“Anyway… I can understand why Hanul still hasn’t recovered.”
Hanul was a disgraced god who barely escaped with his life after running away. It was easy to speculate that he had been mortally wounded. He also invested a huge amount of resources into creating a dimension. He couldn’t afford to care for his wounds.
Grid tried to lighten the mood and the Blue Dragon responded to Grid.
-It is impossible for him to recover on his own. The fact that he was defeated when he had the hierarchy of a God of the Beginning means he must’ve suffered a significant loss.
“……”
The higher the hierarchy, the greater the loss when failing—Grid’s face stiffened as he realized the obvious.
‘I should be more afraid of defeat in the future.’
Grid’s status had risen steeply. It was the result of repeatedly fighting and winning against an enemy stronger than himself. It was the secret behind how he managed to compress the years needed to make up for what he was lacking, but it was also a weakness that Grid had honed himself.
He had a hierarchy that ‘must’ be within the top 10 of the world.
Grid’s position had become too high. It was to the point that the loss he would suffer in the event of a failure had reached an unimaginable realm. It meant he should use Hanul as a teacher.
Grid repeatedly vowed to be more careful in the future. He reminded himself several times that he shouldn’t be overconfident in his strength and power. He should put reason ahead of emotion.
‘Let’s not act rashly.’
Fortunately, the good news was that most of the territory of the surface and hell had become the domain of the Overgeared World. It meant Grid had a huge sensory organ the size of a dimension. Of course, it was a sense where he was only sensitive to certain situations due to all types of practical problems, but this was enough. Essential information poured in at every critical moment.
This was advantageous for quickly detecting anomalies. Just like right now.
-Furthermore… Um.
“……”
There was a fine vibration from Grid’s sensory organ. He felt the waves that occurred when the Blue Dragon’s lightning intervened in the world.
After that, the Blue Dragon’s magic unfolded. Yes, magic. In return for Braham’s acquisition of obtaining pure elements from the Four Auspicious Beasts, the Four Auspicious Beasts learned magic from Braham.
-There is a dimensional gap where ‘traces of light’ remain. I came across it recently. Would you like to see it?
“Traces of light?”
-It is presumed to be traces left by Rebecca’s power. God, if you look at this, it is easy to understand how serious Hanul’s condition is…
“It is a valuable opportunity. Even the Old Dragons don’t have a chance to see Rebecca’s power. Squeak.”
“Let’s go.” Grid moved immediately.
The Blue Dragon flew through the gap in the dimension.
All senses were cut off from reality.
***
Brains and bone fragments scattered along with gushing blood. It was instant death. The arrow that fell just a moment ago contained overwhelming destructive power that lightly trampled on a legend’s ‘immortality,’ which was only temporarily effective.
The surprise attack of an Absolute—it wasn’t strange for it to cause incomprehension.
The arrow smashed Hwang Gildong’s head and then stuck into the ground. Hundreds of thousands of earth dragons were raised due to it.
“Can I ask you one question?” Kraugel, who was rushing toward the earth dragons, asked the old man, “Are you also an Absolute?”
Kraugel’s Twilight let out a thunderous roar. It slashed at the earth dragons that were rapidly approaching. Of course, they weren’t real dragons. They were simply ‘piles of stone rising from the cracked ground’ that resembled dragons.
“As far as I know, there is no perfect being in the world,” the old man neither denied nor affirmed it.
This was why Grid disliked the daoist immortals. They made him waste his time by talking a lot of nonsense.
On the other hand, Kraugel wasn’t particularly dissatisfied with the old man’s way of speaking. He understood what the other person meant. He said, “I will believe you. Please evacuate the imoogi while I block him.”
“I will do it.” The old man was someone who calmly criticized the heavenly gods who had reigned as Absolutes for a long time, yet he nevertheless couldn’t deny that he, too, was an Absolute. Now he raised blue clouds. It was so thick that it couldn’t be compared to when Kraugel fought him.
Just then, a newly fallen arrow lost its target and struck the ground between Kraugel and the old man, causing the ground to rapidly crumble.
Kraugel launched Twilight toward his feet that was being sucked underground.
Flying on the sword—the sword carried its master and moved forward, shattering the earth dragons and reaching Hwang Gildong, who had started to turn to ash. He lost his head and his torso was half destroyed.
It was a terrible sight. Kraugel tore off a bit of Hwang Gildong’s blood-soaked coat and put it away. He planned to deliver it to the Chivalrous Robbers.
‘He is one of Grid’s connections.’
Grid never said anything good about Hwang Gildong. However, when something happened that was related to the East Continent, it was clear that Grid trusted Hwang Gildong because he naturally relied on Hwang Gildong.
I couldn’t protect him…
Kraugel was filled with cold rage when a certain tune penetrated his ears. It was a performance with a sword as a musical instrument. It was the mark of the sword left by the old man, who outpaced Kraugel in an instant.
It was a type of musical art. It gave Kraugel a powerful buff. All his stats rose and the power of his sword increased. On the other hand, it seemed to have inflicted a serious wound on the Absolute approaching the ground.
“Yeoam… He is worse than the rumors.” King Sobyeol finally descended. Blood stains remained in the places where the colorful gold clothes soared in the wind. They were trails of the blood that spilled from his ears.
The Absolute was wounded as soon as he appeared. It was a rare and shocking sight.
Still, it wasn’t enough to get Kraugel’s attention. The Sword Saint of the present age paid attention to the great bow held in King Sobyeol’s hand, not his dirty blood. “It looks just like the bow that King Daebyeol made from his divinity.”
