When Minhyuk first met Obren, the handsome man had spent over a thousand years trapped inside the Puzzling Seasoning Jar. He always felt frustrated by that. Even after being freed from the seasoning jar, he often told Minhyuk stories about his life in that small world.
Beradonâs will continued to ring in Minhyukâs ears.
[Once he fuses with the sword, he might fall into a slumber inside forever. Still, he said that it was fine.]
A faint smile appeared on the dying Beradonâs face.
[It was a pity.]
Minhyuk stared at Beradon, who was still smiling faintly.
[You are walking your path.]
[I feel at ease.]
[Why? Because I have seen many people by your side.]
[Obren is your burden.]
[And he is also your friend. And your friends.]
[Your family.]
[And many people will share and carry that burden with you.]
[The time I met you and the short moments I spent with you are the most valuable moments of my life.]
Crackle, crackle, crackleâ!
Sparks erupted from Minhyukâs sword. When it disappeared, a beautiful black longsword could be seen in his hand.
[Guardian God Obren has fused with the Continent Destroyer Sword.]
[The power of the fused sword is coursing through your veins.]
[You have transcended your limits.]
[...transcendedâ¦]
[...transcendedâ¦]
[...transcendedâ¦]
Minhyuk tightened his grip on the longsword as he listened to the notifications ringing non-stop in his ears.
[You have only two minutes to swing this sword.]
[Please choose a name for the sword.]
Minhyuk looked at the sword wryly. Then, he said, âComrade.â
[You have decided the name of the sword. The sword is named âComrade.â]
A voice rang in the ears of Minhyuk, who could not bear to take a single step forward.
[Your naming sense is the worst.]
Minhyukâs hold on the sword tightened when he heard that voice. He did not know what to say to him. There was only one thing that he could think of.
âThank you.â
[Iâm also very thankful to you.]
Although Obren had turned into a sword, Minhyuk felt like he could see the smile on the manâs face.
Vwooooooongâ
Minhyuk was standing there with the sword in his hands; the ground shook, and the skies howled.
Swooshâ!
He raised his sword and pointed it at Helenia.
Helenia felt suffocated. The power she felt from both Minhyuk and the sword, which was reflecting a brilliant and beautiful black light, was beyond imagination.
At that moment, thousands of invisible swords shot out from Minhyukâs black sword, tearing the sky apart.
âIntangible Sword.â
[The level of the Intangible Sword has temporarily increased!]
[The measured total level of the Intangible Sword is Level 13!]
And in just a blink, Minhyuk had arrived in front of Helenia, who was urgently setting up a red barrier around her. Minhyuk stretched out his hand, and his fingertips touched the barrier.
âThe Absolute Breaker.â
Crack, crack, crackâ!
Heleniaâs eyes grew the size of saucers as her barrier broke apart. Then, the air around her was shredded by the overwhelming force that shot out from Minhyukâs sword.
Stabâ Stabâ Stabâ!
That very same force fell from the sky and stabbed her non-stop. But it was not just the thousands of invisible swords. Thousands of swords visible to the naked eye also fell and pierced through her.
Helenia hurriedly tried to create hundreds of shields around her to protect herself while casting Explosion at Minhyuk.
Like the Wind.
Shwaaaaaaâ
Like the Wind, three times faster than usual, guided him out of the space he was previously in and brought him right behind Helenia.
âHaa⦠Haaâ¦â
Helenia, who had endured the onslaught of the invisible swords of the Intangible Sword, felt relieved despite the blood covering her entire body.
âNot yet.â
Goosebumps rose all over Heleniaâs body when she heard Minhyukâs somber voice ring behind her. Her eyes unconsciously followed Minhyukâs fingertip, pointing to the sky above them.
âItâs not yet over.â
Thousands of black swords covered the sky above them. The Intangible Sword, which had experienced a drastic increase in level, albeit temporary, had a total duration of ten seconds.
With a wave of Minhyukâs finger, thousands of black swords fell from the sky and pierced Heleniaâs body again.
âKyaaaaaack!â
Helenia curled up, her figure showing the immense pain that she was feeling.
[2 minutes 13 seconds.]
[Number of Heleniaâs Deaths: 3]
Heleniaâs body, which had curled up on instinct from the pain, stretched out once again. At this moment, she realized how unusual the situation that she was in was.
âAt this rate, I might die.â
It was terrifying, especially after learning she had made a colossal mistake. Helenia recalled the last words that Beradon told her before he died.
âItâs him.
âAnother of my disciples will correct my wayward disciple in my stead.
âI do not have any regrets.
