Chapter 403: Vassal Brod

Kings and emperors were key figures in the

Athenae

worldview. They were existences that were responsible for maintaining the balance of the world. Kings were, of course, somewhat inferior to emperors. After all, a few kingdoms had to unite to produce a power that could rival an empire. But among these kingdoms, there were some special kingdoms whose kings had authority.

The number of things that were yet to be revealed in the

Athenae

worldview was something that no one could fathom. One of them was that it was not easy for a player to obtain the King’s Authority. There were plenty of requirements for a player to obtain the King’s Authority.

One, the player should be preparing for, or had already received a Kingdom Building Quest. They should also have the territory, people, capital funding, and individual power. On top of that, they had to inherit that power from a king.

But what kind of an existence was a king? Although kings lagged behind the emperors, they were still beings that stood at the apex of a kingdom as absolute rulers. Inheriting the authority from them was not an easy task. And the authority that Minhyuk had received was none other than the Earth King’s Authority, which stood among the high ranking King’s Authorities.

The system originally set that the king could only let a player inherit one authority. But when Iris came to herself, she saw the bleeding Brod and Minhyuk, and knew that this foreigner named Minhyuk had risked his life to save her. So, she bestowed upon him two of the strongest powers among the Earth King’s Authority.

These were the notifications that Minhyuk heard upon the completion of his quest:

[The favor that you have received from the Rocard Kingdom’s Queen Iris has reached the highest level!]

[You have gained 100 REP.]

[You have gained +10 on all of your stats.]

[Iris has bestowed upon you the Authority held by the Earth King.]

[You have acquired the Earth King’s Authority. Worship.]

[You have acquired the Earth King’s Authority. King’s Eye.]

[Rocard Kingdom’s Guardian has given you a blessing for inheriting the Authority.]

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

[The Authority Buff has been triggered. During the buff’s 12 hour duration, you will be able to exert three times your original power.]

(

Earth King’s Authority. Worship

)

King’s Authority

Minimum Authority Mana Required

: 50

Cooldown

: 6 hours.

Effects

:

? The power that it can exert depends on the amount of Authority Mana gathered. When triggered with only the minimum Authority Mana required, it can force your enemies within an eight meter radius to kneel in worship. This cannot be triggered against an opponent that is far stronger than yourself, unless you fill your Authority Mana to 100%.

? The enemies that are forced to kneel down in worship will be put in a stunned state. The amount of time that they would remain in that state will depend on your luck.?

? The enemies that are forced to kneel down in worship will have a 50% reduction in both their physical and magical defense.?

Description

: Earth King. This was the strongest among the three absolute authorities in Iris’ hands. Upon the worship’s casting, your enemies will be bound by invisible roots that sprang from the ground.?

Minhyuk looked at the term ‘Authority Mana’ curiously as he read the authority’s description. The sudden appearance of a new term made Minhyuk quickly click on its detailed description.

[Authority Mana is the mana used to trigger and cast the King’s Authority. You can gradually accumulate Authority Mana by quickly hunting enemies in a short period of time, dealing a huge amount of damage and fighting against more enemies than your side. The more Authority Mana you accumulate, the stronger the power you can exert.]

The concept was very easy to understand. In RPGs, or 1v1 martial arts games, there existed a special absolute kill move, also known as ‘limit breaks’ or ‘Musou’. The more one fought against their enemies, the more their absolute kill gauge increased. The concept of this absolute kill gauge was similar to the concept of ‘Authority Mana’. For Minhyuk, this was a power that would allow him to shine during ‘group’ matches.

Then, there was the King’s Eye.

(

Earth King’s Authority. King’s Eye

)

King’s Authority

Minimum Authority Mana Required

: 0

Cooldown

: None

Effects

:

? You can check the NPC’s stat window even if they are not your subordinate or vassal.

? However, if your favor with them is low, you will not be able to check their stats.

Description

: The King’s Eye, a power that only a king can have, will allow you to recognize talents and bring them to your side.

The King’s Eye was a skill that was useful in many ways.

Meanwhile, Minhyuk’s Authority Mana rose at a rapid pace as he continued to fight against tens of thousands of undead. Those were tens of thousands of undead! This meant that it was very easy for Minhyuk to trigger linked attacks and continuous strikes. He could also deal a huge amount of damage in a short amount of time.

