Paladin Corr was less powerful than Pope’s Guardian Voloch. However, he also held an immense amount of Holy Power and strength. It was unclear whether any of the players in the Korean Server of Athenae would be able to beat him in a fight.

Corr’s chest strangely felt empty and heartbroken. He thought, ‘The light in her eyes, that expression, that tone of voice…’ 

Corr’s expression was bitter as he escorted Loyna’s carriage. He could see Loyna’s eyes lingering on the chef’s face. It was clearly an expression of love.

When he reported that Minhyuk had sacrificed himself to eat the rice cakes and save the Athenae Religion, Loyna had shed tears that were filled with emotions. Of course, Corr also thought of the same thing. He was a great and cool guy. However, the moment he saw Loyna act like that, he felt his chest turn empty. That was right! Corr also adored her! He knew that it was not something that a paladin should do, but the Loyna was so beautiful that no woman was comparable to her. He could not help but fall in love with her.

At that moment…

“…What’s that?” 

“What’s that over there?” 

“Gasp?!” 

“Hey, hey, hey! Wh…what the hell is that?” 

…the surroundings started to get noisy. Paladin Corr turned his head to look at the commotion. He saw hundreds of gigantic strands of demonic energy pouring down from the sky.

“Sh…shit!” 

“F*ck!”

“Paladins! Priests!!”

Loyna wanted everyone to step back, leaving only Corr behind. This meant that she wanted to speak with Minhyuk alone. Corr rushed to call them back, but it was all too late.

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

Powerful demonic energy began to fall in all directions. Then, demonic humans began to pop out from all over the place.

“Follow Verus!”

“Verus is the only monarch in this world!!”

Demonic humans appeared everywhere. They were literally demon worshippers. The current problem was that these worshippers who appeared were well-prepared, while everyone else was caught off-guard.

Bang! Bang, bang!

“Keuaaack!”

“Aaaaaaaaargh!”

“What the hell. F*cker!!”

The players were all in disarray. Their screams rang loudly the moment some of them had been forced to log out. Most of them even tore their return parchments and left the premises. Corr flew up in the sky.

“Calm down! Keep the bastards out of the carriage!” Corr shouted loudly. Unfortunately, he could see that the Athenae priests as well as the paladins were only halfway there.

‘Don’t tell me…’

Corr finally realized that Verus deliberately showed himself in front of Sir Voloch. If that was the case, then it made sense for him to calculate this situation. Right now, more than half of the paladins and priests were headed towards the Papal Office in order to remove the demonic energy that Demon Verus had cast over at the place.

Slash—

After Corr slashed down on one of the demonic humans, he could see a presence following behind.

Bang!

It was Carn, the fourth Pinnacle Strong Man, who was now a demon worshipper.

[Frightening Worshipper, Strengthened Pinnacle Strong Man. Carn has appeared!]

[You have encountered one of the Pinnacle Strong Men.]

[Abnormal State. Demon’s Breath has been triggered.]

[Your breathing will get blocked.]

[Your HP will now begin to continuously decrease.]

[Demonic Humans will become 30% more powerful.]

[Whoever hunts and kills one of the Pinnacle Strong Men will gain plenty of rewards.]

The players heard the series of notifications.

“Strengthened Pinnacle Strong Man?”

“The fourth Pinnacle Strong Man? So far, the only one to have appeared was the fifth Pinnacle Strong Man, right?!”

“Shit, if he’s strengthened then, how strong is he now?!”

“Wh…what? C…cold sweat is… I can’t breathe well…!”

The players began to curse and complain about their difficulties in breathing that was caused by Demon’s Breath. The strength of the Pinnacle Strong Men was inversely proportionate to their number. This meant that the eighth Pinnacle Strong Man, Rumad, who died not too long ago, was the weakest among them.

Stab!

“Keuaaaaack!”

“Aaaaaaaaack!”

With Carn’s appearance, the demonic humans gained more strength.

[Judge’s Sword.]

[The sword blessed by God Athenae will fly towards the enemies.]

