Chapter 232: The New Vassal

(Corr)

Rank: Legendary

Type: Vassal

Level: 504

Attack: 5,321

Defenss: 3,151

Special Abilities:

Passive Skill: Athenae’s Prayer

?Active Skill: Athenae’s Swordsmanship

?Active Skill: Athenae’s Shield

Potential: 139

Experience Value: 18% / 100%

‘N…no! Who said that I’m going to accept you!!’

Minhyuk was shocked. Unfortunately, Corr did not look like he regretted being Minhyuk’s vassal.

Just like what Minhyuk said, it was not something easy. First, the priests and paladins of the Athenae Religion were people who served God Athenae. For this reason, they could not easily bend down and serve others. However, there was one exception. It would be possible for them to willingly serve another, if the person’s Holy Power was twice as high as their Holy Power.

Joy Co. Ltd. thought that it was not an easy feat. After all, the requirement was having a Holy Power that was twice as high as the Holy Power of Athenae’s priests and paladins! Who would actually have that?

However, Minhyuk had once saved Corr and even Loyna. This was the reason why Minhyuk was qualified as a master. Minhyuk’s eyes were filled with tears as he quickly looked through the skills that he could use. His eyes widened when he saw Athenae’s Prayer.

(Athenae’s Prayer)

Passive Skill

Level: 8

Effects:

?When the prayer is invoked, the natural recovery rate of HP and MP for players or NPCs within a five-meter radius will be increased by 15%.

?When the prayer is invoked, the surrounding animals and plants will grow richer and faster.

?When the prayer is invoked, the mind will become relaxed and the person’s thoughts will disappear just like the effects of meditation.

‘Yeah, since it’s already like this anyway…’

Minhyuk said, “Corr. There’s something that I need you to do for me in the future.”

“Yes!”

The Commander of the Paladins, Corr was waiting for his orders with his right fist raised over his heart!

“From now on, you will be a farmer.”

“….?”

Corr tilted his head in confusion. This was because of the second effect of the skill Athenae’s Prayer! It said that the surrounding animals and plants would grow richer and faster. Even though the NPC was powerful, Minhyuk did not need this useless strength. However, if he was a farmer, that would be a different story.

The Saint’s Sword burst out a bright light.

[Saint’s Protection.]

[Your physical attack, defense and magical attack, defense will increase by 30% of your Holy Power for 15 minutes.]

[Your Vassal Corr’s physical attack, defense and magical attack, defense will increase by 20% of his Holy Power for 15 minutes.]

Carn moved the moment another light bursted out of the Saint’s Sword. Two mysterious dark hands appeared on top of his head as they held the kayageum and plucked the strings. Meanwhile, the Slow Violin appeared in Carn’s hands and…

Shweeeeeeeek—

…a much darker black demonic energy seeped out from the blackened violin the moment Carn played the instrument. Dozens of the thicker and darker demonic energy began to pour down on Minhyuk and Corr.

Paladin Corr immediately summoned his square shield with the cross symbolizing the Athenae Religion. The square shield grew larger until it was large enough to protect them. Thankfully, this skill did not fall under the Holy Power category, so he was able to use it.

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

Dozens of black sword lights collided with the large shield.

‘…Crazy! His attacks are too strong!”

Although Corr was treated and had the Saint’s Protection, the attacks were still too strong.

“Keup!”

The impact of the demonic energy hitting his Athenae Shield kept on pushing Corr back.

Saint’s Protection was largely influenced by the ‘Holy Power’ of a person. Corr’s Holy Power was about 900, so all his other stats had increased by 180. The increase in his stats was equivalent to an increase of about 100 levels. However, their enemy has also become more powerful.

Corr suddenly heard Minhyuk’s voice from behind. He said, “Corr!”

“Yes!”

“Provoke the enemy.”

“Provoke?”

“Yes.”

“You moron!”

“…”

“…”

Minhyuk was suddenly at a loss when he heard his words. He looked at Corr blankly and said, “N…no. Give me some more foul language. You were so natural earlier…”

“Th…that was just something I did unconsciously.”

