Chapter 331: The Soldiers’ Great Battle

Compared to the time when Minhyuk faced Barach, the increase in his stats that he received this time was around 3% less. Even the increase in Ellie’s Swordsmanship was a level less than before. However, the temporary 16% increase in his stats and a 3-skill level already allowed Minhyuk to be on equal grounds, perhaps even stronger, than the High Class members of Legend Guild.

In an instant, Minhyuk was already as strong as a High Class right there and then.

‘This is strange.’?

Ellie thought, an awkward smile hanging on her lips. Her skin started to crawl and she felt numb at the sudden change in Minhyuk’s momentum. She became a little wary of Minhyuk and was about to make the first move when…

Flash!

…Minhyuk had already used ‘Like the Wind’ to narrow the distance between them.

Fwoosh!

Ellie struck her sword out but before she could even hit him, Minhyuk had already disappeared from sight. This was

‘invisibility’

, the special ability that was attached to Minhyuk’s cape.

Shwaaaaa―

Then, hundreds of falling leaves began to flutter around Ellie. Right now, Ellie was only wearing thin clothes with no armor over them. Her white clothes fluttered with the fierce wind around her.

‘Strong.’?

The wind was so strong that the strap tying Ellie’s hair snapped, making her hair flutter loosely in the wind. Ellie’s eyes narrowed sharply, realizing that she could no longer relax, even for a bit. Ellie could tell why Minhyuk used the Fluttering Sword.

‘I can’t see him but I can hear him. He’s doing this to remove his presence entirely. The fluttering leaves and the wind have become his allies.’

Ellie could see that Minhyuk was pretty adept at using his skills to his advantage. Just then, the fluttering leaves gathered in one area.

Flash―

Ellie’s sword moved quickly.

[Quick Sword]

[You can draw your sword 2.5x faster than usual to cut the enemy.]

Clang―

Ellie’s sword moved quickly towards where the fluttering leaves had gathered, but Minhyuk had already pulled himself back after reappearing.

Minhyuk could only remain invisible for

‘two seconds’,

but he could easily make an attack within that time frame. So, Minhyuk used the Fluttering Sword that he had prepared using

‘Save’

, a skill that removed the casting time of the skill. However, Ellie was still able to block hundreds of the falling leaves. After pulling back, Minhyuk quickly jumped and dashed towards Ellie.

‘Crazy…’

Minhyuk was completely shocked. The Fluttering Sword that he used this time had a +3 increase in level. That meant that the leaves were longer, stronger and sharper than usual, but Ellie was still able to block each and every single one of them with just a single sword in hand.

This was thanks to Ellie’s

‘Absolute Senses’

, a skill that she had since birth, which allowed her to maximize her senses up to three times the normal. Each attack from Minhyuk looked like it was in slow motion to her. However, with her preoccupied with blocking that attack, Minhyuk was able to prepare something else. The Devil Judge’s Sword had changed into

‘Diablo’s Scythe’?

and flew towards Ellie.

Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang―

Ellie quickly left the range of the fluttering leaves and blocked Diablo’s Scythe as her sword tore through the air. Then, shockingly, Minhyuk’s Diablo’s Scythe was suddenly sucked into space.

[Empress’ Absorption]

[The absorbed skill will be triggered just like the original attack.]

And at that moment…

Stab―

…the very same Diablo’s Scythe that Minhyuk had swung earlier appeared behind him and stabbed him in the back.

[Your HP has gone below 70%.]

Just when another scythe was about to hit Minhyuk in the back…

[Physical Damage Reflection! Returns 3x the physical damage received.]

[Physical Damage Reflection has been offset by Empress’ Protection.]

‘...!’

Minhyuk was shocked.

‘Empress’ Protection’?

was another skill that Ellie had since birth. She was the strongest person with the highest potential among all of the Named NPCs, an existence called

‘Supreme NPC’

. And the skill

‘Empress’ Protection’?

was a skill that greatly enhanced her physical and magical defenses, which also made reflect skills useless. Seeing this, Minhyuk had to make a decision.