However, the amount of physical damage that he dealt to his enemies did not really hurt them. Nevertheless, he continued to attack until his Authority Mana reached 88. Once it reached that number, Minhyuk made sure that he was at the center of the undead before using his newly acquired authority.

[You have used Earth King’s Authority. Worship.]

[The Authority Buff has been applied. The effect of the skill will be three times stronger than normal.]

Baaaaaaaaang—

Minhyuk was very surprised to see the effect of the skill once it was cast. Tens of thousands of undead knelt down in front of him to worship him as their king. Minhyuk watched as tree roots, and even the ground itself, restricted the undead from moving, a sight that was invisible to them, but was clearly visible to him.

[The chances for triggering the stunned state have been triggered. Your enemies will worship you for seven seconds.]

The only reason why Minhyuk was able to let thousands of his enemies kneel down to him was because of the ‘Authority Buff’’s 3x effect. Even the eight meter radius of effect for the minimum Authority Mana had been extended to 50.

And finally, there was also Minhyuk’s first God-rank sword, the sword that he received from Brod.

(

Continent Destroyer Sword

)

Rank

: God

Requirements

: Level 500 or higher, The One Brod has Acknowledged

Durability

: ∞ / ∞

Attack

: 1,914

Special Effects

:?

? A 33% increase in STR, AGI and STM.

? Passive Skill: Supreme Sword Mastery has reached Level 9

? Cutting Power and Penetrative Power has increased by 50%.

? Critical Hit Rate has increased by 40%.

?

Active Skill

: Armor Break

?

Active Skill

: Continent Destroyer

?

Passive Skill

: ???

? Attack power will double against the undead. All passive skills’ chances of getting triggered will be at 100% against the undead.

Description

: After cutting down more than a million enemies, Brod’s prowess has been recognized and acknowledged by the God of Death. The God of Death has added his full power into this sword.

Minhyuk blinked blankly at the description. His Devil Judge’s Sword was an Absolute Demigod Artifact with 1,002 ATK, proving itself to be the strongest sword in the world.

So, what about the Continent Destroyer’s Sword that had reached as much as 1,914 in attack?

It could easily trample over the Devil Judge’s Sword. It even had a 50% increase in cutting and penetrative power against ordinary enemies, and a x2 increase in attack against the undead.

The cutting and penetrative power of a sword were very important factors. In

Athenae

, the amount of damage that would be reflected in real-time was largely dependent on how big and how deep the attack was.

But, the surprise did not even end there.

[You have become the new owner of the Continent Destroyer Sword.]

[The Passive Skill: ??? will dramatically awaken the owner’s power and reinvent it into a new type of passive skill.]

[The Continent Destroyer Sword is searching through your artifacts and passive skills.]

Ring!

[Lightning has been selected.]

[Artifact Skill: Lightning has dramatically increased in power.]

Ring!

(

Lightning

)

Artifact Skill

Level

: None

Mana Required

: None

Cooldown

: None

Effects

:?

? You can choose between the two modes: Explosion and Destruction.

? In Explosion mode, you will have a 25% chance of triggering bolts of lightning with 1,000% additional attack and 600% additional damage in a five-meter radius for every basic attack you launch.

? There is a 3% chance of your enemy falling into a three-second stunned state after getting struck by Explosion.

? In Destruction mode, you will have a 15% chance of triggering eight bloody lightning bolts with additional 800% damage for every enemy.

? There is a 20% chance of your enemy falling into a two-second stunned state after getting struck by Destruction.

That was right, the Continent Destroyer Sword’s newly created Lightning skill had two modes that could easily be used. Minhyuk only needed to mutter or think about ‘Explosion’ or ‘Destruction’ and the mode that he had chosen would be engraved on the blade of the sword.

Right now, Minhyuk’s sword had the word ‘Explosion’ engraved on it, which allowed him to annihilate his enemies easily.

However, even if that was the case, how could a passive artifact skill be triggered with each and every strike that he made?

This was only possible thanks to the Continent Destroyer Sword’s effect: ‘

all passive skills’ chances of getting triggered will be at 100% against the undead’.

The God of Death had bestowed this power upon the sword because it did not want those that wished for immortality to remain in the world. And this became the reason why the sword’s attack had become overwhelmingly strong.

“Kihyaaaaaaack!”

“Kieeeeeeeeck!”

“Graaaaaaack!”

Minhyuk looked at the tens of thousands of undead that had fallen into a seven-second stunned state after being subjected to Worship. Then, for the first time, he used the active skill attached to the Continent Destroyer Sword.

