Chapter 362: Ellie’s Pinnacle

“Ho, hoho…”

Xu Jiaqi took a step back instinctively. Even Arcas, with his huge and muscular build, was shivering from the suffocating murderous intent that Ellie was giving off.

‘This… this is… ridiculous…’

This was just a game. Compared to other players, the members of Black Dragon Order had a much lighter conception about the game

Athenae.

Whether it was the Empress, or the other people inside the game, they only thought of them as artificial intelligence at best. However, the murderous intent that Ellie, an NPC, was giving off right now was enough to scare them, who were players, until they were shivering.

Ellie’s bright and alluring eyes were currently sharp, her expression similar to that of a snake staring at its prey, and was very terrifying. Her cold and aloof voice, and even her posture when holding the sword were all overflowing with dignity and grace. Just by standing there, it was enough to show them how unapproachable she was. On top of that, Ellie was already seething with anger. The problem was that they could not find a gap in her stance, despite her overflowing rage.

Then, the notifications rang for the members of the Black Dragon Order.

[Sword Emperor Ellie’s murderous intent has restricted your airways.]

[All of your stats have decreased by 15%.]

[Your physical and magical defenses have decreased by 15%.]

[Your chances of successfully landing an attack has decreased by 40%.]

[Your skill cooldown has increased by 20%.]

[Your skill damage has decreased by 20%.]

“…!”

“…!”

“…!”

The Black Dragon Order looked at the notifications incredulously. They were all people that had awakened and learned the power of the eight greatest attack skills in all of Korea and China, the Pinnacle. With their Pinnacle awakening, they gained an incredible amount of resistance against abnormal states. However, right now, Sword Emperor Ellie had caused them to suffer many abnormal states, just by standing in front of them.

The situation was unexpected, but Xu Jiaqi knew that she could not back down here and show fear. All of the Chinese players had to be watching the broadcast right now. And even though they only signed a contract with BJ Luo, she was sure that the broadcasting stations would have already contacted Luo the moment they began their operation.

This was what the Black Dragon Order was aiming for. Ellie’s hunt would definitely generate a huge viewership rating and would help them rake in huge revenues from advertisements. If they were successful, the Black Dragon Order’s value would rise astronomically.

There was one important thing for them to do in this situation, and that was to overwhelm Ellie. Ellie’s hunt was the trigger and indication that Black Dragon Order was now coming into the light and raising their public awareness. They could never show the collapse of the Black Dragon Order.

So, Xu Jiaqi tried to maintain her composure and said, “Ellie. I heard that you know the location of another Pinnacle.”

Ellie did not answer her and only looked at the shivering citizens of the territory. The citizens of the territory were shivering from fright, but some of them still tried to smile to appease Ellie the moment she appeared. Some of them looked at Ellie, and despite their fears, cried loudly at her.

“Your Majesty!”

“Why?! Why did you come to such a dangerous place!!!”

“Your Majesty!

Sob, sob, sob!

Forgive us, we were too foolish!”

Ellie’s father, the late Emperor, had been a tyrant. He regarded the lives of his citizens as ants, and did nothing to help revive the Empire. He even went so far as to sell the people away. Because of that, more people became hungry, and the voices of resentment against his tyranny had grown louder.

Naturally, everyone became worried when Ellie, a woman, climbed to the throne and became Empress. However, Ellie was completely different from the late Emperor. Although she had the same personality as her father, her thoughts and understanding about her people were completely different. She took down and replaced the rotten, corrupt nobles, returned the food that they had taken away from the people, and implemented a new policy wherein those that worked hard would be rewarded greatly. Her care for her people was genuine and true.

Some might call Ellie an iron lady, a person that would never bleed or shed tears when stabbed, but she was warm to the people that she cared about, and tough against those that threatened her and her people.

The hearts of the villagers soared and warmed when their great ruler, their Empress Ellie, came running to save their own, measly lives. And just like that, Ellie once again won the hearts of the people of the Eivelis Empire. This move would definitely increase the number of people that would want to work harder for Ellie and live a better life. This was the driving force behind Eivelis Empire’s outstanding growth, surpassing itself when ruled by the tyrant many times over, despite their different policies.

Then, Xu Jiaqi asked, “You know that you have to tell us the location, right? Before we kill you? Yeah?”

Xu Jiaqi giggled. It was as if she was trying to dispel her fears by putting on a brave front. But Ellie just snorted at her words and smiled.