âThis is because I have spent my last moments with him.
âHeleniaâ¦
âThat child will be the one who will punish you.
The disciple that Beradon was talking about was Obren and not Minhyuk.
Flinchâ
Goosebumps rose all over her body once again when she realized that Beradon had predicted what would happen. Nevertheless, she still desperately resisted so she would not get the âpunishmentâ the old man was discussing.
BANGâ!
[Your mana has run wild.]
[All of your magic will experience a huge boost in power in exchange for your mana burning quickly.]
Blue mana appeared and gathered by Heleniaâs side. She used this soaring mana to call for torrential rain.
Shwaaaaaaâ!
This torrential rain almost flooded the entire world. Then, hundreds of spears crackling with electricity appeared around her.
When it came to attribute magic, they often showed a greater synergy once they met with something else that amplified their powers. This was what Helenia was trying to use.
With an ugly look on her face, she said, âDie!â
Swooshâ!
Hundreds of spears crackled with electricity, and thousands of lightning bolts fell from the sky simultaneously.
Minhyuk stared lightly at the falling lightning as he slowly swung his sword.
Shwaaaâ!
The lightning and spears crackling with electricity aimed at him scattered and disappeared with the wind with just a light swing of his sword.
Minhyuk could wield Obrenâs powers by the sword âComrade.â This power extinguished all of Heleniaâs power at once.
Then, Minhyuk pointed his sword at the flustered Helenia.
[1 minute 39 seconds.]
[Number of Heleniaâs Deaths: 3]
Helenia had moved on instinct and burned off a huge chunk of her mana, around 20% of the total of her current mana, to create a Great Shield in front of her.
And this was no ordinary Great Shield. It was as large and magnificent as an iron fortress and looked firm and sturdy. One look and one would feel like it could defend against any attack.
Minhyuk raised his sword once again and pointed it at the red shield. Then, he said, âCalamity.â
And at the same timeâ¦
âCancel.â
Shwaaaaaaaâ!
Helenia breathed heavily as she watched the Calamity that Minhyuk cast scatter with the wind.
âIâve used up a lot of my mana.â
Cancel was a magic that could nullify the opponentâs magic and skills. However, it could eat away a huge chunk of mana. The amount of mana it could eat away depended on the opponent's power, too. Helenia knew that Calamity was much more threatening than Minhyukâs other attacks. That was why she used Cancel to make it disappear.
With this move, Minhyuk realized that Helenia was now growing impatient. If she had not, then she would have realized the true situation that she was in. The Calamity that he had just used was the saved Calamity. After all, Minhyuk always had a Calamity saved using his Save skill.
Now, the power of the true Calamity unfolded from the sword âComradeâ in Minhyukâs hands.
The description of Calamity said, âIf you can recover the entirety of this power, then it will have the power that can rival the Eight Pillarsâ Eight Disasters.â
The Calamity that Minhyuk often used was still incomplete. Now, with the power of the sword âComrade,â it could exert its full power.
âCalamity.â
No. At this moment, the power it displayed had transcended its full power.
[The level of the Calamity has temporarily increased!]
[Calamity possesses the power of a true Ninth Disaster.]
[The power of Calamity has gone beyond the power of a Ninth Disaster.]
Crackleâ!
A gigantic pair of wings spread out from the black blade of the sword in Minhyukâs hands.
Helenia, who saw the beautiful, blazing pair of wings, soon realized the truth. The wings were made up of countless black swords burning with blazing flames!
Minhyuk was left breathless by the power of Calamity as it reached and went beyond its limits. His still Calamity originally could summon a thousand swords with 2,000% additional damage. But the current Calamity? Five hundred swords with 12,000% damage would shoot out with every swing of his sword.
The skill was truly worthy of its name, Calamity. It would bring calamity upon his enemies and destroy them.
Thud, thud, thudâ!
The swords that shot out of Minhyukâs sword collided with Heleniaâs Great Shield.
Bang, bang, bangâ!
The ear-piercing sound of five hundred swords clashing against her shield rang on the battlefield.
The Great Shield, which boasted extremely high defensive power and durability and was hailed as absolutely unbreakable, started to crack.
Crack, crack, crackâ!
Helenia felt the danger and hurriedly tried to remedy the situation.
[You cannot avoid the effects of Calamity.]
Calamity was even able to tie Heleniaâs feet.
Thud, thud, thudâ!
In the end, swords covered in blazing flames broke the Great Shield and began to attack Helenia.
There was a reason why Minhyuk could confidently say that it was very overpowered.
