The Spoils of Victory
One strike, two strikes, three strikes... Tae-hyun relentlessly targeted his opponent's weak point over and over again. With one hand, he gripped his sword and stabbed at the vulnerability, while with the other, he pulled out bombs and detonated them in rapid succession. Relying entirely on his evasion, he went all-in on offense!
Your Swordsmanship skill has increased significantly!
Your equipment is being corroded by the energy of death.
Your Engineering skill has increased significantly...
There was a warning message that some of his equipment might break, but Tae-hyun did not lose his focus for even a second.
Please, skill levels, go up!
In the end, it was Nevuchadnezzar who collapsed first.
“This is impossible... Impossible! Me! Someone like me?!”
Nevuchadnezzar's body slowly shattered into pieces, and a torrent of dark energy began to violently gush out into the surroundings.
“Aaaah!”
“Run! Get out of the way first!”
The players, who had forgotten their own situations to watch the bloody battle between Tae-hyun and Nevuchadnezzar, screamed and fled.
Flash!
Nevuchadnezzar dissolved into dust and scattered.
A buy-one-get-one-free deal! Not only did he get Nevuchadnezzar's Authority, but he also obtained Archisus's Authority. All that agonizing struggle had truly paid off. Tae-hyun let out a long sigh of relief. This alone made the entire quest more than worth the effort.
Your contribution to defeating Nevuchadnezzar is low.
Experience gained has been significantly reduced.
Eight level-ups in one go! Just like with Uipoatl, an astronomical amount of experience points flooded in despite Tae-hyun's contribution being much lower than usual. Among the other players, those who leveled up twenty or thirty times were probably common.
Level 176!
Before he knew it, Level 200 was well within his sights.
Carbanog states that considering the sheer amount of experience required to level up even once now, you aren't "looking at" Level 200; you're merely squinting at it from afar.
Shut up... Tae-hyun grumbled.
The stream of system messages showed no signs of stopping.
You have saved the continent from its worst crisis!
An additional buff will be applied to the Atali Kingdom for one year.
The Atali Kingdom is now recognized as the savior of the continent.
The hostility of all religious orders across the continent has been reset.
Ohhh...! Tae-hyun was amazed. What an incredible system! What if he went to another religious order, caused trouble in the name of Archisus, summoned Nevuchadnezzar, defeated him to reset their hostility, and then repeated the process infinitely?
Carbanog desperately tries to persuade you not to do anything so utterly insane.
If you were lucky enough to get a reset, you should be thinking about how to persuade them and build good relations from now on! Why on earth are you already planning to make them hate you all over again?!
Your Reputation has increased significantly!
Your Swordsmanship skill has increased...
Your Engineering skill has increased...
Your Magic skill has increased...
Ugh. I failed to reach the Master rank.
Despite landing so many hits, he had failed to push his Swordsmanship skill to the Master level. It couldn't be helped. Tae-hyun's class wasn't a swordsman, and there were no bonuses for him to learn swordsmanship. In fact, it was bizarre that someone who wasn't even a swordsman was on the verge of reaching Master rank. Other players couldn't even reach Master rank despite having over a dozen class skills that boosted swordsmanship...
By obtaining the Authority of Nevuchadnezzar, your Magic skill has transformed into Nevuchadnezzar's Blackmagic.
Nevuchadnezzar's Blackmagic is the origin of black magic, passed down since the Ancient Empire. Utilizing this black magic will earn you the deep respect of other black mages.
All of your existing magic skills have been deleted.
“Huh?!” Tae-hyun blurted out.
What on earth... This was just as shocking as when he had been forcibly changed into the Avatar of Archisus!
Wait, now that I think about it, it's not that much of a loss.
His Word of Power skill was categorized under his Speech skill. And he surprisingly didn't have many magic skills to begin with—just basic spells like Fireball, Water Ball, Wind Cutter, and so on. That was all! Honestly, losing those wasn't something to cry over. Instead, he was more curious about Nevuchadnezzar's Blackmagic. Since Nevuchadnezzar was a renowned mage from the Ancient Empire, it was bound to be incredible, right?
Grade: Ancient / Legendary
Effect: Allows the user to summon and control undead spirits. The summon pool has been expanded from Undead (Wraiths) to Undead (Random).
Tae-hyun blinked. Huh? Is this really it?
Carbanog gently asks if you've been scammed.
