Chapter 590: Lady of the Snakes, Leona

God of Snakes Elizabeth was said to be the weakest among the Six Monster Gods. However, there were cases where some of the Six Monster Gods possessed a stronger power than the Absolute Gods.

God of Snakes Elizabeth had a total of fifteen children. There was one talented child that had inherited Elizabeth’s abilities and that child was none other than Marquess Leona. In fact, Marquess Leona could be considered God of Snakes’ Elizabeth’s heir. Her powers might be less than Elizabeth’s power right now, but in time, she would be able to surpass her mother. Elizabeth wanted Leona to protect her other children. That was why there was a system where Leona would be the one to awaken first when someone tried to awaken one of Elizabeth’s baron-level or count-level children.

“Damn it…” Lion King Benrod cursed, his face filled with urgency and embarrassment. He was currently conducting the ceremony to awaken the count-level monster Benz inside the Snake Temple. However, instead of awakening Benz, the one that awakened was Marquess Leona.

Although Lion King Benrod was someone that had reached the realms of the Absolute Supreme NPC, he was still not confident enough to deal with the marquis-level Leona right here and now. That just went to show how dangerous a marquis-level being was.

Vwoooooooooooooong—

Benrod swiftly summoned the God of Beasts. The gigantic lion appeared and was immediately on alert, its eyes watching the unusually large red egg as its shell cracked.

Crack, crack, crack—

Thud—

Some of the shells began to fall down on the ground. At the same time…

[Snakes’ Fetters have been triggered!]

[All of your skills will be temporarily unavailable.]

[All of your parchments and potions will be temporarily unavailable.]

“…?!”

This was reality. Both God of Snakes Elizabeth and her first child, Marquess Leona, were said to have the power to control the system. NPCs viewed the system as Athenae’s absolute power, that was why they could not imagine somebody else being able to control it.

But now, something so unbelievable had happened.

“Kiyaaaaaaaaack!”

A horrifying cry rang from deep within the egg. Lion King Benrod immediately climbed on the back of the God of the Beasts. His original purpose was to awaken Elizabeth’s count-level child and lure it toward the members of the Maserrati Guild. Once they hunted the being, they would be able to swiftly end the situation. But now the situation had suddenly turned for the worse.

‘There’s absolutely no way that I will be able to lure her.’

Benrod would be devoured before he could even do that. And Benrod was someone that never engaged in a reckless and meaningless fight. The only answer to this predicament was to join the Maserrati Guild and hunt Leona.

Dash, dash, dash—

The God of Beasts ran furiously while Leona’s feminine figure, which finally broke free from the egg, stretched to remove the transparent and sticky mucus that clung to her. As she made her appearance, another series of notifications rang in Benrod’s ears and the rest of the world.

[Snakes’ World.]

[Leona’s power has covered the entire Stars’ Path.]

[The players’ entrance has been restricted.]

[Players that are already inside the Stars’ Path will only be able to leave the Stars’ Path after 24 hours.]

Immediately after…

[The God of Snakes’ Army has awakened.]

Around fifty snakes appeared around Leona. The snakes writhed in place until their figures grew in size. The snakes of Elizabeth’s Army grew until they were two meters tall, their faces like that of a dragon, with smooth scales covering their bodies. With fair skin and a hair of poisonous vipers, Leona walked out of the Snakes’ Army.

“Since you tried to kill my sibling,” Leona said as she looked out at the Stars’ Path, “then all of you shall die.”

***

After taking over all of the time attack dungeons, Minhyuk went out to hunt with the new guild members and was now thinking about returning.

‘What a shame, I couldn’t open all of the slots in the MVP Shop.’

However, there was nothing he could do. After all, collecting and earning cash was harder than what he thought. Besides, they had already been hunting for several days. The exhaustion of the soldiers and the new guild members would definitely start to pile up if they continued to linger in the Stars’ Path.

Also, Minhyuk had already achieved what he needed to. All of the new guild members handed over the Star Coins that they have gained as a reward to him, the total value easily exceeding 100,000 platinum.

Leaving behind his only regret, Minhyuk tried to order their return when thousands of poisonous snakes appeared on the trees, under the rocks, and all over the ground.

“Hiiisssss—“

“Hiiiiiiiiiiiissss—“

“A, aaaaaaaack!”

