!” Ellie let out a scoff in disbelief after seeing Minhyuk swiftly summon his pet and use his pet’s skill, despite the confusion and chaos. Ellie was also shocked after hearing the words that Minhyuk used to describe his fight against her, the Sword Emperor and strongest sword of the Eivelis Empire.

‘Fun.’

Minhyuk’s words made Ellie startled. She thought, ‘Minhyuk, how far have you come?’

Ellie could feel it. She could tell that Minhyuk’s rise to power might already be much higher than what she had predicted before. The situation right now made it clear to her that she had underestimated him.

“Well, then…” Ellie grinned and continued to say, “Let’s both give it our all.”

***

[Mission! Cairon Continent has successfully recaptured Berdk Attack Base.]

[The rewards will be given to Cairon Continent.]

Hearing the notifications made Lucia grimace. She knew that they were in a desperate situation. Out of their 2,500 strong troops, only 300 had survived. Fortunately, most of the survivors were their country’s top ranking players.

“Damn! Damn! Damn!”

The guild leaders and the top rankers that did not belong to any group were all constantly cursing. That was when Lucia saw the plants in their surroundings move together and bend to one side.

“We should follow the direction that the plants are telling us to go.”

“What?” Carr asked, looking at her in question. Even the other rankers were looking at her in confusion.

“Didn’t Ali say that they will lead us to the path for our country to win?”

“Do you believe his words?”

“...If we don’t believe his words, do you think that we will still have hope with the situation that we’re in?” Lucia asked, effectively silencing Carr and the rest of the players. After all, what she said was true.

The attack base, Berdk, located in the center of the Cloud Continent had already been lost. From what they read on the operators’ announcement, Berdk was well-equipped with large siege weapons. This meant that their position would be pushed back even further in the future. There was even a high possibility of the cloud ticket-bearing Chinese players stepping into Korean land and invading.

“We understand.”

All of the players present nodded in agreement as they ran towards the direction that the plants were pointing to. As they continued their journey, they eventually arrived in front of an indescribably beautiful territory.

“What, what?! How come there’s a place like this…?”

“What the hell? Isn’t this a territory?”

“Ah… Perhaps Ali found this hidden territory inside the Continent Cloud?! Maybe the owner of the territory is very strong!”

The players talked about countless theories. After all, this was a very magnificent territory! Even the crops growing around the territory looked scrumptious.

“Ahhh. I want to eat those apples.”

Strangely enough, apples were growing on the ground and not on the trees. The moment a player reached out for an apple…

“I believe Minhyuk will not let you go if you pick that apple and eat it?”

“...!”

“...!”

“...!”

All of the players present turned to look at the source of the sound and saw around twenty people dressed in glimmering red armor. Everyone looked at their armors in awe and admiration while one of the players muttered unconsciously, “Legend Guild…?”

“We welcome you to our territory, Atlas,” Genie said, smiling lightly. But the moment she said that…

“Why the hell didn’t you come?!!! Why?! Damn bastards! If you came!! If you came, then the outcome would have changed!!!”

…someone went into an outburst. And this someone was none other than Carr. Carr was someone that was known for being conceited and arrogant. He always believed that he was the best. But his voice right now was tinged with ‘despair’ and ‘resentment’.

Even if Carr said that they would be ‘useless’ since they did not become High Class players, the Legend Guild of the past would definitely not be powerless in the field. They were outstanding and skilled rankers by themselves even if the game’s flow had changed.

“I’m sorry. We were running a bit too late.”

“Damnit…!”

It was not easy for Carr to calm his anger and resentment. Then, Lucia stepped forward and said, “So, what are you going to do now? Ali said that there’s certainly a way for us to win here?”

“I guess our guild member has delivered the words safely.”

“...?!”

“...?!”

“...?!”

“...?!”

Everyone present wondered if they had some problem with their hearing for a moment. Black Mage Ali was their guild member? The same mage Ali that was said to be standing at the peak of the player mages in the entire continent? All of the guilds had offered him their best treatment. Even the four major guilds had offered more than 50% of stakes in their guild to recruit him. But Ali had refused them all. And this very same Ali had become a member of Legend Guild, no, the new guild with their new name?

