Overgeared

‘This... these crazy items...’

There were now only seven magic crystal balls when there were initially 33. This meant that 26 of Baal’s fragments had perished. The influence of the Overgeared members, who predicted Baal’s potential target and interfered, was great.

Top rankers such as the 10 Meritorious Retainers, Kraugel, Zibal, Hurent, and Haster—their ability to cooperate with the targeted transcendents was completely different from the past.

It was far beyond what Rose remembered. It was thanks to the dragon weapons that suited each of them. The fragments of Baal, accompanied by parts of Asura, couldn’t withstand the ‘physical power’ and often perished.

Ding!

Another crystal ball was on the verge of breaking. Kyle's image passed by in a crystal ball projecting the view of a dying fragment.

Lightning Warrior Kyle—even the man who was identified as the most important target of this operation wasn’t secured. Standing next to him, Vantner’s rough face was tinged with light joy.

‘Even considering the fact that he received the help of Agnus and Kyle, a tanker raiding alone...’

Rose stared blankly at Vantner’s dragon shield, whose offensive power was proportional to his defense, only to soon recover and grit her teeth. Who was a stronger player than her apart from Grid? When she thought about it, the 10 Meritorious Retainers who were always in the lead had become even stronger. They were getting stronger in real time even at this moment. Their rewards for hunting the fragments of Baal this time alone would be significant.

“The hell moon... don’t you think things would be better than they are now if you had projected the hell moon?” Rose cautiously asked. She looked at Baal, who was still sitting on the throne with a calm expression. In terms of her personality, she wanted to hit him and use all sorts of curses while asking him why he didn’t use the hell moon, but she couldn’t do so.

Right now, Baal wasn’t just an object of fear. He was also a superior. This was the last rope she chose after changing her affiliation several times over the past nine years. At this point, she thought it might be a rotten rope.

“The moonlight of the hell moon would’ve made the fragments much stronger than they are now. Then wouldn’t your chances of success have increased significantly? Why didn’t you project the hell moon on the surface?”

Maybe it wasn’t that he didn’t do it, but that he couldn’t? If so, wasn’t Baal’s heyday already over?

“It is because it is meaningless,” Baal spoke to her, who was suffering from severe anxiety. It was a very gentle tone. He smiled as he tilted his head and his black hair fell over his shoulders.

“Grid would’ve reacted directly if I projected the hell moon on the surface. The mission success rate of the fragments would’ve been completely zero.”

Just then—

Another pillar of gray fell over Baal’s head. It was without a newly broken crystal ball. It meant that someone other than Baal’s fragments had died and had been absorbed by Baal. One of the transcendents Baal targeted had died. The Overgeared Guild wasn’t omniscient either. It was impossible for them to identify and interact with all the transcendents of the surface.

“In the first place, killing a transcendent and absorbing their power is nothing but a bonus.” Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

Baal raised his body.

Kujarak—Baal approached the crystal ball with this person and examined it as if intrigued by the appearance of this active, non Overgeared Guild member.

“The biggest reason I operated the fragments is to collect information.”

Another gray pillar fell over Baal’s head as he spoke. This time, it was a pillar created by the death of a fragment. It was killed by Kujarak, Juander, and Chensler. Baal closed his eyes as if savoring his memories and experiences. Then he opened them again. His eyes were no longer on Kujarak. It felt like he had lost interest.

A chill went down Rose’s spine. “Perhaps...?”

“Yes, I learn through the fragments. The power and skill of the humans who harmed the fragments will be rendered worthless against me.”

Baal naturally grew stronger over time. It was thanks to the ability to absorb the power of the dead. It was safe to say that just breathing made him stronger.

Time was on his side. Originally, he didn’t need to put in any effort to become stronger. Then a while ago, Baal changed his attitude. It was while encountering Grid’s epics that he constantly heard. Grid finally started interacting with the Old Dragons. Considering his status as Dragon Knight, he must’ve been becoming stronger at a greater speed than before.

Baal remembered the feeling that he had tried so hard to ignore. Grid, who got back up and challenged him even if he fell down again and again—after reflecting on the vague sense of crisis he felt when he encountered Grid over and over again, he became alert. From the time he experienced it, he started to think that relying on his natural power wasn’t enough.

Baal focused on the ‘experiences’ that existed in the background of Grid, who grew while compressing time. He was inspired. He also felt the need to gain experience and learn. It was why he started to make active use of the fragments.

The clones where his consciousness was split into small pieces—he decided to let them accumulate experience and knowledge on his behalf. He would absorb everything, study it, and accumulate strength faster.

This was the process.

“Even the dragon weapon that Grid trusts won’t be able to pierce my skin.”

The demonic energy wrapped around Baal’s body started to change slowly, but surely. It took a new form and became even more solid. The fragments created a structure to neutralize the power of the dragon weapons. The shape and nature of his hands and nails were also changing. It was to a form where he could easily tear apart the impenetrable dragon armor.