“Then! Just provoke him unconsciously!”

Paladin Corr had never cursed or used foul language in his entire life. No, that was not right. He did it a little by mistake earlier. However, the usually upright and righteous Paladin Corr had banned himself from swearing and cursing, as much as he could, while he served God Athenae. It seemed that right now, he had to swear to get a chance to live.

“Shit, you dumbass! How dare you! You look just like a mere demonic servant and you dare set us up! Look at you! You look just like the spinach that I ate yesterday!!! You f*cking arrogant bastard! Should I shove my sword in your ass?!”

Paladin Corr let out a torrent of curses and swear words. At that moment, it felt like his twenty years of constipation was slowly going down the drain, making his chest feel lighter. Indeed, Paladin Corr had just realized his true calling.

“Haaaak ptew!?Is that all you can do?!!! Can you even break through my Athenae Shield with just that?! You f*cking moron!”

“Y…you don’t have to anymo…”

“Be quiet, Minhyuk, you punk!”

“…”

“Ah. I feel so excited and thrilled.”

A subtle smile hung around Paladin Corr’s lips.

There was only one reason why Minhyuk asked Corr to provoke their enemy. It was because during his fight with the Ancient Monarch before, the Monarch fired and triggered his most powerful skills after he got provoked. He vaguely felt that Carn was similar to the Ancient Monarch.

Black tendrils of demonic energy started to rampage in the kayageum and the violin.

[The Advent of the Frightening Demon.]

Shwaaaaaaaaaaa!

Hundreds of black sword lights began to pour out of the instruments. Even the ground began to shake as if it was going to explode.

At that exact same moment, Minhyuk pulled out his Bowl and Mixer. He set the bowl on the mixer's stand, placed the beaters in the bowl, then began to crank the mixer.

[Cancel.]

[Voids and nullifies all skills and magical skills within a five-meter radius of the player’s surroundings.]

More than half of the hundreds of black sword lights disappeared. The tremor in the ground also disappeared instantly. However, that was only the case for the five-meter area surrounding Minhyuk. Outside of the area, there was still pandemonium as sword lights and tremors continued to run rampant.

Minhyuk stepped forward as he increased the size of his frying pan.

[Frying Pan Gigantification.]

[You can adjust the size of your frying pan depending on the mana that you will input.]

The huge frying pan blocked the remaining hundreds of sword lights, as well as the explosions from the ground.

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

“He…he’s done for…”

“He couldn’t possibly block that.”

The players sighed in regret. Just a moment ago, they saw the cacophony of attacks. All they could do was sigh ruefully at the bitter end of the player that stood to protect Loyna.

However, on the contrary, Minhyuk walked out intact. Then, he said, “…It did not hurt a bit? Maybe just like a mosquito bite?”

“…!”

Carn staggered back.

Minhyuk checked the status of his body. Due to the continuous explosions, his HP had continued to decline.

‘About 0.5% each strike?’

The attacks only meted out those puny damages. He recalled about the Saint’s Protection which increased all his other basic stats by 30% of his Holy Power. Right now, Minhyuk’s Holy Power has already exceeded 4,000. On top of that, Pandora’s helmet had a special effect of doubling his Holy Power. This meant that he had at least 8,000 points in his Holy Power.

30% of an 8,000 Holy Power stat could give him a tremendous amount of strength. In other words, he had an increase of more than 2,500 in all his physical attack and defense, as well as magical attack and defense. Having a 2,500 increase in all of those was a tremendous boost to his strength.

For example, a Level 100 player could have 1,000 points on their physical attack and defense. This meant that players at this level would not be able to beat players with 2,000 points on their physical attack and defense. This would still be the case even if five people of the same level attacked the same opponent. When their physical attack fell short of their enemy’s physical defense, their enemies would automatically get the ability to ‘escape and avoid’ their attacks. This was the reason why a Level 100 player would not be able to deal a lot of damage on players with much higher stats than them, unless they happened to land a critical strike.

Minhyuk’s situation was just like that. Comparing that to the situation before, Carn would be a player at Level 150 while Minhyuk, with his Saint’s Protection, was a player over Level 200.

