Ares felt both dread and disbelief as hell on earth unfolded in front of him. The bodies of the dead soldiers that died under the hands of Death and his Death Legion piled up like a mountain all around him. The rankers tried to attack him and his liches, but it was not an easy feat.

‘What kind of monster is he…?!’

Death had nearly wiped out the 4,000 troops that came with Ares, all by himself. There were only around 300 of his troops left, and Death was still laughing and cackling in a grating manner.

‘His MP should be running out soon. By then, his undead will have disappeared already.’

It did not matter how strong Death was, there was no way for him to summon the undead continuously. He even used the ‘Undead’s Resurrection’ on the Barras Kingdom troops to bring them back to life and make them attack their comrades. The Undead Resurrection was a skill that consumed a lot of MP. The Death Knights that were summoned and rampaging around right now were also consuming a lot of his MP.

Finally, what Ares had hoped for, happened.

Shwaaaaaaaaaa—

Death’s thousands of troops in the Death Legion disappeared one after the other in streams of black energy, even those that have been resurrected with his Undead’s Resurrection had also disappeared. In fact, Death only had at most 7% of his MP left, and he could only maintain three Death Knights with him.

‘If I use Draining Dead, I might be able to fight again.’

Draining Dead was one of the Immortal class’ skills. It was a skill that recovered mana and replenished his MP by sucking in and draining the remaining mana in the bodies of the dead. The only problem was that it had a long casting time, and it was very difficult to use during a battle. Right now, after the black stream of energy disappeared, only around three Death Knights and twelve skeleton knights were left.

“Keuha, keuhahahahaha!”

Ares burst out laughing after feeling relief. A one man kingdom had defeated 4,000 strong troops that included many of the best rankers of the country. They even have the elite soldiers of Barras Kingdom with them. Losing against a single player would bring them unimaginable shame and disgrace. Fortunately, they now had the chance to make up for their shame.

“In the end, I’ll be able to take your neck,” Ares said as he led the surviving rankers and elite troops forward.

Death’s remaining undead were all staggering and creaking because their wounds and injuries failed to recover, since he had not been supplying them with enough MP.

‘One more time… I will never let you go to Atlas.’

It was because his first friend was there. Even though Death’s mental power was already at its limit, he still stood firm.

‘I wonder if they arrived safely in the territory?’

A subtle smile curled at the corner of his lips at the thought of the transportation convoy from Rocard Kingdom! Death hoped that they arrived safely.

The remaining three Death Knights and Skeleton Knights dashed forward to stop the incoming 300 enemy troops. But they were useless. The exhausted Death Knights’ skulls were easily smashed down by the enemy’s axe. Ares’ fists slammed into one of the Death Knights’ body thirty two times in a row, which turned it into a powder. Even the Skeleton Knights failed to withstand the attacks from the kingdoms’ elite soldiers.

Death gripped his scythe tightly as he cut down the incoming enemy soldiers one after the other.

“Keuaaaack!”

“Keheooook!”

Death looked like he was dancing as he cut down his enemies like crazy. Despite being exhausted, he still stood his ground.

“Kekekekekeke! Hahahahahaha! Ahihihihihi!”

Death laughed maniacally amidst his falling enemies while their blood splattered on his face. He looked completely like a mindless murderer, with his face soaked in blood and his white teeth peeking from the gaps of his eerie smile. However, not long after, a spear stabbed into Death’s back.

“Urk!”

Ares thought that it was worth watching. The elite royal soldiers would, in the end, trample on the ranker that created the greatest topic during the Athenae: World War.

“Urk!” Death spat out a mouthful of blood. But despite his trembling body, he still cut down the elite soldiers that tried to approach him. And finally…

Slaaaash—

A hand axe flew over his shoulder and broke his Bone Armor. The blow forced Death to fall down on one knee, hand clutching his injured shoulder. Then, one of the elite soldiers raised his sword to cut his neck off. But then…

Creaaaaak—

…a strange root popped up from the ground as it wrapped the soldier’s hand tightly.

“Ugh, ugh…!”

No matter how much the soldier struggled, he could not break free from the root. The exhausted Death turned around only to see the hundreds of people that made up the transportation convoy that he had just told earlier to flee. And they looked furious as they rushed forward.

“Get your hands off of him!”

“Don’t even dare to think about touching a single strand of his hair! We won’t let you off!!!”

They rushed forward and clashed against the soldiers.

“Keuhahahahahahahaha! Do you think you’ll be a match for the kingdom’s soldiers?!” Ares laughed loudly, finding this situation very funny.

But then, something very strange happened.

Bam—

One of the men brandished his heavy iron mace and blew away an elite kingdom soldier. Every time the farmer grandma swung her hands, roots would spring up and trap the soldiers and bring them down to their knees.

The elite kingdom soldiers were already exhausted. However, these farmers were not. On top of that, they were also the Hybrid Race, a race born with far superior DNA to humans. All of the people of their kingdom were soldiers and were no less than the elite soldiers of the Barras Kingdom.

In just a blink, they had broken through the gaps of the Barras Kingdom soldiers, dragged Death away from them, and brought him inside their own protective circle.