‘To win…’

Minhyuk immediately rushed towards Ellie after seeing that she had already cut down most of the fluttering leaves.

Flash!

Diablo’s Scythe turned back into a sword in an instant, while Minhyuk activated the skill Diablo’s Eyes. When using the skill, he would be able to find more than one vital point in his enemies.

Usually, Diablo’s Eyes would reveal at least three or more vital points to him, but right now, it was only showing him one. That single vital point was in Ellie’s chest. In other words, he had to stab her strongly in her chest.

Dash, dash, dash, dash―

Ellie quickly pulled further away from the fluttering leaves, staring at the tip of the sword that was aiming for her chest. Then, Minhyuk activated another skill. It was none other than the

‘Oven of Disaster’

. A ticking timer suddenly appeared above them. The only way for Minhyuk to defeat Ellie was to use his artifact skills.

Clang!

Ellie gently parried the sword aiming for her chest and moved to stab Minhyuk’s left chest with her own sword, which flashed red. Starting from the hilt of the sword, a force that seemed like it would tear everything apart radiated fiercely. However, instead of shying away, Minhyuk grabbed the blade of the sword. The strong force tore into Minhyuk’s chest and devoured his body.

Slash, slash, slash, slash!?

Minhyuk did not let go of Ellie’s sword despite bleeding all over. Rather than letting go, he pulled it deeper into his body and grabbed onto Ellie’s clothes.

“...You.”

“Noona, you should grit your teeth now.”

Then, at that moment…

Tick, tock, tick, tock…

Tick… tock…

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

…a huge explosion engulfed the area. Then, a pentagon appeared on the ground at the same time as the explosion.

[Eivelis’ Shield]

[A huge barrier appears to protect you.]

Eivelis’ Shield was a skill that would create a huge barrier protecting the person inside it. However, surprisingly enough, attacks could still be made inside the barrier. Protected from the explosions, Ellie moved again, stabbing Minhyuk with her sword once more.

Stab―

But then…

[Monarch’s Armor]

[You have used Monarch’s Armor’s special ability.]

[Your HP and MP will quickly recover at a fast rate.]

…Minhyuk’s HP and MP were refilled. However, Ellie was different from him. She could tell that her barrier would not last any longer.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

Crack, crack, crack―

Eivelis’ Shield was a skill that maximized the defensive power of the person that used the skill. The skill could increase the defensive power by 300%. However, cracks had already appeared in the barrier. And then…

Bang!

…the barrier broke loudly, the explosion engulfed Ellie and made her fly back. Ellie’s white clothes were ripped here and there, her blood dying it red. But even though she flew back, Ellie was still able to use

‘Ellie’s Swordsmanship’

.

Ellie’s Swordsmanship was the skill that Minhyuk always used as a buff skill. However, Minhyuk’s fundamentals were vastly different from the original, since he only learned part of the skill.

[Ellie’s Swordsmanship.]

[HP increases by 0.5 every second, defensive power also increases by 1.5x, while all stats increase by 25%.]

Shwaaaaaaaaaak―

A golden aura began to appear and cover Ellie’s body, who thought,

‘I did not expect that he would be able to make me utilize Ellie’s Swordsmanship fully…’?

Ellie looked at Minhyuk in awe as he stood up and flew towards her.

Ellie immediately activated her skills. Compared to Minhyuk, there was a passive skill

‘Fusion Sword’?

that would be applied the moment Ellie’s Swordsmanship buff was activated. She immediately fused two skills using Fusion Sword, and the two skills that she fused were Splitting Sword and Scattering Sword. When fused, a different skill name appeared.

[Roaring Sword]

[Dozens of swords fly towards the enemy, attacking them fifteen consecutive times.]?

It combined the Scattering Sword’s ability to attack the opponent consecutively, and the Splitting Sword’s ability to shoot a powerful sword towards the enemy. This skill was none other than

‘Roaring Sword’.

