“Retreat! Retreat!!!”

“Quickly! Retreat!!!”

The entire world was left reeling in shock, after watching the surviving 30,000 soldiers of the Barras Kingdom troops run away.

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

The ones that arrived to help Let’s Eat Sect all raised their weapons high up in the sky, as they cheered loudly and enthusiastically. Their shouts were a testament to their victory in this ridiculous battle as they watched the enemy troops retreat.

Genie, after declaring a famous line that would leave its mark and remain forever in the history of Athenae, smiled and said, “We will immediately advance towards Barras Kingdom’s capital and bring down King Grain.”

Thirty thousand men would take a long time to get to Barras Kingdom while retreating. On the contrary, Let’s Eat Sect’s core force, a grand total of twenty people, would be able to move a lot faster. In other words, they could easily overtake the retreating forces and bring down King Grain and Barras Kingdom’s capital faster.

This was it. They were now going to make Minhyuk a king.

‘Minhyuk.’

The amazing dishes that he gave them during his brief appearance was something that made all of them, including Genie, feel amazing.

When Genie turned around, she saw Elpis sitting on the ground and looking at the dish that Minhyuk made for him.

***

Elpis once again took out his earphones and stuck them in his ears to listen to music after the war ended.

“Assa… One… Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly…”

Elpis found the song’s melody to be so beautiful to the point that it made his eyes water. This was the song about the lonely flight of a tiger swallowtail butterfly! Oh, how beautiful the words were! Elpis grinned widely as he listened to his song and looked at the dishes that Minhyuk made for him.

‘Minhyuk… thank you…’

Anyone that saw the wide and brilliant smile on his face would never believe that he was the Lesser Demon of the past.

Elpis heart thumped happily when he saw the dishes that Minhyuk made for him. His smile never left his face as he stared at the garlic bread and soup that he placed in front of him.

Elpis’ family had been poor. As a child, he rarely encountered lavish dishes. But once in a while, his mother would make them some delicious delicacies. And this garlic bread and soup was among them. Elpis felt Minhyuk’s warm sentiments in this dish.

‘Elpis, enjoy your meal.’

Although Minhyuk was not here, Elpis felt like Minhyuk was standing in front of him and saying these words to him. Then, someone sat in front of him and said, “Enjoy this meal. Our lord stayed up for days and did not even get a wink of sleep just to make these for us.”

Elpis looked up, only to see Let’s Eat Sect’s Sword, Brod, who was also preparing to eat the dish that was made for him.

“Let’s… enjoy… the… meal… Sir Brod…”

Brod chuckled at Elpis. They had a long talk, which strengthened their bonds.

Elpis could not hear a sound around him, despite the loud and boisterous cheers that celebrated their victory. He was focused solely on the warm garlic bread and soup in front of him. He grabbed his spoon and took a sip from the spoonful of soup, which immediately caused a rich, creamy, and savory flavor to spread in his mouth. It brought a smile to his face.

‘De… licious…’

This tasted like the dish that his mother made for him. No, in fact, it tasted a lot better than that. Then, Elpis picked up the garlic bread that was sprinkled with parsley powder. Just one look at the warm bread and he could already tell that there would be a ‘crunch—‘ the moment he bit on it. And just like he expected…

Crunch—

A loud crunch rang from his mouth as he took one, two bites from the bread. The crispy texture and savory flavor of the bread spread in his mouth with every bite, making him smile even wider. This time, Elpis dipped the garlic bread in the soup. The thick and creamy soup covered the garlic bread and entered his mouth. As he continued to smile in bliss, a notification about a tremendous buff, the same buff that the others had heard, rang loudly in his ears.

After finishing everything and cleaning up, Elpis looked up at the sky with a blissful, content expression on his face. The meadows were green and beautiful as usual and the white clouds continued to float freely in the blue sky, while the birds sang happily. Elpis hoped that this happiness, this joy, would last forever. But someone was trying to take away that happiness from him.

***

The loud shouts and cheers from Let’s Eat Sect rang loudly in the ears of the retreating 30,000 troops. Duke Yverone was still in a state of disbelief. He thought, ‘How… How…! A kingdom alone will not be able to destroy a guild like that…!’