âThe enemy will receive 12,000% additional damage the moment it makes contact with them. Then, an additional 2,000% damage would be inflicted to all enemies within a fifty-meter radius.â
Stabâ
Bangâ!
Boom, boom, boomâ!
Explosions continuously erupted and devoured Helenia non-stop until she died. She could resurrect in just three seconds and at the same spot, apparent from the three times she had died before. So, when she resurrected, she was still within the radius of the effect of Calamity.
[1 minute 6 seconds.]
[Number of Heleniaâs Deaths: 4]
Helenia screamed from the terrible pain that she was being subjected to. She hurriedly used Blink to escape the range of the blazing flames.
The beautiful and graceful sorceress was no longer in sight. There was only a woman with a completely charred body collapsing on the ground and trying to crawl away.
With this, they only needed to kill her one more time. If they killed her this time, then she would truly die. Helenia tried to cast teleport. But before she could do so, she crashed again on the ground.
âA- aaaaaahâ¦â
Elizabeth, the god who could control the system, prevented her from escaping.
âTranscendence.â
Swooshâ!
An overwhelming amount of black energy, the most immense he had ever seen since obtaining this artifact, wrapped around Minhyukâs body and turned into the Black Dragonâs Armor.
Since Minhyuk could not teleport, he had to run and chase after Helenia, who had used Blink earlier. It did not take too long for him to reach her. He raised his sword and cut her back with the Sword of Carnage.
The Sword of Carnage, which received the power of Comrade, slashed and hacked at her back a hundred times over.
âA- aaaaaaaaah⦠S- spare me. Please, spare meâ¦â
As someone carrying the name Immortal, Helenia had never once experienced the fear of death, until now.
Despite the cuts and slashes tearing her back apart, she desperately crawled on the floor and tried to run away. Of course, she did not forget to pour all the magical attacks she could use onto Minhyuk.
âAbsolute Defense.â
Alas, none of her attacks worked on Minhyuk. The power of the Sword of Frenzy appeared on the blade of Minhyukâs sword.
Rumbleâ!
The overwhelming power, which was enough to shake the ground and the sky howl after receiving the power of Comrade, was about to stab through Heleniaâs heart.
[The Fusion will be released.]
The fusion of Obren and the Continent Destroyer Sword was released. Minhyuk silently looked down at his sword. Then, he said, âThank you, Obren.â
Relief washed over Helenia when she saw the sword in Minhyukâs hand return to normal.
âI⦠I lived?â
Helenia was a genuinely disgusting being.
âHe- hehehehe. I lived. I lived!!!â Helenia clapped in delight. âWithout that power, you will never be able to kill me alone, right? Huh? Youâve exhausted all of your powers, too, right? Hihihihihihi!â
Minhyuk looked coldly at Helenia, who was clapping and laughing like a deranged child, and said, âThatâs where youâre wrong.â
Helenia said that he would never be able to kill her alone.
âAhâ¦?â
Helenia saw hundreds of rankers surrounding her. There were also the Beyond the Heavensâ vassals and the strongest men sent by each nation. All of them were ready to release their most powerful skills.
Their skills and abilities all landed at Helenia at the same time. She did not even have the time to prepare to defend herself. Now that they knew how to kill Helenia, they did not need to worry about anything else. They completely let go and did not spare any of their skills.
After eating away at her HP, the attacks finally stopped. Meanwhile, the groaning Helenia tried to figure out a way for her to live and survive.
Thud, thudâ
Minhyuk stepped forward and prepared to finish her off. It was finally time to end their long and ill-fated connection.
âT- thatâs right!â
Heleniaâs eyes snapped open. There was truly a method!
âMy- my ores! As long as I can get my ores back, I can make a comeback. Hihi. Thatâs right. No. If I had all my ores, I would have already killed everyone here!â
There were four Heleniaâs Ores. Her attribute magic would have become 70% stronger if they were in her hands.
âHihihi. Thatâs right. As long as I find my ores, then these bug-like humans and those damn godsâ¦!â
At that moment, a shadow was cast upon her. The owner of the shadow was patting his stomach.
âHey. Your ores were really dope!â
â...?â
Helenia could not understand what he was saying for a moment. Why was he patting his stomach? n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
âIsnât that something done when someone finishes eatingâ¦?â
â...?â
Helenia, who finally understood the situation, was rendered speechless. Her ores werenât stuck in an artifact or hidden anywhere.
âThey were eaten?!â
It had to be known that Helenia had used most of her spare time to search for those ores. So, Minhyuk, standing in front of her, felt very refreshed and satisfied.
âBurp~!â