Chapter 1271

Chapter 1271

[Anonymous has reached the level of the pillar supporting the world through cooking.]

[He has made a Pillar Dish.]

Eunuch Brod chuckled when he heard the notification in his ears.

‘Your Majesty, please keep on moving forward just like that.’

It was the same for Brod. He no longer wanted to step back and back down; he wanted to move forward.

“Greetings, Your Majesty.”

Brod spoke up with the thinnest and sharpest voice that he could muster. Alas, it was tough to do.

Fortunately, Emperor Cardin seemed not to care. Perhaps it was because he was under the effects of brainwashing. Just when he was about to call out to Cardin, who was looking out of the window blankly...

An urgent cry rang in the audience room. “Your Majesty! They have committed treason! Prince Rudin has rebelled!”

Rudin was the prince born between Nerva and a woman of low class. Like any other emperor, Nerva once had many women in his harem. Because of that, Rudin was born carrying the emperor's blood.

Although the emperor’s blood ran in his veins, the status of Rudin’s mother was far too low, to the point that no one ever called him a prince. He was not even living in the Luvien Empire. Even rumors of his death reached Nerva and the Luvien Empire. Yet, they did not even deem it necessary to answer. Basically, they did not care.

Brod knew the truth about the matter. He thought,

‘As soon as Nerva heard the rumors, he came out to check the truth. He had found Rudin’s body at that time.’

If that was the case, then who was the Rudin who had rebelled and committed treason here?

‘He’s the fake Prince Rudin that Boleyn had created. No one in the Luvien Empire knew what Rudin looked like except for Nerva.’

Regardless, there was one thing that Brod was sure of. Boleyn would have used someone powerful to disguise as Rudin. And this person standing at the center of this rebellion would be one of the people of Immune, the best intelligence agency in Athenae.

At the same time, a very unexpected scenario unfolded in front of Brod.

“The people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire had taken advantage of the rebellion and had stormed the capital.”

“It seems like news of the coup d'état had spread quickly and had reached the ears of the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.”

“The vassals, with Spear God Ben at the center, are charging in.”

“Their target is His Majesty! We have to evacuate quickly!”

“...!”

Brod’s expression grew ugly. A setback has appeared in their plans. Why? Because he never imagined that the vassals of the Beyond the Heavens Empire would storm the capital of the Luvien Empire and charge straight toward the imperial palace.

Unfortunately, Emperor Cardin only moved by following the orders that Boleyn had left behind for him. He declared, “I will not evacuate. I will fight.”

Eunuch Brod hurriedly chased after Emperor Cardin, who had taken his sword and worn his armor and left.

***

[1st Place: Pillar of Gourmands Minhyuk. 35,131,010 points.]

[The first Pillar Wars have ended. Player Minhyuk is the candidate closest to becoming the Pillar.]

The branch managers were stunned by the unexpected result flashing on the screen.

Even Team Leader Park thought,

‘I had expected that an upset would occur when he chose to collect all the items he could obtain first. But this...’

He had not expected that Minhyuk would rank first among the eight candidates and do so by an overwhelming margin over the second place.

“Is... this fine...?”

All of the branch managers, except Branch Manager Ito, were genuinely impressed by the tenacity and will that the player named Minhyuk had shown them. As they looked at him through the screen, these thoughts flashed in their heads...

‘He probably is truly worthy of being a Pillar.’

‘He’s also the player recognized as the Supreme.’

However, none of them ever imagined that there would come a day when a player could become a pillar. The scariest thing was the Eight Pillars’ Disaster that Minhyuk would get once he became a Pillar.

“If Player Minhyuk obtains an Eight Pillars’ Disaster related to cooking then... I can’t even imagine how much power he can wield.”

Since the Eight Pillars’ Disaster was exclusive to the Eight Pillars, if a player obtained this power, it would most likely force the balance to collapse. Nonetheless, this could be considered to be a reasonable balance breaker. After all, a Pillar had to possess that much strength.

At this moment, the American branch manager, the other branch managers, and even Team Leader Park realized they were worrying too much.

“It’s impossible for him to deal with seven candidates alone.”

Well, it was not necessarily impossible. After all, they had witnessed several variables in the form of items and the Pillar-grade dish that Minhyuk had made during the first war. Nevertheless, they believed that it would be unlikely for such variables to appear.

“Although 5,000 of his soldiers had grown by leaps and bounds, they are still nothing compared to the other candidates.”

“I believe Boleyn will be the one to become a Pillar this time. After all, if we look at the scoring system, he will be the one who will get the highest score in the second Pillar Wars. And if you add that score to his score in the first Pillar Wars, then his chances of becoming the Pillar will be the greatest.”

Boleyn’s score in the first Pillar Wars was already very high. Although he did not obtain first place in the first Pillar Wars, he would become a Pillar if he could get first place in the second Pillar Wars.

