King of the Dead, Death, had been receiving treatment for his burns recently from Kennedy, the world-renowned specialist and authoritative figure on burn treatment. It was thanks to the number that Minhyuk had handed to him before. He was very happy when he heard Kennedy say, ‘Medical technology these days is far more advanced than the technology from five or ten years ago. Especially here in America. Our new treatment technology can erase up to 99% of the burn without leaving any scarring.’

Kennedy’s words meant that Death would be able to get almost completely treated. In other words, he would finally be able to get rid of the thing that made the others call him a monster for a very long time. And it was all thanks to Minhyuk.

‘I have to change.’

Although Minhyuk did not accept him as a member of the Let’s Eat Sect, Death decided to become their silent and invisible shield. And just like any other day, Death headed to Rocard Kingdom again.

“Damn bastard! You came again?!!”

“I’ll definitely take your head with my hoe today!”

Creepy words that could make one shiver were once again hurled at Death. However, he just remained silent as he summoned his huge legion, before sending them to the buildings that were on the verge of collapse. As if familiar with this, the Hybrid Race did not stop them and surprisingly enough, the Undead Legion began to lift and clean up the remnants of the collapsed buildings. But what was more shocking was the fact that there were even Death Knights among the troops that Death had sent out. Death and his troops continued to work here and help them on their restoration. But of course…

“This goddamn bastard!”

“Do you think we’ll forgive you if you help us like that?!”

…the Hybrid Race did not forgive him. And Death, who was trying to change, said to them, “Hey! You lowly farmers!!! You think you’ll be able to kill me if you’re dressed like beggars in this cold weather?! You definitely live up to your name, penniless farmers! You guys are so annoying! Put this on! I just picked it up on my way here!”

Death threw hundreds of warm and toasty sweaters in front of them before going back inside Rocard Kingdom. This time, a boy rushed towards him and slammed a wooden sword on his leg.

“Bad guy! Die!!! I’ll definitely grow to become a strong guy like Sir Brod and kill bad guys like you!”

“Ey! You brat! Do you think I, Lord Death, the King of the Dead will die with something like that? Oh? I think it hurts a bit? Brat, it seems like you have the talent, huh? Ah. So annoying. Should I kill you? Hey, you annoying brat! Take this sword that I picked up on the way and get lost!”

Then, Death threw a shiny, well-sharpened sword on the floor and disappeared from the boy’s sight. He wandered around and greeted the people that he passed by as if he was going to the market.

“What are you looking at, old hag?! Don’t you know that the weather is already cold?! Why are you going around without wearing gloves?! So annoying, here! Take this pair of gloves! I picked it up on the way. What a damn nuisance!”

“What are you looking at?! You damn drunk old man! You reek of alcohol! So pathetic. Here! Have 100,000 gold and eat a warm bowl of soup with rice and get sober!”

Death continued to wander around. However, he had lived alone for a very long time and had long forgotten how to say friendly and nice words to others. He was basically the prime example of a tsundere! He was tsun-tsun Death!

Queen Iris watched as Death wandered around like that. They even made eye-contact for a moment.

‘Even if you do this, you know that none of them will forgive you. Right?’

‘But I’ll still come. Each and every day.’

This was because this was the only atonement that he could offer to them. Then, at that moment, Death…

“What are you looking at, granny?! You’re over 300 years-old huh?! Your bones must be cold! Every part of your body hurts?! This is why you have to go home quickly when you’re old! What are you doing out in the cold, huh?! I’ll put a stove in your house! Ah, don’t feel pressured, I only picked it up on the way here!”

“…”

Iris was dumbfounded with Death’s actions and words.

***

Atlas Territory was still continuing to develop and strengthen their military force, even after half a year had passed in Athenae, which was equivalent to two months' time in reality.

Brod had the Hybrid Race and the animals train together in a 1:1 training! Each Hybrid Race soldier was assigned an animal to train with. They could choose from the chickens, ducks, pigs, cows, horses, dogs and many more. However, at first, the soldiers felt that training with them was completely absurd.

‘Are you kidding me?’

‘We’re going to train together with the livestock?’

‘Did Sir Brod hit his head or something?’

They had no choice but to think like that.

“Cock-a~ doodle-do!!!”

The worse part? The soldiers had to live together with these animals. The chickens would crow loudly in the morning and wake them up. For those that were used to taking their time in waking up, they could not help but feel annoyed at this. And when they started training with the livestock…

‘Damn. Why are these damn animals so passionate about this?’

‘The animals are that eager to train?’

‘Do they not get exhausted?’

The soldiers watched the animals incredulously as they gave their all in training, even to the point of forgoing rest just so they could repay Brod’s kindness and love.

But after a week of intense training, the livestock grew tremendously. The big cows that were not swift on their feet could now move fast. What about the chickens? They could now fly like birds and sting and destroy things with their sharp beaks. The horses? Their speed increased tremendously and even their hind kicks could blast a soldier of decent power backward.

Was that all? Of course not.

The ducks that took flight in the sky flew faster by the day! Even the bulls charging force was getting harder to stop by the shield unit. However, the most surprising were the puppies. The puppies’ movement speed grew faster and their sense of smell heightened to around ten times their previous sense. They even started to see through the traps, mechanisms, and magic laid in front of them.