“I shoved it in your ass. Why not try and look for it?”

The Black Dragon Order completely failed to get ahead of Ellie. However, that was just for a moment.

“Hohohohohoho! I think I’m going to go crazy because of this Empress!!!”

“Hahahahaha! Interesting. That’s very funny!”

“Keuhahahahaha!”

Xu Jiaqi and Arcas, who were both left dazed for a moment after hearing Ellie’s words, and Anox, another member of the Black Dragon Order, laughed loudly.

“You’re just an unlucky Empress that can only awaken to Half Pinnacle…!”

They have already heard from Da Zhuang that the Sword Emperor Ellie, despite her great power, only awakened the Half Pinnacle state. What did they even have to worry about when Da Zhuang was with them right now? Da Zhuang was someone that had awakened the complete Pinnacle, with the skill reaching Level 6. It was already very difficult for them to take down Da Zhuang even if they all cooperated and attacked him, so how dare Ellie try to hold them down and be arrogant?

Meanwhile, the people watching Luo’s broadcast were all in awe of Ellie's actions to save her people.

[Wow. The Empress personally went out to save her people…]

[I wonder how it feels to live under the rule of such an Empress?]

[I wish the president of China was like that…]

However, their awe was only there for a moment. Then, thoughts of how stupid her move was began to emerge.

[Still, Ellie is very foolish.]

[Black Dragon Order has yet to show their full strength. However, we can expect them to overwhelm Ellie. And once the Emperor of the Empire dies, the whole Empire will collapse, tsk...]

[It won’t be that easy to deal with them…]

Then, Xu Jiaqi’s hand moved. She asked, “Can you even stop us?”

Xu Jiaqi’s class was a Master Reflector, which meant that she could reflect her enemy’s attacks. Aside from that, there were also countless skills associated with the class. Xu Jiaqi had also awakened to the Reflector’s Pinnacle. Right now, she could either reflect, or absorb and store the enemy’s attacks sent at her. As a restriction, there will be a 20% damage reduction effect, or skill reduction effect. In a way, the class could be considered to be very weak in terms of 1-on-1 PVP.

However, once it reached the Pinnacle, it became completely different. The Master Reflector could reduce the enemy’s attack damage by 80%, and even the stats given to her were so high, that it was comparable to a knight’s stats. The change was so great that using the reflection skill on an enemy’s attack could return it with even higher damage.

Simply put, if the enemy dealt 100 damage, Xu Jiaqi could return and reflect that attack with 140 damage. The power of the skill had become ridiculous.

On the other hand, the close combat fighter Arcas was someone that had awakened the

‘Pinnacle of Consecutive Attacks’

, a skill with a ridiculous power in which additional damage would be dealt whenever he landed consecutive attacks.

If he succeeded in landing six consecutive attacks, there would be around 1500% in additional damage. Furthermore, the additional damage was not limited to just that. In other words, if he landed another set of six attacks, or even more, the total damage could easily exceed 4500%.

And as if that was not enough, Arcas also had an ace up his sleeve, his strongest attack—a single attack skill.

Xu Jiaqi and Arcas looked at each other silently.

“Haaaa!”

Dash—

Ellie used Step to narrow the distance between the two of them, and her.

Cass, the Phoenix Knight Order Commander, also came with her on this journey. Cass was next to Ellie in terms of swordsmanship. He was even considered to be the second most powerful swordsman in the entire Eivelis Empire, widely recognised as the best knight after winning over the knights of the Knight Tower.

Cass was also flanked by Eivelis Empire’s knight order and mages.

Crack—

Arcas’ arms began to swell in a strange manner after he concentrated his power on it. His Pinnacle skill might only be a single skill, but it had several chapters in it. Chapters 1 and 2 were both consecutive attack skills, while Chapter 3 was a single attack skill. The third and final chapter of his skill would give him an additional 1200% damage, even if he did not successfully land the attack.

Shwaaaaaaa—

A strong force shot out of Arcas’ strangely swollen arms. However, the direction of the force looked very strange. It was not headed at his enemies, but towards Xu Jiaqi instead. Currently, none of their Pinnacle skills were exposed yet. That was why Ellie could not understand their moves.

Then, at that moment, Arcas’ skill, ‘Explosive Dragon Fist’, that was headed towards Xu Jiaqi, collided with a translucent mirror that suddenly appeared in front of her.