The American Branch’s manager continued, “The thing we are worried about will not happen. From what I can see, Player Minhyuk will die the fastest. Since he will be under their heavy attacks.”

Perhaps this was only natural.

Everyone focused their attention on the screen once again. The screen showed the furious expression on the faces of the seven Pillar Candidates as they watched the enemy troops disappear once the first Pillar Wars ended.

Boleyn was an assassin and the head of an intelligence agency. However, there was a particular reason why the other Pillar Candidates chose to cooperate with him. Boleyn could turn seventy percent of all the enemies he killed in a day into his clones.

When all the enemy troops disappeared, Boleyn crouched and placed his hand on the ground. At that moment, black wisps of energy floated from the ground until they formed faceless figures. These were Boleyn’s clones. They had no features on their faces and only had a dagger in their hands. Around three million clones appeared before him.

The American Branch’s manager’s eyes remained glued to the screen as he said, “Boleyn’s power ignores the restriction on clones. The restriction where the clones’ abilities would decrease the more clones were created.”

Surprisingly enough, Boleyn’s cloning power was different. Just like the branch manager said, the strength of his clones was not dependent on their numbers. They would not grow weaker if there were too many of them nor stronger if only a few. They all possessed sixty percent of Boleyn’s attack and defensive power. They even possessed the same abilities as Boleyn.

The fact that these clones were modeled after the Pillar Candidate and assassin Boleyn and also possessed sixty percent of his powers was proof of how outstanding the cloning skill was. Of course, it was not as if it was invincible too.

“However, their HP and MP are only twenty percent of Boleyn’s HP and MP. This is its only disadvantage.”

“If you think about it, they don’t have to pay much attention to their HP and MP. After all, they are modeled after Boleyn, an assassin.”

In the first place, assassins were supposed to use quick movements to deal countless critical blows to their enemies. They weren’t meant to fight head-on and were supposed to avoid confrontations with their enemies.

And right now, such a large army of assassins were charging forward.

***

Boleyn was highly furious. As soon as he was convinced that he was ranked first in the first Pillar Wars, the rankings suddenly changed. The difference between his score and Minhyuk’s score suddenly widened by an overwhelming amount. He had thought that first place was his, but he lost it just like that.

Boleyn had never entertained the thought that he would not become a Pillar. Although he was confident, he felt an intense hatred for Minhyuk, who had created many setbacks in his plans. After all, he had never experienced things going wrong in his life before.

[Please move to the battlefield where the second Pillar Wars will commence.]

Initially, the candidates would have to fight in different places during the first of the Pillar Wars. But since they had allied, they would be fighting in the same place. As for the second part of the Pillar Wars, they were meant to eventually meet in a single place together and engage in a fierce battle.

The three million assassins created by Boleyn and the two hundred fifty thousand surviving allied troops marched alongside the seven Pillar Candidates to kill the fifty thousand enemy troops under the single Pillar Candidate, Minhyuk.

Not long after, they caught sight of Minhyuk’s figure. It seemed like he had arrived first and had been waiting for them for quite some time.

Minhyuk, standing at the forefront, was quite surprised when he saw more than three million shadow-like enemy troops appear. He watched as Boleyn and the other Pillar Candidates took a step toward him.

[The second Pillar wars will now begin.]

Boleyn stared at Minhyuk and said, “Let’s make a deal.”

Boleyn believed that Minhyuk knew the current situation better than anybody else. That was why he wanted to strike a deal.

“As you can see, the seven of us here have almost 3.3 million troops under our command. Also, I can confidently say that I have the greatest chance at becoming a Pillar today.”

No one could deny those words. Even Minhyuk, who had always won when the odds weren’t in his favor, did not have much expectation toward the results of these wars.

“I fully understand how capable and talented you are,” Boleyn said, his eyes filled with desire. He coveted Minhyuk’s talents.

He was set to obtain the Luvien Empire. And if he could win over the emperor of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, an empire that was on par with the Luvien Empire, then he would indeed become a man who had nothing to fear.

“If you cooperate with me now, then I will not touch anything related to you. I will even help you prosper.”

For a player, these words were like a sweet whisper of temptation. This was an entirely feasible scenario. If the Beyond the Heavens Empire gained the protection of the Pillar of Death Boleyn, they could grow stronger and bigger. However, that was only on the condition that they would submit to Boleyn and obey his commands.

Minhyuk sneered, “How can a tiger bow down in front of a cat?”

Minhyuk did not want the Beyond the Heavens Empire to bloom and prosper under someone’s rule. They had built the Beyond the Heavens Empire with their own hands, and he wanted to protect it with his own power.

Boleyn shook his head. “Then I will show you the consequences of your choices. In just five minutes, I will wipe out your army.”