Dozens of sword lights appeared from Ellie’s Sword and flew towards Minhyuk in a fierce manner. They were three times longer and sharper than when Minhyuk expressed the skill. In response…

Shwaaaaaaa!

…Minhyuk triggered Berserk. Fierce black energy spread out from his body before getting sucked back inside his body.

[All abilities will increase by 15%, skills will have an increase of 2.]

[Your total HP will decrease by 3%. Once the skill ends, your HP will be less than 10% and your defensive power will be less than 20%.]

Berserk was a skill that could express an overwhelming strength with the first use and would show a weaker power by the second use. However, even though it was weaker, the power that it could express was still unimaginable.

[Ellie’s Swordsmanship has temporarily reached the Pinnacle.]

[You can temporarily use the Advanced Ellie’s Swordsmanship.]

[Chapter 9. Sword Like Lightning.]

The skill was completely different from last time. Even this Sword Like Lightning was infinitely weaker than the skill from before. Minhyuk faced off against the dozens of swords flying towards him and used the Sword Like Lightning against Ellie.

“Sword Like Lightning.”

[Sword Like Lightning]

[Several lightning strikes fall down from the sky causing 400% damage to the enemy.]

Dozens of lightning strikes fell down and clashed against the sword lights that Ellie had released. Just like that, the tides of the battle could not be determined. A huge explosion occurred as both the skills collided.

Clang, clang, clang, clang!

“Urgh!”

Clang, clang, clang, clang―

“Kyaaack!”

Ellie also received huge damage from Minhyuk’s Sword Like Lightning. Ellie staggered back as Minhyuk fell down on the floor. Minhyuk saw that almost all of his HP had already disappeared.

However, he knew that the skill ‘He Who Overcomes’ would take effect. Even so, he still needed to recover again. So, he took bread and ate it. Almost 25% of his HP had recovered after activating the skill

‘Absorption Conversion’

.

Ellie, on the other hand, had overwhelming HP so she did not die. No, in fact, Minhyuk was able to do his best because he knew that she would not die.

“Im…impossible…” Ruth said, astonished at the sight. He never dreamed that someone could push Ellie this far.

Then, Minhyuk opened his mouth and said, “Noona, we have a ti…” before falling forward.

[You have used up all of your STM. You have temporarily fainted.]

Athenae?

had the concept of stamina. Inside the game, the higher the STM, the higher the amount of stamina the person would have. Right now, Minhyuk had used up all of his stamina from the tense battle with Ellie, and was temporarily knocked out.

Ellie smiled lightly and said, “No. I won.”

Then, something surprising happened…

Thud,

…She too, fell unconscious.

“Your Majesty!!!” Ruth shouted, hurriedly checking Ellie’s condition. Thankfully, it seemed like she had just fainted from exhaustion.

It was just by a hair’s breadth. That was the difference between them. Of course, Minhyuk had used all of his artifact skills and abilities, but he had faced Ellie, the person known as the Sword Emperor, and only lost by a few seconds to someone like that. Then, countless notifications rang for Minhyuk.

[You have achieved Spiritual Enlightenment from your fight against one of the Supreme NPCs, Ellie.]

[Ellie’s Swordsmanship has increased by +1]

[You have gained +10 in all five of your basic stats.]

[You have acquired the

Title

: The One who Fought on Equal Grounds with a Supreme NPC.]

After checking on Ellie, Ruth looked at Minhyuk, his eyes shaking in disbelief. He finally realized why Ellie called for Minhyuk and why she wanted him to awaken to the Pinnacle.

‘Perhaps he can…’?

Perhaps Minhyuk could be the one to complete and climb to the Pinnacle, a stage that even Ellie could not reach. Then, the fainted Minhyuk suddenly mumbled, “Nyam… Ellie Noona, I won’t let you go if you steal my spam. Nyam, nyam, nyam. Spam is delicious!”

“...”

Ruth was left speechless. Facts had proven that Minhyuk still thought about eating, even though he had lost consciousness. Ruth thought,

‘Why… do I suddenly feel sad?’?

This was the person that would probably lead them to victory in the Continental War.