Swoooooooosh!

A bright sword light stretched out from Corr’s sword. With Corr’s high Holy Power, the power of his Judge’s Sword attack would double in strength. This ability was a fatal blow to his enemies that wielded demonic energy.

However, Carn just ran forward. The sword light that Corr shot out was brutally extinguished with a black lightning bolt that fell down from the air.

Bang, bang!

“…!”

Corr was shocked. An attack could only be offsetted when the demonic energy was more powerful than the Holy Power. That was when Corr saw an unknown barrier that had started to enclose a ten-meter radius.

[You have been caught in Verus’ boundaries.]

[Those who have been caught in the boundary will not be able to use any skills related to Holy Power, due to the power of Verus.]

“W…we can’t use any skills related to Holy Power?”

“D…did you hear that? They can’t use any Holy Power related skills there!”

“Shit…!”

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

“Corr!”

“Loyna!”

The barrier prevented the priests and barriers from entering the area. Meanwhile, the players…

“Wh…what the hell is happening right now… Don’t tell me that our Loyna…”

“Are they trying to kill Loyna?”

“No way! You m*th*rf*ck*ng bastards! I’m not going to run away!”

“What? Why are you going to make a stand?! You’re going to lose a level!”

“Ptew! A man is going to fight for the woman that he loves!”

“Protect Loyna!”

“Uwooooooo! Don’t touch our Loyna!”

Most of the remaining players did not run away and chose to make a stand on this battlefield to protect Loyna. However, the problem was something else. Despite their strong willpower, they could not get into the barrier where Loyna was. They had enough power after easily dealing with the pitiful amount of demonic humans outside the barrier, but other than that, they could not do anything at all.

“I can’t go inside!”

“Damn it!”

“What the hell!”

The players, priests and paladins were all standing restless just outside the barrier. The people outside of the barrier had no choice but to just helplessly watch the situation inside. They even witnessed Paladin Corr being knocked down by Carn.

“Urrrrgh!”

Carn slowly approached Corr, but just as he was about to strike his sword down to cut his neck off…

“Stop.”

“…”

…the edges of Carn’s mouth were almost ripped in two with his wicked grin. This was because the Saintess herself had come out of the carriage, taking one or two steps forward.

“Aren’t you here for me?”

Carn nodded.

“No!!”

“Do we have no choice at all…!”

“Shit…!”

Meanwhile, various players were broadcasting the attack in the Athenae Temple over the internet.

[lvlladll34: No! Don’t touch our Loyna!]

[Loyna’sMine: That bastard! I’ll tear him to pieces…!!]

[TheDevilWearsPanties: …It seems like Loyna is going to die. Sigh… Just like this, Loyna will become a demonic human…

Thanks to the high speed internet, everyone around the world saw the broadcast. Every single one of them expected that Loyna would die.

***

In Japan, there was a group of fanatics, whose members were in love with Loyna. Watanabe, the president of the LLF fan cafe, was watching the real-time live broadcasts in Korea. He had a fat face filled with pimples.

“L…Loyna-chan!!!” He screamed loudly as his hands sweated buckets while he hugged a Loyna pillow.

“You’re even stopping other’s deaths by sacrificing yourself, Loyna-chan…! You can’t die!” 

Watanabe bursted into tears. Then, two teardrops fell on the Loyna pillow that he was holding so tightly, as he watched Carn slowly approach Loyna in the video. Loyna suddenly knelt down as she began to pray to God Athenae. He watched as Carn’s hand that was holding the sword slowly went up in the air.

“P…please… Someone, anyone, please save our Loyna-chan!!!” Watanabe cried loudly but based on the comments that he had seen, it seemed like breaking through the boundary set by Carn was an impossible feat.

There were only two people inside the carriage, one was Loyna and the other one was a chef that was said to be visiting Athenae Temple for sightseeing. Even Corr, who surpassed the number one in the Paladin rankings, fell under the hands of Carn. It would be nigh impossible for the chef to intervene. It seemed like Loyna also knew of that fact.

