Is This the Power of Unity?

What one cannot do alone, many can achieve together. Is this what it truly means to stand as one!

Since Kim Tae-hyun had played mostly solo during Pan-On 1, he had never known this feeling.

So this is why people talk about friendship and unity...

No matter how he looked at it, the players currently occupying the city had absolutely nothing to do with unity or friendship.

If he had to put a word to it, it was madness!

With actual demons being discovered, the players were tearing the city apart with even greater, frenzied excitement.

While Tae-hyun watched with a warm, paternal smile, Count Bolone shrieked in utter disbelief.

"Your Majesty! This is my territory!"

"I know, I know. Who said it wasn't?"

"No matter what justification you use, it does not change the fact that those wicked mobs are illegally occupying my fief! Subdue them immediately!"

"Oh. He talks pretty well, doesn't he?"

"Indeed. He didn't get that Count title for nothing."

Tae-hyun's companions whispered among themselves.

Surprisingly, Count Bolone was holding his ground and refusing to back down.

Honestly, they had expected him to just tuck his tail and run out of sheer disgust!

That was just how desperate Count Bolone's situation was.

He had led his knights out of the castle, only to suddenly find himself on the verge of losing his own home.

An unprecedented, bizarre event in the history of Pan-On!

But Count Bolone still failed to understand the kind of king standing before him.

Tae-hyun was also an unprecedented, utterly shameless king in the history of Pan-On!

Just because someone had high reputation and numerous achievements did not mean they possessed a noble conscience.

"Silence, Count Bolone! You could not even handle the bandits running amok in your own territory, forcing me to resolve it for you. And now, you fail to manage your own subjects and cause such a disaster! You should be ashamed of yourself. Handle your own territory's affairs yourself! If you cannot resolve this matter, I will strip you of your title of Count!"

"!!!"

Perfect.

Tae-hyun let out a quiet sigh of relief. He had been slightly worried when he made the threat.

The Atali Kingdom consisted of feudal lords who ruled their respective territories, and King Tae-hyun, who stood above them.

Even as the king, the only areas Tae-hyun directly governed were the Capital and the Valley!

He was merely a slightly more powerful lord with more authority than the others; the gap in power wasn't completely overwhelming.

Furthermore, in Tae-hyun's case, he had to rebuild his army and manage his cities from scratch right after taking the crown due to the Salavian Church raid.

Come to think of it, it's been like this since the Archisus Cult days...

Thinking about it only made him feel sorrowful! While others took over fully established systems, Tae-hyun had to build everything from one to ten all by himself.

In any case, even as a king, if the nobles banded together to rebel, there was little he could do. He couldn't just act entirely as he pleased.

This was also the reason Tae-hyun had tolerated the other nobles even when they looked down on him.

But now, he was using this chaos as an opportunity to crush the nobles one by one.

Since it had come to this, he was going to go all the way!

Tae-hyun planned to use this momentum to strip the Count of his title. Fortunately, just as he had calculated, the probability of rebellion didn't turn out to be very high.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"

Count Bolone cried out in despair, but Tae-hyun pretended not to hear and quickly made his exit.

In situations like this, the key was to say your piece and leave immediately.

No matter how powerful Tae-hyun's Supreme Eloquence skill was, dragging out the conversation only gave the other party a chance to catch him in a slip of the tongue.

"Wow. You're doing that to make Count Bolone even more desperate, right? If he's in a rush to get his castle back, he'll have no choice but to beg for our help."

Cain gasped in admiration.

He realized Tae-hyun was doing this to squeeze even more gold out of Count Bolone!

"What are you talking about? I'm going to make sure Count Bolone can't get his castle back. Everyone, gather up. We're heading to Bolone County right now to prepare for a siege."

"...?!?!?"

He fully intended to make sure Count Bolone could never reclaim his castle!

"Hey, hey! No matter how I look at it, this is way too much!"

"I think so too, Senior."

"If we get caught, the aftermath will be unmanageable. Besides, even if we block him and take it over, what then?"

If Tae-hyun greedily became the new lord, Count Bolone wouldn't just sit idly by.

He would likely mobilize every noble he knew to raise a rebellion, crying, "That wicked king is stealing the lands of innocent nobles!"

"Don't worry. I have no intention of taking it for myself."

The Capital and the Valley are already gold-guzzling monsters.

If he had saved the gold spent on developing those territories, he could have bought a real building in the real world!

"??"

"Then why are we blocking him? Who's going to be the lord?"

"Whoever takes it, they'll be far more cooperative with me than Count Bolone. I'm going to do the exact same thing I did with the Capital."

When Tae-hyun occupied the Capital, he had brought in players to cover the maintenance and repair costs.

Of course, Tae-hyun kept the inner castle around the royal palace, and placed his companions in key positions, effectively ruling the entire place.

Tae-hyun had learned a valuable lesson from that.

For Bolone County, he planned to be even more proactive!

He would wash his hands of it entirely and let the players gathered there govern it completely on their own.

Since taking the territory directly would only cause him headaches anyway, it was better to play the part of a generous benefactor.

