The Path to the Throne

"Why can't you answer me?"

"Well... you see..."

"...What is that bastard Alcott doing?"

"He's in the arena."

"The arena? Well, he could be in the arena."

Su Ning's subordinate felt a wave of relief wash over him. Yeah. Su Ning has gotten a bit more generous lately! This much should be fine!

"In the arena of Kim Tae-hyun's territory..."

"What, you son of a bitch?!"

"Eek!"

"No, you motherf—"

From "no" onward, the words were so heavily filtered by the system's profanity censor that they were completely unintelligible.

"Has that bastard lost his mind in a situation like this?! Tell him to get his ass over here right now!"

"W-well..."

Alcott was exhibiting the textbook behavior of a gambling addict. Su Ning ground his teeth in rage.

I need to whip these rankers into shape. This is unacceptable!

Although the Guild Alliance had grown massive, the organization still felt disjointed, as if they were still just a loose coalition. This was especially true for the high-ranking players. They frequently did whatever they pleased, completely ignoring orders.

"Contact all the rankers. Tell them that anyone who doesn't properly participate in this operation will be kicked out of the guild."

"Pardon? Is that really okay?"

"We need to break their pride. This is ridiculous! Who do they think they are? They're just a bunch of losers who couldn't even catch Kim Tae-hyun and kept groveling!"

That's not a fair comparison... the subordinate thought. Kim Tae-hyun was the anomaly, not the rankers.

"Don't worry. Those rankers won't leave because they're the ones who'll lose out. They know it's hard to find another place that supports them as much as our guild. They're greedy bastards, so they'll crawl back. Call them now!"

Currently, there were two major hot topics on the Pan-On forums.

One was the Dungeon Tournament! With the upcoming main tournament, players were discussing all sorts of things. Which strategies would dominate, which teams would rise to the top...

There were even betting pools predicting the winner!

The other topic was Sadiq's Avatar.

A great catastrophe sweeping through the kingdoms of the Central Continent, something players had never experienced before! Not only the main body of Sadiq's Avatar, but even the demonic beast legions under its command made cities and castles tremble in fear.

Currently, the border area between the Erangs Kingdom and the Auston Kingdom was trembling in fear, not knowing where Sadiq's Avatar would strike next.

The only exception was the Salz Kingdom, where Tyrum City was located.

And though not as massive as those two topics, there was also the arena in Tae-hyun's territory. A hot arena that drew the attention of even those who usually didn't care about PvP!

From Su Ning's perspective, it was mind-boggling. He had captured the capital of the Auston Kingdom and practically unified the kingdom, yet this news was buried under those other topics?

Damn it. Once we clean up Sadiq and do the crown quest, things will get better.

If Su Ning could find the crown of the Auston royal family, wear it himself, and declare himself king, the impact would be far greater than anything before.

To do that, he had to solve the current problem first!

"Come up with a way to deal with Sadiq! What is the weakness of the Sadiq Order? What are they weak against?"

"Uh... isn't it the Archisus Church?"

"Who the hell just said that?!"

"Eek!"

"Forgive me, Su Ning-nim!"

"Hmm. Where should I use this to get the best results?"

Tae-hyun stared into the furnace, lost in thought, as he threw in the rocks mixed with cracked Black Iron.

"Huff, puff! Master... how much longer..."

Beside him, Heuk-heuk, who was blowing flames into the furnace, was dying of exhaustion.

"Wow. That black guy is really something."

"There's an old saying: 'Does the black ox work better, or the yellow ox?' Turns out, the black ox is the hard worker."

The blacksmiths of the Uruk territory were full of admiration. To raise the furnace's temperature, they usually had to pour in all kinds of expensive materials, but Heuk-heuk was doing it all on his own. As expected of the demonic beast of Sadiq, the God of Fire!

It's such a waste to make a dagger out of this... What should I craft?

Tae-hyun checked the blueprint again. As soon as he had arrived in his territory, he had tried crafting Karbanog's Dagger.

All sorts of additional buffs were applied, but the actual result was disastrous.

Only the durability increased, while the physical attack power remained at 1!

Looking at this, it seemed that no matter what high-quality materials were used to craft Karbanog's Dagger, its attack power was strictly locked at 1.