‘This is a name that fits my dad’s style. He will definitely like it if he hears it.’

The skill name was very much in line with a chuunibyou’s style. But the moment Minhyuk cast the skill, a tremendous force appeared around Minhyuk. When using a skill for the first time, there was a choice where one’s character could move automatically according to the skill’s notifications and Minhyuk had chosen to use this.

Daaaaash—

Minhyuk leapt high up in the sky with the blood-colored sword in his hands pointing straight toward the ground. He took advantage of gravity and used its momentum to stab his sword into the ground.

Baaaaaaang—

The moment the sword touched the ground, all of the undead around him disappeared into nothingness.

Crack—

Even the ground started to crack and twist, which increased the skill’s range and allowed it to devour more undead.

Crack—

Crack!

Crack!

Minhyuk stood at the center of the twisting and cracking land, as it continued to extend forward and devour the undead. It was literally a disaster, which spread outward until bloody lava erupted from underneath and flowed out onto the ground.

Shwaaaaaa—

Shwaaaaaaaa!

The lava slithered and flowed all over the place, melting away the undead that it passed along the way. In this way, the Continent Destroyer Sword had given the impression that it could destroy everything and anything in its path through this small area of land. With just one attack, more than 8,000 undead had been wiped out and disappeared into nothingness.

“Hiiiiiik!” Death screamed in horror. Was that man really human? There were only 30,000 undead left in his troops.

Suddenly, at that moment, a woman stood on top of the walls, raised her hands and said, “Earth King’s Authority. Worship.”

Thuuuuuuuuuuud—

And once again, the undead were forced to kneel down in worship. But this time, they were facing the woman standing on top of the walls.

“I, Iriiiiiis?!” Death shouted as he rubbed his eyes in doubt.

Queen Iris was supposed to be under Vormon’s brainwashing and was supposed to help him gain victory! So, what was happening?! Death pondered for a moment. Then, he easily found the reason. After all, he knew about that person’s existence.

Mercenary King Brod, also known as God’s Empire’s Knight and the Strongest Swordsman, stood beside Iris on top of the walls. He took a sword handed to him by one of the soldiers as he flew towards the undead kneeling down and worshiping Iris.

“Mercenary’s Pinnacle Swordsmanship Chapter 2. Death’s Wolf.”

Shwaaaaaaa—

The sword that Mercenary King Brod was using was just an ordinary sword that the Atlas soldiers used. However, hundreds of bloody sword lights appeared and stretched out from this ordinary sword and jumped around like wolves fiercely running and climbing the mountains to bite the necks of their prey.

Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping—

A tremendous amount of force swept through and slaughtered thousands of undead as Brod flew up in the sky.

“Mercenary’s Pinnacle Swordsmanship Chapter 4. Wolf’s Kill.”

Flaaaaash—

A ten-meter sword light stretched out of Brod’s sword. And when he slammed his sword on the ground…

Baaaaaaaaaang—

…all of the undead that received the brunt of the attack disappeared without a trace as the ground split in half.

Crack, crack, crack, crack—

He only swung his sword once, but dozens of undead had disappeared without a trace. Minhyuk quickly joined in the fight. In the end, it only took both men thirty minutes to finish off the undead. After they cleaned up everything, Minhyuk looked at Brod in shock as he thought,

‘He’s as strong as noona.’

Minhyuk was confused. Ellie was an Absolute Supreme NPC. But what Minhyuk did not know was that although Ellie awakened as an Absolute Supreme NPC, she still had yet to acquire her full power as the Continental Emperor.

Ellie still needed to follow a step-by-step process and grow stronger before she could acquire that power. Only then would she be able to display a power that was several times stronger than what she had now.

On the other hand, Brod had already reached his strongest state. Simply put, in terms of growth potential, Ellie had greater potential than Brod. However, Minhyuk could confidently say right there and then that Brod, in his current state, was the strongest among all of the NPCs in the entire continent.

Just when this thought flashed in Minhyuk’s head, Brod suddenly turned to look at him. Minhyuk looked at him in doubt, only to see him kneel down on one knee and say, “My king. Please allow me, Mercenary King Brod, to stay by your side.”

[Mercenary King Brod swears his eternal loyalty to you.]

There were two thoughts that floated in Minhyuk’s head. One was that another mouth had been added to the list of mouths that he had to feed and the other was…

‘So suddenly?’