Chapter 650: The Battlefield of the Gods

After being knocked out by the Corrupted God, Minhyuk’s consciousness had faded into a blur. Amidst the haze, he heard the voice of the mischievous rascal,

‘It has been a pleasure meeting you, human. Unlike me, you are someone that can embrace everyone regardless of their difference. Because of that, no one would betray you. You even chose Kronad’s Sealed Necklace for someone like me.’

Obren’s thoughts flowed into Minhyuk’s head. Minhyuk was also made aware of the fact that Kronad’s Sealed Necklace was the only way to awaken the faintly slumbering Obren inside the Puzzling Seasoning Jar. To Mihyuk’s shock, Obren had decided to use the necklace for Minhyuk’s sake, despite it being the only chance.

In his blurred and hazy consciousness, Minhyuk asked,

‘Why…?’

Obren did not reply for a very long time. In the meantime, Obren continued to kill the fallen Gods and fight against the Corrupted God on his behalf. Finally, the Corrupted God invoked Obren’s Child, a power that made the Corrupted God invincible against Obren for two minutes. At that moment, Obren’s emotions began to flow in Minhyuk.

‘If I don’t kill her now, then everyone here will die, even the master of this body.’

‘I have to use whatever it takes.’

‘Should I open the Evil God’s Eight Books: Book of Sacrifice?’

The Book of Sacrifice was the book with the strongest power among the Evil God’s Eight Books. But of course, there were conditions attached to the book. The book would extinguish the one that opened the book permanently, in exchange for the power to do anything.

In the end, Obren made a decision,

‘I will open the Book of Sacrifice.’

In other words, Obren had decided to walk the path of permanent erasure. Minhyuk kept on asking,

‘Why…?’

but Obren remained silent for a long while, before answering in a wry manner,

‘Friend.’

“…”

‘Because you are a friend to me.’

‘…’

Minhyuk felt a deep ache in his heart. He had always acted mean towards the proud and conceited seasoning jar that pretended to know everything. The same was true for Obren, the seasoning jar. He even used to tease Minhyuk, asking if he was some kind of stupid f*cker that did not even know anything. However, even though they teased each other, a small smile curled at the corner of their mouths. They both knew that such moments were something that they might never experience again.

Finally, Obren tried to say,

‘Book of Sacrifice…’

Blink—

But before he could even finish his words, Minhyuk woke up, the abnormal state that the Corrupted God placed him in, finally loosening its hold. At the same time, the notifications rang in his head.

[You have the power of Sword God Valen, the sword that can cut through the world, dwelling in your body!]

[You have the power of Food God Allen, the One that befriended everyone in the world and the one that did not want anyone to be hungry, dwelling in your body!]

[You have the power of Obren, the greatest and most dangerous God that chose you as his friend, dwelling in your body!]

[All of your stats have dramatically increased!]

[You have received the power and authority to use the Evil God’s Book!]

[You might have the chance to use the sealed power that you cannot use before!]

As Minhyuk awakened, the long hair that reached his waist slowly began to recede and return to his usual short hair. Just when the Corrupted God’s cackling was dying down…

“Ahihihihihihihi? Ahihihihi…”

The power that Minhyuk obtained in the first Battlefield of the Gods, the power that allowed him to use one of his sealed powers for one time only and the very same power that would allow him to showcase his strongest, made its appearance.

“Million Swords.”

[You have used your one chance to use a sealed power and cast Million Swords!]

This was something most of the people did not know yet. In the case of God classes and Gods, a notification would always pop out whenever they used their strongest secret skill.

[The God that only holds a sword points his weapon at the enemy. A million swords have lit his path!]

Letters shining brightly appeared in the air above them as a million swords rose up.

[Million Swords.]

[Each sword that attacks the enemy will have an additional 50% attack!]

[Your attack hit rate has increased by 30%!]

In Minhyuk’s opinion, the Million Swords was a transcendental skill that could display its prowess most effectively against large numbers of enemies. Just like that, a million swords appeared and stabbed through the Corrupted God.

Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab—

[You have dealt 86,521 attack damage!]

[You have dealt 84,311 attack damage!]