What kind of garbage item is this...

Even so, Tae-hyun crafted Karbanog's Daggers whenever he had free time. He had to make a lot of them first to do anything with them later.

"Oh???"

Tae-hyun was startled. He had been expecting Black Iron or other metals, but he hadn't expected Orichalcum at all! Could it be...!

It came out again! Orichalcum kept trickling out. Tae-hyun's heart fluttered at the thought that he might actually be able ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to craft Orichalcum Arrows.

Meanwhile, Cain, who had been forced to drink the Tonic, escaped and came to find him.

"Hey. I heard Sadiq's Avatar is running wild near the borders of the Erangs Kingdom and the Auston Kingdom... shouldn't we do something?"

"Why should I? It's none of my business."

"......"

"Die, Damiano II! Vengeance for my father!"

Squelch!

"Argh! This is impossible...!"

Dominic and the vampires of the Salavian Order ambushed Damiano II. Vampires grew stronger at night!

The corrupted vampires, empowered by the secret arts of the Salavian Order, easily cut down Damiano II's few guards and attacked the king.

Damiano II, who had stepped out for a modest gathering after receiving an invitation, fell in a pool of blood.

Thud.

"He's down!"

"Master! ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠He has fallen!"

"To the palace! Seize control of the forces in the capital! Summon the nobles and knights and charm them! Kill any knight who refuses to obey my commands!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Find and kill the Royal Guard Captain, the Commander of the Atali Kingdom's 1st Legion, and the Commander of the Royal Holy Knights!"

The night in the Atali royal palace was fierce. The vampires of the Salavian Order ran amok, suppressing and eliminating key NPCs.

"The Royal Guard Captain is nowhere to be found."

"What? Where did he go? Find him!"

A noble captured by a vampire confessed the truth.

"Ugh... The Royal Guard... by His Majesty's decree... is in Count Kim Tae-hyun's territory..."

Last time, when the other cults attacked Tae-hyun, Tae-hyun had played the loyal subject and squeezed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Royal Guard forces out of the King of Atali. He had placed them directly in his territory for defense!

Thanks to that, the Atali Royal Guard escaped the ambush, but...

"They are in Count Kim Tae-hyun's territory."

"Hmph. Fine. They're all dead men anyway. I will show them that running away only leads to death."

Dominic clicked his tongue and said,

"At dawn, announce to the world that a new king has ascended the throne of the Atali Kingdom! All lords must come before me and swear their oaths of fealty. Anyone who doesn't is a rebel!"

"Pfft!"

Tae-hyun choked on his spit at the sudden message window.

If I go, I'll die. Tae-hyun realized it instantly. Who was the one who caught Antonio? It was Tae-hyun.

No... what was Damiano II doing to die so easily? I even warned him. Did he not even travel with his knights?

Clip-clop, clip-clop—

"?"

In the distance, a blood-soaked warrior NPC came riding in. It was the Atali Royal Guard Captain.

"Uwahhh, Count-nim!"

Tae-hyun got a strong premonition that this was going to be a massive headache. He thought about pretending not to know him, but decided against it. It was already too late to change his face!

"Count-nim! Please avenge His Majesty!"

"No, with what power?"

"The other nobles must be furious at this outrage!"

"I'm a bit busy... if they're so furious, won't they take care of it themselves?"

"Count-nim!!"

At Tae-hyun's lukewarm response, the Royal Guard Captain began to wail, pounding the ground. A scruffy, bearded, middle-aged warrior pounding the ground and crying was not a pretty sight.

"Look, it's not that I don't want to... but seeing how Dominic took over the palace, he must have some backers. I need an army to do anything."

"The Royal Guard members in your territory will all follow you, Count-nim!"

Ah. Right, they were here. Since he had gotten those troops for free, he had completely forgotten about them. Tae-hyun winced.

...Wait, they didn't die because they weren't there, did they? No way... surely not...

Of course, that wasn't the reason, but Tae-hyun felt strangely guilty. What if it really was a butterfly effect!

In the meantime, another quest popped up in front of Tae-hyun.

"......!"

A rare King title quest, the likes of which had never been seen in Pan-On! He had never expected to see it like this.