Chapter 1872
“Your attack was a throw. Contrary to your ambitious words, your attitude is flawed.”
The words spoke the conclusion—
Grid’s rain of battle gear had no effect. The tens of thousands of weapons rained down like torrential rain, but they couldn’t even touch even the tip of Chiyou’s hair. In a way, it was natural. Defying the Natural Order was wielded by Zeratul, who was briefly freed from the constraints of the Overgeared World.Even this sword, which shot faster than a beam of light, couldn’t cut Chiyou properly.
It was unreasonable to expect that the ranged wide area skill, which was slower than Grid’s sword that was directly wielded, would hurt Chiyou. No, he honestly was expecting it. The strength of the rain of battle gear lay in the fact that it was a wide area skill. It was somewhat slow, but it pressured the opponent with range. It induced limitations in evasion and blocking.
However, Chiyou swung his sword once, as gracefully as if painting with a brush, and made all the attack trajectories of the battle gear miss.
‘It isn’t a matter of slow or fast.’
Nor was it the domain of technique.
‘Power.’
But what power was it? Was he simply immune to projectiles? The problem with that interpretation was that he responded by swinging his sword.
The battle gear that filled Grid’s field of view for a moment—they returned to their respective masters without achieving their purpose and Chiyou’s sword stuck out through the gap. It was very natural, as if it was one of the weapons made by Grid. It was fair to say that it permeated the landscape.
“......?”
Thus, there was a momentary gap before Grid recognized the attack. The warning sent by his artificial senses was overshadowed and he failed to respond for a moment.
Claaaang!
Then he felt rewarded again for raiding Baal. It was because the Demon Sword Remnants blocked Chiyou’s sword on Grid’s behalf. Yes, it was definitely blocked.
[You have suffered 5,129,100 damage.]
[’Doran’s Ring’ has immediately restored half of the lost health.]
“......?”
Fresh blood gushed from Grid’s chest. It was the aftermath of being slashed by Chiyou’s sword that passed through Demon Sword Remnants. The pain that had previously only been felt at the moment of death unexpectedly struck and made Grid’s mind flash. He hesitated while trying to return the damage he had suffered.
“You deserve it, I know.”
‘It passed through the demon sword like an illusion.’
“But that alone won’t convince the world. You need to cut my throat with your own sword to disqualify me.”
‘Don’t tell me.’
Grid realized it. Chiyou’s power was probably to induce a ‘pure confrontation.’ Chiyou neutralized other people’s skills and magic without touching it, he simply broke through the pouring rain of battle gear and turned the Demon Sword Remnants useless. It was because Chiyou’s power didn’t recognize such situations as ‘fights.’
“Of course, the idea of using that was good.”
Chiyou’s eyes fell on Zeratul in the distance. Zeratul’s appearance was disastrous. His right arm was severed and he was biting Defying the Natural Order with his mouth like a beast. He crawled for around five meters before managing to raise himself up. He was covered with blood.
After being restricted by the Overgeared World again, he was completely overwhelmed by Chiyou. However, he wasn’t shabby. Zeratul fought as best as he could and caused a small amount of injuries on Chiyou’s body. This was the reason why Chiyou’s ink-colored dopo, which stretched long like a spider, was torn and ripped everywhere.
“The Martial God made by Rebecca. When I saw you charging at me, I judged you to be a worthless defective product, but reality is different. However, it isn’t enough. He isn’t worthy of being your agent.”
“......”
Zeratul was approaching. Due to the constraints of the Overgeared World, the regeneration of his severed arm was slow and his shattered knee was still rattling, but he tried not to waste time. Maybe he knew it from the beginning. The only way to fight Chiyou was to bump into him directly. It was an expression of trying to settle things somehow before Defying the Natural Order was taken away by Grid.
“Nevertheless, I am giving you another chance.”
Grid’s attitude of silently watching the approaching Zeratul disappointed Chiyou.
Seeing him frowning, Grid thought again. ‘It was the same with Rebecca and Yatan.’
There was a sense of humanity in the high gods. The emotions expressed through their facial expressions were easy to understand because they were like humans.
Rebecca’s distorted smile, Yatan’s bitter expression that he had seen in the past, and Chiyou’s distorted face in front of him reminded him of the fact that they were far from ‘perfect.’ Grid took a deep breath.
He decided not to worry about it. It was a bit absurd to say in this situation, but Chiyou wasn’t an enemy. The traces of destruction left on the streets proved it. No one was injured or killed by Chiyou. Even the collapsed buildings had one thing in common and it was that they were completely deserted.
Only Grid and Zeratul were cut by Chiyou’s sword.
‘This is just a test.’
From Chiyou’s perspective, it was a life-or-death test, but from Grid’s perspective, it was just a test that came out of nowhere. There was no need to panic. Even if he didn’t necessarily aim for the best result, there was no hindrance to the general trend.
‘...Let’s think of the best scenario.’
Grid calmly analyzed the situation and laid down one premise.
First of all, there was no way to avoid fighting. Chiyou believed that Grid was qualified to take the test. The test ended only when the result was a victory or defeat.
‘It will be over if I just die.’
Even if he lost and failed, he didn’t think he would suffer a big penalty. In fact, this situation wasn’t even judged as a quest. There was no indication that any penalty would be incurred in the case of a failure.
Wasn’t it all about losing Chiyou’s favorability?
‘Additionally, Chiyou’s favorability has no effect.’
A special existence who only hoped for extinction—even if he built up favorability, it would only get him one more chance to kill Chiyou. However, Grid didn’t want a simple end to this situation. In any case, this was a rare situation. It was right to find a way to use it. That was the best thing he could do.