“So, what’s the way?”

Genie opened her mouth calmly and said, “It’s simple…” Then, Genie looked at them one by one before continuing her words. She said, “Protect Atlas territory and believe in it.”

However, the rankers looked at her as if they could not understand her words. Carr even spat out, “You’re crazy…”

What way? There was no way at all! They could not really understand her. But then, Genie said, “Ah, we have some visitors. Would you like to see them?”

Genie brought out a large crystal ball as the players flocked to see what she was talking about. There, they saw the team chasing after them. It was something that they were even unaware of.

“Red Dragon Order…” Lucia, the assassin, mumbled.

Genie turned to look at her. Sensing her gaze, Lucia continued to say, “The Red Dragon Order is a guild created by unofficial Chinese assassins. They have a total of thirty people. Even though they are only thirty, each and every single one of them are players above Level 500. In fact, they are considered to be China’s top assassin guild. That’s the Red Dragon Order.”

Genie smiled, her eyes turning into crescents. She said, “Is that so? Then, let’s see who will win between the best killers and the best defense. Shall we?”

***

Rio, a Chinese Ztuber, was world-renowned. The videos that he posted were always considered to be the best video of the month. And right now, Rio was smiling from ear to ear.

[Kgghk! Those barbarian Korean bastards are running away! Is it because they know that the Red Dragon Order is coming for them?]

[If only all thirty of the Red Dragon Order came, then all of the Korean rankers will be killed in a blink of an eye. Don’t you think so?]

The Red Dragon Order had decided to show themselves in the battle in the Continent Cloud. Instead of asking a broadcaster, they asked Rio, a Ztuber, to help them do this. Rio had been expecting high ratings for this video since the Chinese players would definitely love to watch this ‘Massacre’. In fact, even the leader of the Red Dragon Order, Luca, was an assassin with a level of at least Level 530. Transferring into a High Class? He already finished that long ago. His High Class was called the Envoy of Death. It was a class that was on a different level from Lucia’s Assassin of the Moon.

Right now, they were running towards where the Korean players had fled. They had missed the perfect moment to deal with them, but their members had been using their stealth and speed to chase in the direction where the Korean players went. They began to go deeper and deeper into the Korean side in the midst of their chase.

“This way.”

The members of the Red Dragon Order were all stealthy and fast, none of them was an exception. Rio might be a BJ, but he was also a ranker and yet, he was already having a hard time following them. Just then…

“Slurp… nyam, nyam… slu… nyam… deli… myeon!”

A strange and mysterious voice began to echo through the thickets. Luca immediately raised his right arm at the sound, making everyone stop in their tracks.

“Somebody’s here,” Luca whispered.

“This… It’s a very unusual place.”

The members of Red Dragon Order nodded, still calm. After all, they have the strength to kill the Emperor during his meal if they ever wanted to. They believed that there was no enemy that they could not defeat. They continued to move forward, only to see a boy singing in his creepy and ghastly voice.

“Slurp, nyam, nyam! Slurp, nyam, nyam! Delicious Ramyeon[1]!”

Rio’s camera caught the figure of the boy causing a flood of comments from the viewers.

[Is that a Korean Ghost?] 

[What the hell? Isn’t this too scary? Why is that little boy sitting alone and singing in this dark and gloomy forest?]

[Is he the boy who lost his family in the forest?]

[Then, did he become a ghost with resentment…?]

Just like them, the members of the Red Dragon Order were also nervous. It was strange. How could they be nervous, right? Was the boy really a Korean Ghost?

“Hey,” Luca called out to the boy carefully. And then…

“Aaaaaaaack!!!”

…the boy jumped to his feet and turned to face them and asked, “What do you put in your ramyeon first? The noodles? Or the soup?”

1. A quick recall! This is the noodles song from Dooly the dinosaur ☜