Brod even fanned the flames by saying, “It seems like you guys are far worse than the damn pigs that you ignore, huh?” and comparing the soldiers to the livestock! This was a huge blow to their self-esteem and pride. The biggest blow? The animals did not stop training until two in the morning. All of these combined made the soldiers feel pathetic and useless.

‘This… are we really far worse than those guys?’

‘Did I… did I already forget the pain of almost losing Rocard Kingdom before?’

‘Goddamn! Of course I also want to grow stronger!’

And…

“Cock-a-doodle-do!!!”

…they gradually began to welcome the chickens’ loud crows early in the morning.

“Our dear Cluck-clucks woke us early today too, huh?”

It did not end there. The soldiers started to ride on top of cows instead of horses! This was because they grew fond of the cows’ fast speed, solid and sturdy defense, and incredible charging force.

“You might be slower than the horses, but your charging force is much higher! Haha!”

“No one would be safe if you charged at them with your head!”

And that was not all! The soldiers also began to train the puppies. Even though they were training on a cold day, they felt immense warmth from the puppies that came to their arms.

“Did you come to warm me up because you think I will be cold?”

“Rascal! I promise to protect you forever, you brat!”

They began to interact and communicate with the animals that they were partnered with.

[Your communication with Oinky 21 has tremendously increased.]

[All of your stats will increase by 5% and your courage will dramatically increase whenever you’re with Oinky 21.]

[Your communication with Poodle 11 has tremendously increased.]

[All of your stats will increase by 5% and your courage as well as desire to protect Poodle 11 will dramatically increase whenever you’re with Poodle 11.]

These notifications continued to ring in their ears! And that was not all!

[Oinky 32 has grown and reached the evolution stage.]

[Cow 42 has grown and reached the evolution stage.]

[Pomeranian 32 has grown and reached the evolution stage.]

The animals began to evolve as they continued to grow. They would either grow smarter, get stronger, or gain special powers. The animals were now on par with general and ordinary monsters. The animals might look slightly different than monsters, but they were now more powerful than ordinary monsters. They even had a hundred times increase in their growth rate, so they grew ridiculously fast.

On the other hand…

“Sir Brod brought back another monster.”

“What kind of monster did he bring this time?”

“I heard it’s a mamboth.”

“Ho? Wait, a mamboth?!”

Brod kept on bringing in new monsters and animals from who knew where. As for the mamboths, they were huge elephant-type monsters that were larger than their animal counterpart. Their sheer power and charging force could easily overpower ogres. And right now, Brod had brought in thirty mamboths from somewhere.

Brod also gained the power which allowed him to give skills to either animals or monsters as long as he trained them repeatedly. And the skill that he gave to the mamboths was a skill that strengthened their body. Of course, Brod could not just make any skill for them, but the skill that he gave them had given these monsters a huge boost in power.

And right now, the soldiers of Atlas Territory began to grow rapidly together with the animals and monsters that Brod had brought in.

***

The appearance of a new king was bound to bring unrest to the kingdoms nearby. The new kingdom might start as a small one but the neighboring kingdoms, who could not know when this kingdom would grow stronger than their own, were bound to fear their existence.

And the same was true for the kingdoms in Athenae. There were two huge mountains in the form of Eivelis and Collodis Empires in the Asgan Continent. There were also several kingdoms in existence among these two large empires. And among these kingdoms was the Barras Kingdom.

Barras Kingdom was a kingdom famous for their production classes. It was also famous for having the best pharmacies in the entire continent. However, a kingdom was still a kingdom and the current level of the players in the game still would not be able to deal with a kingdom’s strong military force and outstanding NPCs. This small kingdom had joined hands with the Korean Guild Alliance.

“It’s an honor to be a part of your quest to punish the Let’s Eat Sect,” Ares Guild’s guild master Ares smiled.

Standing in front of him was the king of Barras Kingdom, Grain de Freid. The king shook his hand firmly and said, “I, Grain de Freid, will give you unlimited support for the destruction and elimination of the vicious and heinous cult, Let’s Eat Sect, who’s growing in power.”

King Grain de Freid of Barras Kingdom was growing uneasy with the ever increasing fragility of his kingdom’s position. What would happen if the Let’s Eat Sect, which would soon grow to become a kingdom, trampled on them? If that happened then they would eventually be torn apart and devoured by their neighboring kingdoms.

On the contrary, if he joined hands with these allied guilds and devoured the military forces of Let’s Eat Sect, as well as their infinite amount of resources, then their kingdom would become the strongest kingdom in the continent.

It seemed that Grain de Freid of Barras Kingdom was blinded by greed and had joined hands with the Let’s Eat Sect Punishment Alliance.

The Let’s Eat Sect Punishment Alliance was made up of more than 3,000 Korean rankers. And that was not all. Two of the four great guilds, the Ares and Iris Guilds, together with four out of the ten guilds of the Sun Guilds, had joined forces. The number of members of this alliance alone had reached 60,000. There would also be an additional 200,000 troops that would be sent by the Barras Kingdom to help.

However, Grain de Freid even made a more shocking remark, “Let’s Eat Sect’s force will not be easy to deal with, so I will start drafting new soldiers right now.”

Grain was aware that he was now walking the thread between life and death.

A huge gust of wind was blowing towards the Let’s Eat Sect in the form of the huge troops that the Barras Kingdom and guild alliance had deployed.