Just as Carn’s sword was about to strike down.

[Get your hands off of her because she’s important to me.]

He heard an unidentified voice. When Watanabe turned to look at the direction of the sound, he could see a man clad in shabby armor through the screen. The player was wearing a helmet with a small hand axe hanging behind his back. In addition, the artifacts that he had on his body were all too worn out. For some reason, Watanabe felt a sense of camaraderie with this player.

‘That player wants to protect Loyna too!’ 

He looked at the man with reddened eyes as the comment started to come up.

[He must be feeling the same way as us.]

[He also wants to protect our Loyna-chan!]

[But… He will not be able to protect Loyna-chan…ㅠㅠ]

[That Pinnacle Strong Man is too powerful for him to be able to protect Loyna…]

Everyone did not have high hopes for him, and the same was true for Watanabe. However, something extraordinary happened the very next moment. Everything the man wore began to fade away and scatter in the air. What appeared in their place, was a frying pan on his back, as well as a rugged-looking, yet familiar, helmet.

“…!” 

Watanabe’s eyes widened in shock. He knew that not too long ago, there was an unidentified player that swept everything away in Athenae: Korean War. That man’s name was ‘Minhyuk’. Some people called him the Frying Pan Killer.

And he had appeared in front of them.

***

Murmur, murmur.

“That’s the Frying Pan Killer, right?” 

“F…Frying Pan Killer?!” 

The players staying outside of the barrier started to make a fuss.

The Frying Pan Killer had completely disappeared from their sights after Athenae: Korean War. However, just a few days ago, he was able to meet the expectations of the players with the announcement of his third entrance into the Hall of Kings.

Right now, he had appeared in front of them.

***

Loyna said to Minhyuk in the carriage, ‘Stay inside the carriage. I don’t want to see you die needlessly and disappear in front of me.’ 

That was clearly what she had told him earlier, but he still came out and said, ‘Get your hands off of her because she’s important to me.’ 

When she heard his words, Loyna’s heart thumped loudly. She had never felt something like this in her entire life.

Loyna was not aware of Minhyuk’s identity as the Frying Pan Killer. Perhaps for her, the Frying Pan Killer was just your run-of-the-mill ranker that was well known in the whole Athenae world. However, his words thrilled her heart.

‘I…in order to protect me…’ 

Minhyuk tried to protect her even when he knew that he would die. Perhaps…!

‘Maybe, no,.. clearly, he also likes me too…’ 

That has to be the reason why he called her his ‘important person’!

“D…don’t try to sacrifice yourself because of me. I…I’m fully aware of your feelings. That’s why you should run away! Please!” 

“…You know how I feel? You know how I feel… Then, how can you get out of the carriage without me! You’re a person who’s not supposed to die. Loyna! I’ll protect you.” 

“Aaaaaaaaah…” 

He was a man who just wanted to protect her. Loyna felt the beating of her heart running amok inside her chest.

“Thanks.” 

***

“Thanks.” 

There was only one reason why Minhyuk was angry.

‘You dare touch Loyna?!’ 

If Loyna died, then Minhyuk would feel sad for a few days. He would be sad because of one reason, and one reason alone. It was because she had not cooked a rice cake dumpling soup for him yet.

How delicious must it be! A rice cake dumpling soup made with ingredients that can only be found every hundred years! And that recipe is with Loyna! 

Due to this, she had become an important asset that Minhyuk needed to protect. 

‘For rice cake dumpling soup!!!!’ 

Minhyuk made a promise to himself. He would protect the person who would make his rice cake dumpling soup. He would definitely sprinkle some crispy seaweed powder on top, so he could thoroughly enjoy his warm rice cake dumpling soup!

At that moment, Loyna, who had counted her chickens before they hatched, was shedding tears.

Minhyuk took a sword out of his inventory. It was none other than the Saint’s Sword. Then, a bright light bursted out of the Saint’s Sword. The light illuminated everything, as if it would reveal all of the secrets of the world.