[Attack has failed!]

[Attack has failed!]

[…failed!]

[You have dealt 74,413 attack damage!]

Almost 80% of the million swords failed to inflict great damage upon the Corrupted God. However, there were still a little more than 100,000 swords that were able to strike and rapidly brought the Corrupted God’s HP to a new low.

Then, Minhyuk looked at her coldly and said, “I am not Obren.”

The Corrupted God’s body was definitely feeling the pain after receiving the intense baptism of that attack. There was only one human being in front of her, yet that human was pushing her to her death.

As for Minhyuk, he opened his mouth for Obren, who tried to extinguish himself to protect him, and said, “And I am also Obren’s friend.”

‘…’

Obren was slowly losing his power. Under the condition imposed by Kronad’s Sealed Necklace, he had to undergo a deep and long sleep once again. As his consciousness was slowly fading away, these words imprinted clearly in his thoughts,

‘I am Obren’s friend.’

Obren might not be able to see Minhyuk, but he was sure that the boy was smiling brightly at him. He left this word as his consciousness faded into nothingness,

‘…Thanks.’

Finally, a set of notifications rang.

[Evil God Obren has fallen into a deep slumber inside the Puzzling Seasoning Jar. There is a chance that he would not be able to awaken from this sleep!]

[Obren has fallen into a deep slumber. However, his powers will only disappear after ten seconds.]

Obren finally fell into a deep sleep, one that Minhyuk did not know if he could wake up from. In any case, Minhyuk attacked the Corrupted God with the power that Obren left to him.

[Book of the God that Loved Lightning.]

[Lightning strikes with an additional 20,000% attack will befall your enemies!]

Crack!

It was not just a single word. The most surprising thing about Obren’s power was the fact that he could use dozens or hundreds of books at the same time without any cooldown.

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

Black lightning strikes continuously fell from the black book floating in the sky and struck the Corrupted God’s body.

“Kihyaaaaaaaaaaack!”

Now, the scream that came out of the Corrupted God’s mouth sounded more like a demon’s shriek than the tearful cry of a beautiful woman. However, her HP bar was the problem. Her total HP was so ridiculous that it was still able to hold out, despite the Sword God’s most lethal skill and the hundreds of books that dealt more than 20,000% attack power.

Drip, drip—

Cold sweat dripped down Minhyuk’s forehead. If they failed to kill the Corrupted God here and now, then this would end in their defeat.

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

Amidst the black lightning continuously raining down on the Corrupted God, Minhyuk finally landed a successful blow that created an explosion in her body. However…

[Obren’s power has completely disappeared!]

There was still around 5% of the HP bar flashing above the Corrupted God’s head as Obren’s power disappeared from Minhyuk’s body.

“Haa… Haa… Haaa…” Minhyuk breathed heavily as an overwhelming sense of helplessness encroached upon him at the disappearance of Obren’s power.

Smirk—

“It’s my victory, no?” The Corrupted God said, a devilish smirk plastered on her face.

***

Joy Co. Ltd.

Everyone sitting inside the conference room sighed helplessly. Five percent. There was just five percent of the Corrupted God’s HP left. However, it was this small amount of HP that signaled their failure to kill the Corrupted God.

President Kang Taehoon sighed deeply. He knew that there was only 5% left. However, Player Minhyuk was too exhausted now. The other God-class players and the envoys were out of commission too.

Their problem was not just the Corrupted God’s HP. No matter how many times they attacked, if they could not land a successful blow, then they would not be able to chip away at that HP.

“Hoo…”

“What should we do?”

“They were given hope but they still failed to kill her in the end.”

Everyone was engulfed in despair. What would happen to Joy Co. Ltd. now? What if the Corrupted God took away the God-class players’ divine powers once again? If that happened then plenty of players would leave Athenae. Perhaps the world of Athenae would instantly collapse as well.

‘What am I supposed to do?’?

President Kang Taehoon thought as he looked out of the window and stared at the clouds floating beyond them. He felt powerless. He could not do anything.

“Do we have no other choice but to trust them?”

He was the owner of the world called Athenae, yet he was left in such a desperate situation where all he could do was trust the players.