“What, what the hell?!”

“Why did snakes appear all of a sudden?”

At the same time, the sky above them turned red.

[God of Snakes’ Elizabeth First Child.]

[Marquess Leona has awakened to the world.]

“…?”

Minhyuk’s face turned ugly. He had already investigated the Six Monster Gods and their children before entering the Stars’ Path.

‘Why did she suddenly awaken?’

Minhyuk could not understand. If nobody touched them, then these beings should not have awakened yet.

‘No way. Did someone deliberately awaken her?’

As the question floated in Minhyuk’s head…

[Snakes’ World.]

[Leona’s power has covered the entire Stars’ Path.]

[The players’ entrance has been restricted.]

[Players that are already inside the Stars’ Path will only be able to leave the Stars’ Path after 24 hours.]

…a series of notifications rang.

‘The situation has turned serious.’

Leona had the power to control the system. And she had now started to control the entire Stars’ Path. What did that mean? It meant that she intended to lock them up and kill them all.

‘Does this mean that we can’t log out?’

Minhyuk immediately tried it.

[You can log out in four hours.]

Fortunately, although they were blocked from leaving the Stars’ Path for 24 hours, they were allowed to log out in four hours. But even if that was the case, Minhyuk still could not afford to log out.

‘If it’s just the guild members, then it’s fine. But the soldiers are NPCs, if I leave, they will be left in a dangerous situation.’

“Uaaaaaaaaack!”

“Die!!!”

The snakes began to leap through the air and bite the soldiers and the guild members. If they were spread like this throughout the entire Stars’ Path, then the snakes had to number over tens of millions.

“Keok?! I’m paralyzed. I did not even realize that I got bitten by a snake?”

“I’m poisoned…”

“I’m in a stunned state.”

The worst part? The snakes that Leona released were giving different abnormal status to the people that they had bitten.

Centurion Park immediately approached Minhyuk, “Your Majesty, your orders?”

“We will watch the situation.”

The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom did not need to step up in this situation. If they stepped up, there was a possibility that they would lose their troops. Their main goal right now was to hide in a safe place and exit the Stars’ Path after 24 hours.

Minhyuk looked at the Stars’ Path that was now dyed with the red color being reflected by the skies. Beyond that horizon, a blood festival was unfolding.

***

Vietnam, Thailand, and China had formed an alliance and were currently hunting together in the Stars’ Path. This was an event that the three countries jointly held to promote their good relationship and do well together after the servers had integrated. There were 8,000 players participating from China, while Vietnam and Thailand had 4,000 each. There were places in the Stars’ Path where monsters appeared on a large scale. The three countries were strengthening their friendship and unity by hunting in such places.

Each of these countries’ leading figures stood at the vanguard so as not to fall behind from each other in this alliance. Vietnam had Master Archer Miao, while China had Xu Jiaqi and the members of Black Dragon Order, who participated in the Battle of the Thrones. The guild master and members of the Tiger Guild, the best guild in Thailand, also participated.

They were in the middle of an easy hunt when they heard the notifications about Leona. But their numbers were huge. They even had Supreme NPC-class figures among them. Because of that, none of them really felt fear. Besides, their numbers were too large for them to hide just because of a mere fear.

At that moment, Master Archer Miao, with her eyes that could see through a thousand li, saw Leona and her snake army coming their way.

“…That’s quite unusual,” Miao mumbled, her face turning ugly.

The ground that they were passing through was being razed and devastated. Everyone, whether they were players or NPCs, was being swept away.

“This… we can’t avoid them.”

“…That seems to be the case.”

“It’s also an opportunity for us.”

Miao could see with her eyes how everyone that they passed through got slaughtered. If a large army like theirs avoided this and escaped, then they might receive countless criticisms for a very long time. The disaster that was unfolding on the Stars’ Path…

“We have to do something about it.”

Stretch—

Master Archer Miao pulled the strings of her bow. As the world's best archer, Miao’s arrows were very powerful. Although the name was childish, it was powerful enough to wipe out thousands of her enemies.

“Nuclear bomb.”

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang—

The arrow created a shocking soundwave as it flew toward Leona’s forehead, who was still quite a distance away from Miao. If the arrow hit its target successfully, it would create a huge explosion that would cover a 50 meter radius and devastate everything within, as if a nuclear bomb had fallen upon them.