Meanwhile, the five thousand soldiers who ate the dish that Minhyuk had made laughed at them. Right now, they had nothing to fear. Three million enemies? That was nothing. Didn’t they just kill two million enemy troops with just five thousand of them earlier? That was just how incredible the power of Minhyuk’s dishes was.

However, that was them being complacent. In truth, it was tough for any person to remain rational, especially when given a temporary yet massive boost in power. Nevertheless, Minhyuk did not bother to correct them or tell them about the current situation. He knew their morale would go down if he spoke those words.

Commander Jeim was among those who had eaten a God-grade dish from Minhyuk. He shouted, “All troops, escort His Majesty to the enemies—!”

At that moment, the first shot was fired.

“Instant Death.”

Fwoosh!

“...?”

At that moment, Commander Jeim’s heart was pierced by something.

[Instant Death.]

[You have a 100% chance of hitting your enemy and reducing their HP by 50%.]

[The enemy will fall in a ten-second stunned state.]

The confused Jeim was left in a stunned state. But then, he saw three million shadows appear all over the place. They all held daggers in their hands and began to attack their troops.

Just like that, Jeim’s HP dropped at a fast pace. When he could finally look around, he saw the once firm and sturdy five thousand strong soldiers faltering in their steps.

However, their strength was not something Boleyn’s clones could easily deal with and be overwhelmed by.

[The Pope God’s Oppression.]

The issue at hand was that the enemies were Pillar Candidates. This meant they also possessed special powers that no other person could have. Paladins’ Pope Eris raised his holy sword. A power surge erupted at that moment, creating a light chain that fell upon Minhyuk and his troops.

[All of your skills will be restricted for three minutes.]

The soldiers had to rely on their skills. But now that their skills were restricted, the five thousand strongmen and the remaining forty-five thousand soldiers, who did not eat Minhyuk’s buffed dishes, were getting swept away. Minhyuk quickly joined the battle and dealt with the enemies. Of course, he was also having a hard time since his skills were restricted.

Meanwhile, the other Pillar Candidates began to narrow the distance between them. And with every skill that these Pillar Candidates activated, the soldiers under Minhyuk’s command would die.

They mocked Minhyuk.

“Do you even think there’s a way for you to break through?”

“There’s seven of us here, Food God.”

“You have power? But what can that power do to us? Ah. Come to think of it, your powers have been restricted, no?”

As for Jeim, blood continued to spurt out of his chest. He realized that they were in a situation without any breakthrough. The path ahead was hopeless and only death awaited them. At the same time, it occurred to him that he would soon die too.

‘All of His Majesty’s powers are under a restriction. We are all strong but we’re nothing but shells of what we once were. Your Majesty...’

At that moment, Minhyuk passed by Jeim. After clearing the enemies around Jeim, he looked back at his dying soldiers and said, “It has been my pleasure fighting with you. I am sorry I couldn’t protect you.”

Minhyuk knew he could not declare that he could save them. However, he was still happy that he could fight alongside these people in this place, albeit only temporarily.

“I don’t dare say that I can save you, but I can make you a promise. I will make sure to avenge you and soothe your resentment by killing the more than three million troops in front of us.”

“...Your Majesty?” Jeim mumbled, a look of confusion on his face.

Minhyuk turned his back to them. However, he did not do anything. He just stood there and silently looked at the enemies before them.

“They told me that they will wipe out my troops in five minutes. In that case, I...” Minhyuk said, his tone dripping cold as he glared at the seven Pillar Candidates and the soldiers they had brought back to life. “In three seconds, I will annihilate all troops except for the seven Pillar Candidates. Let this be my apology to you.”

“Three seconds?!”

“Wahahahahahahaha!”

“You f*cking crazy bastard!”

“You’re spouting bullshit...”

Minhyuk looked back at his dying soldiers and began the countdown.

“

Three

.

“

Two.

”

Meanwhile, the other Pillar Candidates continued to laugh at his ridiculous claims. But then...

Ting!

An unknown sound rang in the battlefield.

“The cry of a sword?”

“Hmmm? The sound of a sword?”

It was the unmistakable sound that usually rang when someone tapped the blade of their sword with their fingers. The pure sound of the blade of the sword echoed loudly in the battlefield.

“

One.

”

Then, Minhyuk called someone’s name. He said, “Conir. Cut them all down.”

[The greatest Sword God has activated the Heart Sword’s Final Chapter.]

[Ten Thousand Li Sword.]

[The sword will cut down all enemies, no matter where they are, and inflict 15,000% additional damage.]

[The injuries of those who the Ten Thousand Li Sword had cut down will never be able to heal or recover.]

A sword invisible to the naked eye shot out and cut through the more than three million troops on the battlefield. The imposing and fearsome three million troops all turned into ashes scattered with the wind.

As for the seven Pillar Candidates? Blood could be seen spurting all over their bodies.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!

When the sword’s cry ended, only the seven Pillar Candidates were left standing on the battlefield.