“It’s not over yet,” the voice of the subordinate that President Kang Taehoon trusted the most rang.

All of them turned to look at the direction where the voice came from. There, they saw Team Leader Park Minggyu glaring sharply at the monitor. There was no frustration or despair on his face.

“What do you mean Team Leader Park Minggyu?”

While everyone was wallowing in their despair and frustration, Team Leader Park kept on looking at the monitor. Minggyu, as the head of the Special Players Management Team, had an astute sense of observation.

“There’s still one book that has yet to disappear.”

“…?!”

“…?!”

“Wh, what did you say?!”

Everyone hurriedly looked at the monitor. Then, Team Leader Park tapped on his keyboard and zoomed in on the book. It was true. The tens of thousands of books that were floating in the sky had disappeared except for one book, a book that was shining a bright blue light. That book was also one of the Evil God’s Eight Books, and its name was…

‘God of Origin.’

“…!”

“…!”

“…!”

Park Minggyu’s eyes shone brightly.

“When the Million Swords attacked the Corrupted God, Obren had used two books. The first one was the ‘Book of the One that Protected Nothing’. This book has the power to protect one’s self for five minutes, even if one loses their confidence. As for the second book, it was one of the Evil God’s Eight Books, the Book of the God of Origin. As for what it does…” Team Leader Park Minggyu said as he looked around the conference room

Kang Taehoon was, of course, aware of the power of the book.

“It opens the path for the God of Origin to descend upon the world.”

***

“Ahihihihihihihihihihi?! Ahihihihihihihihihi! I told you so. In the end, it’s my win! Huh!!! That m*****f**king Obren!!! I’ll take the name of the Evil God now!!!” The Corrupted God laughed creepily, causing the players to fall into despair once more.

Stagger—

Even Minhyuk was left in a very difficult situation. He could not even stand properly after exhausting most of his power. But then, at that moment, a bright light burst out from the book that was floating in the sky and created a set of stairs made of light. Then, a woman began to descend from those stairs.

[The God of Origin Athenae has descended!]

[All creations are equal in front of the God of Origin Athenae!]

[Everyone, worship the God of Origin Athenae!]

At the same time, everyone’s legs turned weak as they fell down in worship of the woman. She was an existence that no one had seen before. The supercomputer that governed the world and the God of Origin, Athenae.

Thud—

Even the Corrupted God was forced to kneel in front of her, “M, mother…”

There was only one man, and one man alone, that did not kneel in front of her. Athenae’s face was obscured with light. However, Minhyuk could see the features of Athenae’s face.

Athenae’s skin was so fair that one could describe it as white. Her hair was long and matched her skin, while her eyes were as blue and as deep as a lake. She was holding a sword in her hand. As she floated in front of Minhyuk, Athenae looked down on him and placed the sword on his left shoulder while saying, “I order you, in the name of God of Origin Athenae.”

She slowly lifted the sword and placed it on Minhyuk’s right shoulder, “Today, you will become my knight.”

And finally, Athenae gently placed the sword on top of Minhyuk’s head.

Swoosh—

Minhyuk’s body, which was being controlled by the system, placed his hand upon his chest and showed courtesy. Then, Athenae kissed Minhyuk’s forehead before turning into light and disappearing. Her voice lingered in Minhyuk’s ears as she disappeared.

[You are the first foreigner and the first God that has received my acknowledgement.]

Then, the system notifications came.

[You have become Athenae’s Knight. The God of Origin’s Blessings resides in your sword!]

[Your sword has overwhelming power that can cut through anything!]

[You can cut down your enemies with 100,000% additional damage!]

Minhyuk slowly stood up as the powerful force that Athenae created engulfed him in a bright light and lit up the world. Finally, he stood in front of the kneeling Corrupted God and raised his sword.

[The First Knight Acknowledged by Athenae.]

[He raised his sword.]

[To bring judgment upon the one that was corrupted, the one that has killed a lot.]

Slash—

Thud—

Roll, roll, roll—

The Corrupted God’s head fell down on the ground.

[You have killed the Corrupted God!]

An unbelievable notification rang loudly in everyone’s ears.