"Hear me!"

"??"

The noisy crowd of players—who had been ransacking every corner while shouting, "You're a demon!" and "You hid a demon here!"—froze in unison.

Tae-hyun had appeared in the plaza.

"I am deeply moved by your dedication to subduing the demons!"

"Whoa!"

"We did work hard!"

"We killed a lot of demons!"

"Therefore, I have made a decision."

"...?"

The players held their breath, their eyes glued to Tae-hyun's lips.

What on earth was his decision?

"I shall give this city to you, who have made the greatest contribution to driving out the demons!"

"......"

"...!!!"

The words were so shocking that there was no immediate reaction.

Who in their right mind would just hand over a territory to players?

No matter how small the village or fortress, players desperately craved territories.

Why did people fight so bloodily in territory wars in the Espa Kingdom and the Auston Kingdom?

Simply because they wanted a territory of their own!

While it brought massive profits, profit aside, owning a territory was the ultimate dream of every player.

"I could think of no other reward worthy of your hard work on these quests! This territory is yours!"

"...Whoa-aaaaaaaah!"

A roar loud enough to tear the plaza apart erupted.

"Kim Tae-hyun! Kim Tae-hyun! Kim Tae-hyun!"

"Let's build a statue of him in the plaza!"

Who said that?

Tae-hyun whipped his head around and glared.

The culprit looked suspiciously like a Mechanical Engineering Blacksmith.

"This territory is your territory!"

"Whoa!"

"Protect it with all your might! Even if someone comes to take it back, do not care and stop them!"

If Count Bolone heard this, he would have grabbed the back of his neck and collapsed!

Right on cue, a message window popped up.

Normally, it was rare for players to actively participate in territory wars or sieges.

If it was a territory war between guilds, the members would fight fiercely, but if it was a clash between noble NPCs, everyone preferred to stay out of it.

There was no reason to risk losing anything by getting involved in someone else's disadvantageous fight.

But this time was different.

Every single player in Bolone County mobilized!

Not only that, but players from other regions rushed over to help.

"The Arkhisus Crusaders! Join the Arkhisus Crusaders!"

Tae-hyun and his companions disguised themselves as they prepared for the siege.

No matter what, they couldn't risk running into Count Bolone here.

But then, a familiar voice echoed from somewhere.

"Is that..."

"Galakpad?!"

Come to think of it, after receiving the oaths of loyalty from the two counts, Tae-hyun had sent Galakpad to oversee the construction of the Archisus Temple.

It wasn't strange for him to be here.

The problem was that instead of building the temple, he was running around waving a flag!

"Join the Arkhisus Crusaders, and all your sins shall be forgiven!"

Galakpad bellowed in his booming voice.

Since Galakpad possessed an exceptionally majestic appearance, he looked picture-perfect marching around with the massive flag of the Archisus Church.

Looking behind him, hundreds of players were already trailing after him like ducklings.

"Heck, does my infamy stat disappear too?"

"Indeed!"

"I'm currently red-named because of PK..."

"That sin shall also be absolved!"

"But I belong to another denomination..."

"Enter the Archisus Church! Then you shall be forgiven!"

"What if I don't join?"

"Seize and slay that heretic immediately!"

As Galakpad roared his command, the players following him prepared to pounce in unison.

"Argh! No, I was just asking! I'll join! I'll join!"

"Excellent! Come in! Join the crusade to subdue the demons! All your sins shall be forgiven..."

"......"

"......"

Tae-hyun and his companions were left utterly speechless.

That... that crazy bastard...!

"Shouldn't we stop him?!"

Cain whispered, visibly terrified.

No matter how he looked at it, the players joining the crusade did not seem sane.

A chilling vibe, as if a screw had come loose in all of their heads!

They look just like the Mechanical Engineering Blacksmiths!

They were crazy in a slightly different direction, but crazy nonetheless.

"But how do we even stop that?"

"Exactly. If you try to stop them, you might end up strung up alongside them."

Listening to his companions' hushed whispers, Tae-hyun turned his head.

Though it was a bit bizarre, it seemed like it would be helpful in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠their current situation.

After all, they were eager to fight!

"Alright. Let them fight on their own. We'll do our own thing. Everyone, keep this in mind: do not get caught by Count Bolone. If you get caught, I'm going to pretend I don't know you."

"......"

"......"

A true leader! If caught, coolly abandon them!

Everyone nodded and pulled up their masks.

With so many people around, they likely wouldn't get caught, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

"By the way, what is the Guild Alliance doing?"

"Just thinking about them looting gold makes my stomach turn..."

"We're going to rob them back later, right?"

"Of course."

"As expected!"

Everyone cheered at Tae-hyun's response.

There was no way Tae-hyun would just let them get away with it!

"W-What is the meaning of this?"

Su Ning and his guild members gasped in horror.

There was... nothing to loot in the territory.

A completely empty village!

It was so barren that not even a single loaf of bread could be found.

"C-Could it be a coincidence? It must be a village that happened to be ruined."

"Yes. If we go deeper..."

But this was only the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠beginning.