Chapter 331: The Soldiers’ Great Battle

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!

...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.