However, something unexpected happened. The arrow that was flying fiercely in the air slowly hardened and turned to stone. In the end, the arrow, which had completely turned to stone, fell down on the ground, as its weight killed off its momentum.

Drop—

“…!”

Miao looked at the scene in horror.

‘Leona has the ability to completely nullify others’ abilities?!’

Then, Leona’s hair-raising eyes met with Miao’s own eyes. Leona’s eyes were yellow and had long slits of black as its pupils, a truly terrifying sight.

“…”

Goosebumps rose on Miao’s back.

‘She can see me from that distance?’

Miao could see through that distance since she was a Master Archer, but Leona was not one. Immediately after that, Leona and her army advanced swiftly to where the alliance was. Their speed was so fast that they seemed to have been flying over the ground.

“P, prepare for battle!”

Miao finally realized the seriousness of the situation. The snake army arrived where they were in just one minute. Then, the clash began which horrified the entire world.

***

Breaking news poured out nonstop.

[The 16,000-strong allied forces from China, Vietnam and Thailand have been completely wiped out by Leona.]

[The allied forces were annihilated, just 30 minutes after the battle began.]

[Leona wiped out the entire allied forces, with her shocking power to render all skills impossible to use and her ability to summon tens of thousands of snakes that can inflict countless abnormal statuses.]

[Leona’s ability to turn anything into stone by making eye contact with her has made even Master Archer Miao helpless.]

[It seems like Leona’s ability to turn everything into stone can be used with a time lag. That’s the most pressing problem right now.]

[Experts are now making absurd suggestions. They are saying that it’s best to fight Leona with their eyes closed.]

[It’s not entirely impossible. There are Absolute Supreme NPCs in the world. If it were them, then it’s not that impossible to fight with their eyes closed.]

[According to our estimates, more than 200,000 have already died at the hands of Leona since she appeared in the Stars’ Path.]

[The worst disaster is now unfolding in the Stars’ Path. This has brought both frustration and confusion to the players that entered the Stars’ Path to enjoy the new content.]

[The players that went there to hunt with their NPC friends have now lost their friends forever. Some of the players even died with their families during a party hunt.]

[Joy Co. Ltd. seems to be avoiding the situation by saying that it’s also a player’s responsibility to solve their own difficulties.]

[Is there anyone that can deal with such an unprecedented disaster?]

Richard also saw the breaking news.

‘It’s like I killed those 200,000 players.’

Richard was not a trashy monarch. He dutifully broke the time attack dungeon’s records with his guild members and tried to awaken only the count-level being and hunt it as fast as he could to avoid harming someone else. However, his actions had inadvertently hurt many players and NPCs.

It was because of Richard’s personality that many people chose to follow him. In front of him stood 1,000 of the Maserrati Guild’s strongest. They were the ones that came here to hunt the count-level being in the first place. Twenty of them were Rankers Above Rankers, some of the powerhouses that were talked about in the world. Two of them were unofficial rankers, whose powers could rival the kings that participated in the Battle of the Thrones. Of course, that was only the case when the kings had not yet received an additional 50% increase in their powers.

“From now on, we will lure Leona and her army and slaughter her here so that others will no longer suffer.”

“But My Lord, if we make one wrong move then everyone here will…”

“Everything happened because of my carelessness. We should not let any more innocent people suffer and get harmed. You can choose to join me or leave. Even if you leave, I will not hold it against you even if you choose to leave the guild.”

Richard’s words were an indication of the weight that was placed on his shoulders. His words meant that he would pay for the crime that he committed. However, this was the monarch that they all chose to believe and follow.

“We will stay with you.”

“Please give us your order.”

“Salute!!!”

“Salute!!!”

Their hearts were filled with the blazing flames of their fighting spirit.

‘He’s a good monarch,’?

Someone thought.

That someone was actually Minhyuk, who was hiding with his guild members and soldiers in a cave near the place where the members of Maserrati Guild had gathered.

‘Of all places, why here…?’

There was only a hundred meter distance between the cave hidden by the vines where Minhyuk and his men were hiding, and the wall where the members of Maserrati Guild were gathered in front of.

Cold sweat began to drip down Minhyuk’s forehead.