“Die!!!”

Ares was also exhausted. At some point, he had also run out of MP to the point where he could not use a single skill anymore. However, he still took the lead as he punched his way through the Hybrids.

Death spat out another mouthful of blood as he watched Ares approach. He said, “I told you to run…”

The one that was supporting Death was the father of one of the Rocard Knights that he had killed. He was one of the people that always trampled on him and killed him to vent his anger.

“Shut up! We’re just keeping you alive because we want you to die at our hands, and not at theirs!”

“Death. You have to die an agonizingly painful death in our hands!”

Although those were the words that they said, Death could feel the warmth from their voices and could not help but smile. However, Ares and the rankers were still very powerful. They Hybrids fell down one after another while shrieking in pain. But then…

Baaaaaaaaaang—

A man suddenly appeared in between them and the enemy troops. Both of the man’s hands held axes that he used to cut the enemies approaching the Hybrids.

“Lo… Locke?!”

That was right. It was Crazy Priest Locke.

The enemies were now in a state of complete exhaustion. On the other hand, Locke, who had just entered the battlefield, was still lively and energetic. He was too powerful for the exhausted Ares and other rankers, who could not even reach the top 1,000 in the rankings.

Slash—

Locke’s axes split Ares’ head and dealt with the enemies that approached them.

“…”

Fall—

Locke remained silent as he looked at Death, who ended up collapsing anyway. Locke was one of the few people that were reluctant to befriend and trust Death. However, looking at the situation right now…

‘Death protected Atlas Territory.’

Death fell after the battle ended. This just showed how much he struggled earlier and how desperate he was. And when Locke turned to look around…

‘Crazy…’

He could not believe it. Was this really the work of a single person? The number of enemies that Death had cut down was beyond anyone’s imagination.

Today was the day that Death had created the legend of fighting 4,000 troops alone.

***

The capital of Barras Kingdom was crowded with a huge number of troops, enough to fill the plaza. Their numbers easily exceeded 70,000. At this point in time, the players could already guess that Barras Kingdom was definitely preparing for war! And not long after, a notification rang for the players residing in Barras Kingdom.

[Kingdom Quest: Punishing Let’s Eat Sect.]

Rank: S

Requirements: Players affiliated with Barras Kingdom.

Rewards: Contribution will be paid in gold, artifacts and kingdom contributions.

Penalty for Failure: Will no longer be able to participate in the Let’s Eat Sect Punishment Force.

Description: The Kingdom of Barras is gathering troops to punish the Let’s Eat Sect. King Grain is very eager to support the foreigners in this war.

Quest Duration: The players and Let’s Eat Sect will not be placed under Chaotic or Half-Chaotic state even if they PK-ed each other. 

“Am… amazing!”

“It’s a Let’s Eat Sect Punishment Quest!”

“If not now, when else will we have the opportunity to hit Let’s Eat Sect?!”

Let’s Eat Sect was, without a doubt, the best guild in Korea. They owned two powerful territories and had plenty of rankers and Named NPCs. They were the subject of everyone’s envy. And this envy could change into something else in an instant.

The novices and ordinary players were beyond thrilled at the thought of being able to hunt and take them down with their numbers, a feat that was otherwise impossible for them.

Plenty of players participated in the Let’s Eat Sect Punishment Quest. As a result, the number of troops gathered in Barras Kingdom soon increased from 70,000 to 120,000. Of course, the number of novices and non-combat classes among them were quite considerable. However, with their number, they thought that it was definitely worth a try.

King Grain, who was standing on top of the walls, looked at the countless troops gathered on the plaza and raised his sword high up in the sky.

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

A loud roar rang loudly in the world.

***

The Athenae Community was boiling.

[Guys, are you participating in the Let’s Eat Sect Punishment Quest? Isn’t the deal extremely good? As long as we can kill a ranker and pick up their artifacts, then we’ll be able to hit the jackpot, right? Do you agree?]

[And it’s not only that. We’ll hit the jackpot even if we just pick up the artifacts that the people around us drop.]

[If we don’t join this quest, when else will we be able to get the opportunity to mess with the Let’s Eat Sect?]

[No matter how strong the Let’s Eat Sect is, it would be impossible for them to stop 120,000 troops, right?]

[Many top rankers from our country will also participate in this quest. Is there a chance that the Let’s Eat Sect Punishment Quest will continue even if we destroy Atlas and Valhalla?]

[I did not expect that quick progress and development will also be poison someday.]

The players were all excited for this new event-type quest and the number of players that flocked to Barras Kingdom continued to increase by the day.

The truth was they had been blinded by their huge numbers that they did not even imagine seeing a big fight ahead of them. It was also because they had no way of knowing that Let’s Eat Sect were allied with Death and Rocard Kingdom, and that they had hidden powers.

***

Many people were gathering in a secret basement somewhere in Barras Kingdom. The basement was huge and dark, but only a few candles had been lit. The man that had been welcoming the guests in this basement was Lauvredo, a knight that once dreamt of becoming Barras Kingdom’s Knight Commander.

The very same man that had been saved by Talmor’s Paladin Corr from his baldness just a few months prior.