Yverone knew that this was the end of Barras Kingdom. The king that sent troops to the front would definitely be dragged to the ground by his people. Let’s Eat Sect would then devour him and create a new kingdom.

‘At the very least, I saved 30,000 troops.’

It was his only relief. Duke Yverone was a trashy noble ,but he knew that he needed to save the remaining 30,000 troops. He knew that he could not fight a losing battle, especially if he knew that everyone would die here. Saving them was the correct choice of action.

But then, at that moment, a huge shadow was suddenly cast over them.

“…?”

Yverone looked up at the sky in doubt. What he saw made his eyes widen in shock.

“Heoooooooook?!”

This was because two gigantic black arms were floating in the air. The black arms held a huge parchment and…

Riiiiiiiip—

…a blazing flame erupted and wrapped around the torn parchment. Then, the black fire directly fell down on the ground.

Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa—

The troops could not avoid the blazing flames. This was because the fire spread rapidly and devoured the soldiers the moment it fell on the ground.

“Heooooook?!” Duke Yverone shrieked as he watched the flames devour the soldiers’ flesh and bones, until they turned into ashes. The flames did not stop and eventually reached Duke Yverone and engulfed him.

Shwaaaaaaaaaaa—

His flesh burned and revealed his skeleton, which ended up breaking down into ashes and disappearing in the air. This strange and mysterious disaster engulfed and consumed the 30,000 retreating troops in an instant.

***

ATV’s PD Kim Daeguk felt his heart burn in delight after watching Let’s Eat Sect gain victory against the large army that Barras Kingdom sent. However, their happiness did not last for long. The employees that were watching the monitors closely suddenly shrieked.

“What, what the hell is that?!”

“What is that…?!”

PD Kim Daeguk turned around in doubt. He hurried towards the monitor, only to see a huge fire engulfing the retreating 30,000 troops. He would not be surprised if it was simply a huge fire. But this fire, shockingly enough, had engulfed the 30,000 troops and turned them into gray ashes in just three minutes.

Then, they watched as the gigantic black arms twitched. Whatever or whoever it was, they were gigantic. Starting with the black arms that were floating above the ground, his upper body and lower body started to form and take shape.

Finally, his gigantic face appeared. The face looked ugly and rugged, with yellow eyes that looked similar to that of a lizard's, and two huge horns on top of his head. There was also a black cape fluttering on his back. The man stood in the sky and watched the 30,000 troops that disappeared in a blink with an indifferent look on his face.

Not long after, a shocking notification shook the entire continent.

[Great Demon Verus is descending.]

“Great Demon… Verus…?”

With that, the number one search word was soon dominated by Great Demon Verus. And since the notification rang all over the world, broadcasting stations all over the world started broadcasting the scene.

***

The entire world was in an uproar.

[Great Demon Verus suddenly devoured the retreating 30,000 Barras Kingdom Troops and descended.]

[So far, Great Demon Verus has never shown his true self to the public.]

[Black Dragon Vormon can’t even compare with Great Demon Verus. Right now, he’s heading towards Let’s Eat Sect, who’s cheering for their victory.]

Their voices reverberated all over the world. The viewers watching the war between Let’s Eat Sect and Barras Kingdom were all mortified.

“The Great Demon… how… how can humans win against that…”

The sudden turn of events flustered and cooled down the excitement that the viewers felt when they watched Let’s Eat Sect gain victory. In the end, plenty of people started protesting against Athenae. Since they were players, they knew that a great demon was someone that the current mankind could not fight against.

All of the executives rushed inside one of Joy Co. Ltd.’s meeting rooms. Waiting for them inside was the grim looking President Kang Taehoon.

“President…” Team Leader Park Minggyu called out in a trembling voice.

“You’re here. Everyone should calm down,” President Kang Taehoon said, but his voice was trembling and weak.

Minhyuk had brought Diablo under his command. Diablo’s fate as an integral character was not meant to be written like that. However, one player had changed the NPC’s fate and gave him a new lease in life. That resulted in this disaster that was coming straight for Let’s Eat Sect.

“Fortunately, Verus descended using the Letter of Disaster.”