“You saw it correctly. There is a rumor that you helped subdue my older brother’s soul in hell. I guess it was true.”
“His divinity was warm.”
“It is just the heat from the falling sun. Don’t be deceived.”
“Did you become ruthless because you dropped the moon? It must be a pity. The arrows you shot would’ve melted and flowed down without reaching the sun.”
“Your predecessor hid in the dimensional gap because he was cowardly, but you are the exact opposite. You have a fate that won’t live well.”
“Who knows? I can’t really relate when looking at the previous generation.”
Kraugel was both infinitely warm and infinitely cold. His attitude just varied widely depending on who the other person was.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. This was a term used to describe him. It was the reason why most people became humble in front of the present day Sword Saint.
“Grid’s left hand. I intended to appreciate your position and treat you well, but you kicked away your own good luck.”
King Sobyeol raised his colorless divinity. It absorbed all of Kraugel’s sword energy, which was quite annoying. The aftermath was great. In response to Kraugel’s sword energy, the rampaging divinity around Twilight faded and Kraugel lost his strong self-defense.
Nevertheless, Kraugel wasn’t agitated. “You are mistaken.”
The divinity to take any power as its own—the power of King Sobyeol was overwhelming, but the Sword Saint was the exception. No, to be exact, it was ‘Kraugel.’
It was because the sword energy of Twilight was exceptionally sharp.
“I’m not someone’s left hand, let alone Grid’s left hand.”
“……!”
King Sobyeol was cut to pieces from inside.
Kraugel’s sword energy, absorbed by him, neutralized the colorless divinity and repeatedly slashed him.
“From Grid’s perspective, I am a card that can be discarded at any time.”
Therefore, it was okay to fail. He wasn’t afraid of death…
The mental world of the Sword Saint, which was originally focused on ‘cutting,’ was pushed to an even greater extreme. It was very subversive.
“You aren’t a Sword Saint, you are a Sword Ghost.”
It was an idea that only beings with an infinite life could have.
If I can cut the opponent even once, I will give up my life as many times as necessary…
Kraugel’s resolution was felt by King Sobyeol. It was as if he was the incarnation of Baal.
“Are you a madman under the Crazy God and Crazy Dragon?”
It was ominous. King Sobyeol wanted to get rid of the Sword Ghost in front of him right away.
However, it was a time when he should be careful. The skills of Sword Immortal Yeoam were stronger than expected. A single stroke of the sword wounded King Sobyeol. Yeoam also strengthened the present day Sword Saint by several times.
The blue clouds created by the power of law were as tricky as the rumors said. It wasn’t known what type of variables the imoogi, that the Sword Immortal had protected for a long time, would show.
King Sobyeol had to be careful not to get hurt prematurely. He could be unintentionally disadvantaged.
“…Kukuk.” King Sobyeol quietly watched Kraugel’s movements and started laughing. It was a twisted laugh. It was absurd that he, the son of a god of the beginning and a chief god of the Hwan Kingdom, should be so cautious of just one human being. It was the influence of the present day Sword Saint. His sword, which slashed anything, was a threat to even an Absolute. He even had the help of the Sword Immortal now.
‘11 seconds.’
Kraugel estimated that the time it would take for him to enter the immortality state was six seconds. It was calculated that he would last a total of 11 seconds from the time King Sobyeol abandoned his hesitation and attacked.
This was sufficient. Kraugel could cut off one ankle.
Kraugel suppressed his anger in exchange for a cooler head and used this to formulate an elaborate plan. Then a distant cry permeated his ears.
“What are you doing over there? Are you crazy? Should I go first?” Surprisingly, it was the voice of Hwang Gildong, who was not dead and was actually still alive.
King Sobyeol felt Kraugel’s terrible killing intent become directed toward Hwang Gildong. It was the moment when the determination of a person who was prepared to die was lost…
A fatal gap was revealed.
Baaaang!
A showdown between Absolutes was rarely a protracted battle. It was because they had a great peed that made a distance meaningless and techniques that neutralized the self-defense. Of course, the result came even faster when an Absolute faced a transcendent.
Kraugel’s body floated in the air as a result of his momentary distraction. At the same time, King Sobyeol disappeared from the battlefield. He hurried after the Sword Immortal as if he didn’t even have time to take Kraugel’s life.
‘The imoogi?’ Kraugel roughly coughed up the blood in his throat and examined his surroundings. He looked for traces that a giant serpent would’ve left behind as it left somewhere.
However, there were no signs of it. It was proof that the imoogi hadn’t left yet.
“That… I’m sorry?” Hwang Gildong approached before he knew it and held out his hand.
He was also a transcendent. He naturally recognized that Kraugel had suffered a setback because of him. He was tired of the killing intent and sword energy and hurriedly got to the point.
Hwang Gildong told him, “Let’s go to the imoogi. We can get there first.”
“How is that possible?”
“I’m very skilled in secret mechanisms.”
“Did you cheat the Sword Immortal?”
“He is an enemy, so isn’t it obvious? By the way, why do you keep talking informally to me? Do you consider me a friend? My illusion…” Hwang Gildong shook his head. He had witnessed the scene where Kraugel jumped into danger to recover a piece of his clothing.
Kraugel glared at him and urged, “Shut up and lead the way.”
“You have become a ghost according to King Sobyeol’s evaluation… Ah, understood. We have to hurry, so put that sword away.”