Shwaaaaaaaa—

The powerful skill that almost turned the ground to dust was sucked inside the mirror. Then, Xu Jiaqi turned her body and dragged the huge mirror that had absorbed the Explosive Dragon Fist.

Puhaaaaaaaaa—

[Reflected Explosive Dragon Fist]

[After processing, the Explosive Dragon Fist will be split into dozens of attacks and sent to the enemy. The power of the Explosive Dragon Fist will be 700% more powerful.]

Dozens of smaller Explosive Dragon Fists flew out towards Cass and Ellie.

Claaaaang—

Baaaaaaaang!

Cass slashed one of the incoming Explosive Dragon Fists with his sword. The enormous force hidden behind the attack made his body tremble from the impact.

Arcas, who unleashed his strongest single attack skill, and Xu Jiaqi, who reflected the attack, were showing chemistry and cooperation.

Shwaaaaaaaaaa—

Several sword lights flew out from Cass’ sword which extinguished the flying Explosive Dragon Fists. Then, the knights stationed behind him took out their swords and rushed forward. However, their power combined was not enough to offset all of the incoming Explosive Dragon Fists.

Meanwhile, Ellie kept running, just like Arcas thought she would. Arcas’ Pinnacle’s Explosive Dragon Fist was a skill that could be casted three times in a row. The first attack was supposed to be bait. Once she approached, Arcas would immediately strike her chest with another Explosive Dragon Fist. Then, Ellie appeared right in front of Arcas.

“Keuaaaaack!”

“Aaaaaack!”

The still-running Cass, together with the other knights, were not able to withstand the onslaught of the Explosive Dragon Fists, and were pushed back by its overwhelming power. During that moment, Ellie had already reached Arcas.

“Explosive Dragon Fist!” Arcas shouted as the powerful force hidden in his arms stretched out towards Ellie.

But at that moment…

Tap!

…Ellie used her skill Step and continued to advance on air without stopping. She was literally walking on air. This showed the difference between her and Minhyuk’s

‘Step’

. Ellie continued to take one, two, three steps in the sky above them.

Dash, dash, dash!

Ellie climbed up higher in the sky the more steps she took. She had already realized that this fight could not be dragged longer. Ellie did not want to kill Minhyuk during their fight, so she did not deal a heavy blow to him. That was the reason why no one had ever seen her tie-breaker move as of yet. After climbing high up in the sky, Ellie headed straight towards the ground with her sword, while using her buff skill

‘Ellie’s Swordsmanship’

. Then, a red aurora shot out of her body.

Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaa—

Finally, she swung her sword strongly.

“Sword of Annihilation.”

Shing, shing, shing, shing, shing, shing, shing—

Hundreds of four meter long sword blades were created in an instant. The sword blades rained down on Xu Jiaqi, Arcas, and the rest of the members of the Black Dragon Order, like a disaster falling down upon mankind. Xu Jiaqi hurriedly triggered her Master Reflector skills.

[Pinnacle Attack Reflection]

[Absorbs and reflects the enemy’s attacks.]

This was a skill that never failed her, always allowing her to absorb and reflect any attack. A confident smile hung on Xu Jiaqi’s lips.

‘Ellie will be done for once this skill gets reflected…!’

Things would become easier for them. Then, a gigantic mirror rose in the sky and met with the falling sword blades.

Shwaaaaaaaaaa—

The sword blades got sucked in the mirror. No, that was what Xu Jiaqi thought. To her shock…

Crack, crack, crack—!

[The Attack Reflection has failed.]

[The skill cannot be reflected.]

Shwaaaaaaaaaa—

Spurt—!

A sword blade pierced through Xu Jiaqi’s chest. The hundreds of sword blades also fell down and stabbed Arcas, as well as the rest of the members of Black Dragon Order present. They all looked like hedgehogs after being stabbed by the hundreds of glittering sword blades.

On the other hand, BJ Luo and the countless viewers across the screen were all in awe at the powerful skill that had never been seen before.

***

Meanwhile, Minhyuk was currently learning a Pinnacle skill from Conir. Minhyuk had also told Conir about the young Conir that he knew. The Trial Conir only told him that he would tell him what happened once he awakened the Pinnacle.

Minhyuk went out of the game for a moment to take a break, and was able to see a battle video on his mobile phone.

“Noo… noona…?” Minhyuk asked, his entire body trembling.

There was one person that he loved and cherished the most in

Athenae,

and that was none other than Sword Emperor Ellie. And right now, someone was threatening his precious person.

Minhyuk clenched his fists tightly.