The Letter of Disaster would halve the power of the person that used the parchment. Even if that was the case, Verus was still ridiculously strong.

“His summon time is one hour. What Verus wants is Diablo and not the destruction of Let’s Eat Sect. As long as Diablo goes with Verus, then no disaster would befall them. Verus knows that he shouldn’t remain on Earth for too long. Otherwise, he would risk the chance of being sealed.”

Everyone nodded at Taehoon’s words. This fact brought relief to them. As long as Verus took Diablo back with him, then he would disappear without a care in the world.

But then, Park Minggyu said, “President. That’s not Diablo. That’s Elpis.”

“…”

Kang Taehoon and the executives were all left speechless. They all knew what he ‘meant’ with those words.

“Wasn’t the president happy about it too? No, wasn't everyone here quite happy when it happened?”

It was true. They enjoyed it. They were happy to see the unfortunate artificial intelligence that they had created meet new people and live a new life. They were all very surprised, yet at the same time, they were grateful to Minhyuk for allowing their creation to know what kind of place this virtual reality was like.

Virtual reality, at the heart of it, was all about pioneering ones’ self and creating new paths that they could tread on their own. That was right. Kang Taehoon had watched him happily when he saw how Elpis was living a life different from his unlucky life before.

“But now…”

Their best bet was for him to leave. Still, Kang Taehoon couldn’t help the selfish thoughts that flashed in his head, ‘Don’t go with him, Elpis.’

***

“We did it! We won!!!”

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Let’s Eat Sect and their allies jumped in joy.

Elf King Gorn approached the Dragon King and offered a handshake, “Let’s forget about the past. Come visit us at Elvenheim.”

“That would be good.”

Marquis Brad, who was leading the spearmen, stood in front of Ghost Spear Ben.

“Haha~ The brats that I know of are quite useful too, huh?”

“Thank you, master.”

Just when they were indulging in their victory, the players around them suddenly froze in place.

[Great Demon Verus is descending.]

Then, their faces hardened imperceptibly. There was no player who did not know of Great Demon Verus. But now, he had descended upon them.

“Well, he can come for all I care.”

“Haha. I know, right?”

They all nodded. All they needed to do was to rejoice. They did not need to fear someone that was far away from them. But then, at that moment…

“Huh? Th, that…”

…someone shouted. That was when they saw the huge black figure that was approaching them from the sky above. Only then did they realize what Great Demon Verus came here for.

Elpis trembled when he saw Verus approaching from afar.

‘But I’m… happy… now…’

Elpis’ pupils shook. Then, the Great Demon Verus snapped his huge fingers…

Thuuuud—

Thuuud—

Thuud—

Thud—

“Keuhaaaaaaack!”

“Keheok!”

“Euaaaaack!”

…and all of the members and allies of Let’s Eat Sect, who were enjoying their victory just a few moments earlier, were forced to kneel down and suffer.

[Great Demon Verus has appeared!]

[The approaching Great Demon Verus’ powerful demonic energy has brought terror and fear upon you.]

[You won’t be able to control your body from the numbing fear.]

[All stats will decrease by 20%.]

[Your troops’ morale has dramatically decreased.]

[Ordinary humans will lose their will to fight in Verus’ presence.]

[Verus’ demonic energy has restricted the breathing of all the ordinary humans present.]

[Verus’ Wrath.]

[You have been subjected to Verus’ Wrath. You will not be able to move for three minutes.]

[Everyone will be equal in front of the Great Demon Verus for three whole minutes.]

“Keuhaaaaaaack!”

“Keuhoooook!”

“Euaaaaaack!”

Elf King Gorn, Dragon King, Bard, Ghost Spear Ben and the rest of the troops were forced to kneel on the ground. They could not even move an inch from their position.

“Keuheeeeeeeeeck!”

“Aaaaaaaaaack!”

The soldiers were even bleeding from their mouths and ears. While everyone was incapacitated and could not move, only Elpis stood. He stood idly as he watched the approaching Verus. Then, Verus opened his mouth and said…

[Come with me or I’ll kill them all.]

“…”

And Elpis walked, one step at a time, towards Verus.