‘...Will it work?’
The time it took for Grid to come up with an idea was short. There were already so many hints that it was easy for his mind to work.
Glance.
Grid’s eyes met Lauel’s.
-I’m going to release the dimensional constraints.
-Do as you wish.
Lauel was someone who understood perfectly even when Grid was speaking nonsense. He immediately grasped Grid’s intentions and nodded. It was more like an attitude that he had been waiting.
That was enough. Grid was convinced that his judgment was correct and intervened in the dimensional system.
‘Stop the operation of the dimension effect.’
The dimensional effect of the Overgeared World was to suppress intruders from other dimensions. It didn’t work against Chiyou at all, but the gods who didn’t originally belong to the Overgeared World couldn’t exert their full power in the Overgeared World. It was the safety device responsible for the safety of the surface. However, at this moment—
[The dimensional effect of the Overgeared World has stopped.]
[The penalty that intruders receive from the Overgeared World has disappeared.]
The safeguard was lifted. Zeratul was the first to feel it. He was shocked as he challenged Chiyou again. “You, are you crazy...?!”
Zeratul shook off Chiyou and stared up at the sky. His trembling eyes shone with a brilliant light. They were colored by the light pouring from the sky.
“This...”
“...What a spectacle.”
The heavenly gods descended. There were hundreds of gods led by Dominion. In the past, Zeratul had a history of visiting the surface with the gods, but the scale of this procession was different.
“It is strange. Why would you give away your opportunity to other gods?”
As the completely overwhelmed people remained silent, Chiyou’s question rang out. His attitude of describing this situation as an opportunity spoke for itself. He really had no ill will toward Grid.
Grid smiled bitterly. “It is because I don’t have the ability to fight you and win yet.”
“...Anything is hard the first time.”
It is nice not to have to win.
Chiyou swallowed down his inner thoughts and turned away from Grid. In fact, he knew it deep down. It was impossible for Grid to kill him at once. However, if Grid learned from this ordeal, then he would gradually change the next time and the time after that. It was a waste of his expectations.
Grid’s attitude of meekly giving up disappointed Chiyou.
‘This is my fault. I shouldn’t have admired him.’
But he didn’t blame Grid. Chiyou blamed himself and shifted his attention to Dominion.
The God of War—the larger the group he led, the stronger Dominion became. As the scale of the fight grew, it was possible for him to gain the upper hand over Chiyou. In any case, it was just a theory. In past wars, Dominion had never been able to surpass Chiyou. Even if he went beyond Chiyou, he couldn’t kill Chiyou. It was because being defeated by a large number of enemies couldn’t undermine the qualifications of the Martial God.
“Chiyou... obediently come with me. I will escort you to the place where the Goddess is.”
[The gods of Asgard have descended to the surface.]
[Dominion, the God of War, is feared and respected by all.]
All the gods who descended to the surface had a great presence, but Dominion was the most prominent one among them. The shadow of the large army that existed beyond the golden clouds had reached the surface. Tens of thousands of hidden soldiers reacted to Dominion’s words and gestures, making the people hold their breath.
Everyone except for Grid and Lauel suffered from anxiety. It was a situation where an unbearably great foreign power stepped into the heart of the Empire.
“Stay calm.”
[The confusion of the soldiers has subsided.]
[The morale of the soldiers remains at the maximum.]
At the rear of the battlefield...
Prince Lord calmed down the noisy soldiers. He sent infinite trust and loyalty toward the great back of his father, who was far away.
It caught Chiyou’s interest, albeit slightly. “The concept of lineage often has an effect that is hard to ignore. But this isn’t always the case. In general, children of outstanding parents don’t meet the expectations of those around them.”
“Chiyou... you talk like a human being.”
“It must be the effect of watching over humans for a long time.”
It was after believing in Hanul’s promise and moving to the Hwan Kingdom. Chiyou didn’t intervene in the lives of humans, but watched them steadily. It was from the vague expectation that among those who grew up in an environment worthy of hating the gods, one of them would be qualified to kill a god.
He had observed more deeply after meeting Grid. It was because Grid lived with humans.
“In any case, you are the same. You are still worse than Rebecca.”
“There is no being comparable to the Goddess.”
The conversation was meaningless. If their conversation had any meaning , then their relationship would have come to a decisive end.
Dominion’s gesture was a signal. Dozens of gods attacked Chiyou. All types of powers worked in ways never imagined and destroyed the city.
The apostles, members of the Overgeared guild, and gods of the Overgeared World were busy. They were focused on reducing the extent of the destruction.
Grid watched the situation silently. It felt like it was an implicit rule not to intervene with the gods of Asgard. They became closer to a collaborator from the time the restrictions of the Overgeared World were released.
“In this state, the surface will be devastated. You should know that, right? What are you thinking?”
“......”
Grid didn’t respond to Zeratul, who was constantly scolding him. He just took back Defying the Natural Order.
“Kuek...”
Chiyou’s power was shining. He seemed to become more powerful in proportion to the strength of his opponents. The gods had their power destroyed by a single sword and started to suffer great wounds. Finally, some gods fell.
Just then, Grid moved. He shot like a thunderbolt and beheaded a fallen god.
The War of the Gods—a dirty thing happened in the holy war that should be endlessly sacred.
“......?”
“......?”
There was silence. Grid turned away from the eyes of the gods who didn’t understand the situation and whispered to Lauel.
-Is this right?
-It is really a wonderful example of letting the barbarians fight among themselves.