In a few days, when this change was completed, Baal would be reborn as an existence who didn’t need to be wary of the dragon weapons and armor. The main factor was that the level of Grid’s newly created dragon weapons wasn’t particularly outstanding compared to Twilight.

‘Grid... you are bringing me back.’

A very long time ago, Baal also had an enemy. It was Beriache, who was of the same bloodline as him. She was a big threat to Baal whenever she met certain conditions and she made Baal always think and work hard until she was banished from hell. He was just fed up with it at the time, but in retrospect, her rivalry with Baal and his competition with her rapidly propelled his development.

‘You are going to pay a heavy price.’

The wave of power caused by the smiling Baal was enormous. It was like he was in his prime.

Rose was thrilled because he was incomparable to before.

***

“I’m here to see God.”

The capital, Reinhardt, was in turmoil. It was due to Biban’s visit. Hundreds of knights lined up politely and Lauel ran out personally to greet him.

As he guided Biban to Grid, Lauel cautiously asked, “Excuse me, may I dare to ask you what this is about?”

Biban nodded. “Of course. If I spoke to God, won’t you know the content anyway?”

Biban was well aware of Lauel’s position.

“I met something called Asura’s head. It isn’t ordinary, so I decided I should inform God beforehand,” he explained to Lauel, who was inwardly proud.

“The head...”

Asura’s shoulders, legs, torso, buttocks, etcetera—the fragments of Asura encountered by the Overgeared Guild members over the past few days weren’t much different compared to Asura’s hands. Lauel had judged that the head wouldn’t be much different, so he gradually stiffened when he heard this.

“You must not let him see, hear, or speak.”

It was because Biban’s words were very meaningful. At this point, the two of them arrived at their destination.

Randy, who was playing with air at the entrance of the smithy, smiled at them and opened the door. Her attitude was very different from Noe, who only rolled around in the sun and didn’t bother to look at the two of them. Biban stroked the girl’s head before entering the smithy.

Grid stopped working for a moment and greeted him. On the other hand, Khan didn’t notice Biban’s visit. A dragon weapon that turned normal attacks into wide area attacks—he stayed up a few nights to develop the work Grid required and he had just fallen asleep.

In the first place, the level gap with Biban was too great. An ordinary legend couldn’t detect the visit of Biban, who was conserving his energy. He remained in his dream while only being aware of the fact that Grid was talking with someone.

“...A god without divinity.”

Unlike Khan, who was having a good dream, Hexetia was horrified.

Sword God Biban—the human swordsman he had only heard about through rumors was clearly at the peak. Apart from the missing divinity, he thought it was natural for Biban to be revered as a god. He was at a phenomenal level.

Biban felt a similar appreciation for Hexetia. It might be due to the commonality of being in one field for a long time and reaching the peak.

“There was a fragment that ran wild without understanding his opponent. I read the traces of Biban coming forward and just watched. Have you properly tested the performance of the Broken Sword?”

“He wasn’t even worth drawing the sword. However, the head of Asura was quite intimidating, so I came to let you know in advance.”

“The head...? How was it?”

“You said that the other parts of Asura’s body dissipate any ‘energy that gets close’ to it? Meanwhile, the head extinguishes the energy simply by hearing or seeing. If that isn’t enough, the head can make a rule with words to make sure that the energy is extinguished, just like Dragon Words.”

“That... hearing this, it seems comparable to the power of a chief god. Did Baal seriously make such a thing?” Hexetia, who had exchanged greetings with Biban through looks, interjected with a somewhat disbelieving response.

Biban shrugged.

“I don’t know how it was made. In any case, there is no exaggeration in my words.”

“...It is natural in a way, ” the silently listening Grid finally opened his mouth, “In the first place, Baal’s purpose is to make a new Evil God. To borrow Baal’s words, it is a true Evil God, unlike Yatan, and is better than Yatan. It was designed and built as an absolute god from the beginning.”

Grid remembered the red flesh that projected the hell moon. It was a transcendent concept that contained the countless souls that fell to hell. It was to the point where he thought it was an excellent material to produce an absolute god. He was forced to understand.

“The hell expedition... it will be harder than you think. You should be careful,” Biban warned.

Grid nodded.

“I never thought it would be easy in the first place.”

Grid had fought directly with Baal. They had fought dozens of times and Grid had lost most of the fights. He even knew that Baal’s life was infinite. It would’ve been impossible to target him in a raid without the epics.

Grid took a deep breath and sent a whisper to Lauel, who was waiting outside the smithy.

-Bring me the king of the evil eyes.

A means to restrain Asura’s strong power. There was a dragon’s Dragon Words, but that wasn’t enough. Coincidentally, the dragon that Grid obtained as a colleague was weak in terms of Dragon Words. Therefore, Grid planned to rely on another strong power.

Grid and Baal—the Absolutes of the surface and hell were already engaged in a fierce battle of numbers.