“…W…what the hell?”

“This is so ridiculous?”

“Don’t you think that this is too much of a scam?”

The players were all in a buzz. However, Minhyuk just kept on advancing towards the flustered Carn.

Carn quickly pulled at the strings of his violin.

Shweeeeeek—

Clang!

Just when his attacks collided with Minhyuk’s Armor of Immortality, all of the sword lights got neutralized.

Plop, plop, plop, plop—

Carn played the kayageum and the violin continuously.

Shweeeeeek—

Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!

[Your HP has dropped to 95%.]

[Your HP has dropped to 93%.]

“Hmm. So that’s how it is.”

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

Explosions occurred around him one after the other but Minhyuk saw that was something that he could tolerate. It was like when someone got bitten by a mosquito and they said?‘Ah! It hurts!’?but it really did not hurt. That was similar to what he was experiencing.

Carn stepped back.

“Hiiiik!”

Carn was clearly 1.6x stronger than his usual self, but the bastard in front of him was beyond common logic.

One of the reasons why Carn’s attacks did not work was because he had become a ‘Demonic Human’ with the demonic energy given to him. The power of the demonic humans came from demonic energy. Demonic energy and Holy Power were both powers on opposite end of the spectrum. They were completely different, contrasting powers.

Meanwhile, Minhyuk just recovered his lost HP by bandaging himself once or twice.

“Y…you bastard! Don’t come here!”

If Carn did not turn into a demonic human and was purely a Pinnacle Strong Man, then he might have been able to kill Minhyuk. However, this was not the case.

Carn’s violin suddenly erupted and created a storm of demonic energy. The sword lights that poured out of the air folded together until they became daggers. The daggers immediately flew straight towards Minhyuk.

Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh—

Alas, most of the attacks did not land on Minhyuk’s body. However, even if he did succeed…

“Bandage!”

…Minhyuk would immediately wrap a bandage on his injury.

“…”

Carn looked at him dumbfounded, until Minhyuk arrived in front of him.

“Do you think you can kill me?!!”

Carn quickly clacked the castanets together.

Clack, clack, clack, clack—

Unlike before when he just clacked them twice, this time, he clacked them together four times. Along with the sound, his defenses tripled.

In all honesty, Carn believed that he and Minhyuk were both in the same state, so he believed that Minhyuk would not be able to kill him.

The moment Minhyuk’s sword moved…

Stab!

…blood gushed out from Carn’s body. The blood spurting out of his body looked strangely like a fountain.

With the Saint’s Sword in his hands, Minhyuk had a special ability that would let him have a 60% chance of ignoring the defenses of anyone that carried demonic energy.

“H…how can you be this strong?! How the hell?!”

Carn was the fourth Pinnacle Strong Men and with Verus’ power, he was able to become a demonic human with greater power.

‘But, how?’

“I ate well, exercised hard and slept well. Ah, and… “

Minhyuk grinned widely at him.

“I’m also a bit overgeared.”

Then, Minhyuk stepped back.

Carn’s body was regenerating at an alarming rate. The speed of his regeneration was even thrice that of a troll! At this rate, he would not be successfully hunted if his body was not cut into pieces.

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!” Carn screamed while Minhyuk prepared his Fluttering Sword.

Hundreds of silver leaves began falling down from the sky. With 8,000 Holy Power, and an additional 2,500 in his magical attack from Saint’s Protection, his attack held truly tremendous strength.

Then, this overwhelming attack was unleashed.

Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh—

The falling and fluttering leaves began to ravage and devour Carn’s body. His body was torn apart without a single place left intact.

Notifications began to pour down constantly as soon as Carn’s body disappeared into thin air.

[You have successfully hunted the Fourth Pinnacle Strong Men and Demon Worshipper, Carn.]

[You have gained 300 REP.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

…

[You have acquired the Frightening Musical Instruments.]

[A Class Quest: Food God’s Bet has been created.]

Along with the sound of notifications, a bright light burst out in front of Minhyuk. A translucent spirit in the image of a man could be seen inside this bright light.

It was none other than the Food God.