N-No, it's not. There must be something different about it. Look! The summon pool expanded from Undead (Wraiths) to Undead (Random)!
Carbanog stares at you with deep pity.
Even though Carbanog looked at him with pity, Tae-hyun refused to give up hope. There had to be something special about it!
Nevuchadnezzar's Staff
Nevuchadnezzar's Robe
But Nevuchadnezzar seemed completely bare-handed. Is there any point to this?
Unlike Uipoatl, Tae-hyun didn't have high expectations for Nevuchadnezzar. The demigod had been completely naked since his resurrection. What could he possibly get from defeating him...
Hmm. Maybe I'll get Uipoatl's or Nevuchadnezzar's bones.
It was an idea that would make even Carbanog shudder!
If I boil the bones thoroughly to make bone broth, it would make an incredibly nourishing health soup.
Fortunately, the items weren't anything like that. They were Nevuchadnezzar's Staff and Nevuchadnezzar's Robe!
The durability and performance don't even look that good? What is this? Is there a hidden option?
If it was an option invisible to a blacksmith of Tae-hyun's caliber, was it a mage-specific option? No, Tae-hyun's magic skill had already surpassed Advanced. It was highly likely that some other condition was required.
You have acquired the Holy Relic of the Nevuchadnezzar Order.
You can now construct the Nevuchadnezzar Order Temple in your territory.
If the Archbishop of the Nevuchadnezzar Order equips the Holy Relic, the Order's power will increase.
I'll have to check this out later.
Your reputation within the Erangs Kingdom has increased significantly!
The reputation of the NPCs who participated in this expedition has increased...
The reputation of Prince Cain, the 4th Prince of the Erangs Kingdom, has increased significantly!
Whoa, that startled me.
No matter how many times he saw it, he just couldn't get used to that name!
The energy of death lingers too strongly in this area. You can now unlock a Purification Quest.
Using the sand from this area will grant an additional bonus to black magic...
The Nevuchadnezzar Order will receive an additional buff on this land...
Not bad.
Honestly, summoning Nevuchadnezzar, killing him, and then rebuilding the Nevuchadnezzar Order did seem a bit bizarre, but...
Carbanog corrects you, stating that it is extremely bizarre.
Who cares! It's the victor's privilege!
“Kim Tae-hyun! Kim Tae-hyun! Kim Tae-hyun! Kim Tae-hyun!”
While Tae-hyun was reviewing the system messages, all the players from the fortress poured out, surrounding him and cheering. It was a massive success for a quest that everyone had doubted could even be cleared! They had even managed to take down the Emperor of the Asbian Empire, something no one had anticipated.
“Kim Tae-hyun! Kim Tae-hyun!”
“...Isn't she just mocking me?”
Tae-hyun felt a surge of irritation as he watched Lee Se-yeon chanting along. A gentle smile played on her lips. No matter how he looked at it, it was a smile that said, Thank you for making me the Emperor!
The rest of his party quickly held him back before he could snap. There were hundreds of thousands of eyes watching right now—he needed to behave and give a proper speech!
“Everyone. The only reason we were able to defeat Nevuchadnezzar and even Uipoatl was because of all of you.”
Hearing Tae-hyun's words, deeply touched expressions appeared on everyone's faces.
“But that's that, and there are still way too many undead around, so let's finish cleaning them up.”
“?”
“Huh?”
“W-Wait, we just fought like crazy, didn't we?”
“Isn't this the time to celebrate the quest completion and sort through our loot?”
Normally, after finishing a major quest, players would take a break and boast about their success. But Tae-hyun was unyielding.
“It won't be too late to do that after we completely sweep this area! Alright, party leaders, assemble again!”
Tae-hyun's commanding aura had not faded. The party leaders, who had been about to head back to the fortress to rest, were dragged back in a daze.
“Leader, I really want to rest...”
“I want to rest too, you know?”
The undead summoned by Nevuchadnezzar were scattered all across the vast desert. Did they really have to hunt down every single one of them? The players carefully read Tae-hyun's expression. They felt like employees waiting for their boss to leave the office first so they could finally go home.
The Nevuchadnezzar expedition quest was a resounding success. It completely monopolized the spotlight right before the start of the Arena League! Those on the community boards who had predicted the quest would fail had no choice but to shut their mouths and bow their heads.
To the point of making the title of "the birthplace of esports" feel embarrassing, the United States and China were threatening Korea's status with colossal investments. Their sheer financial muscle was already legendary among fans!