“What is this…?”
The crowds gathered on the outer wall rubbed their eyes or checked the condition of their telescopes. However, the sight in front of them didn’t change.
The angels with halos above their heads—the heavenly army, sweeping through the battlefield with solemn expressions, all of them lost their weapons at the same time. They couldn’t believe what they saw. It was like a dream.
They were just spectators. The angels were caught up in the disaster that came without warning and were even more shocked. Then the angels quickly regained their composure. They were all in a Trinity. Thanks to the blessing of the God of Wisdom, they were even able to overcome the dimensional effects of the Overgeared World.
In the first place, it was a matter of life or death.
The angels knew it—the owner of this divinity, which was turning the clouds orange, had a track record of extinguishing even an archangel.
The only angel to maintain an expressionless face opened his mouth, “Take out your halos.”
With a single sentence, he commanded hundreds of angels and completed a number of spells that matched the number of angels in a split second. Then a loud glow exploded through the entire battlefield. It was the angel of the halos above the angels’ heads turning iridescent.
“This magic power…?” Braham, who had been in Grid’s arms, came to his senses.
He coughed up blood the moment he opened his mouth and Grid frowned. “Just be quiet. You talk a lot, really.”
“……”
The halos of the angels were moving rapidly. They aimed at Grid like they were guns and they each shot a beam of light. The power of the divinity-based beam of light was amplified by iridescent magic power. If hit by the hundreds of beams, even an Absolute being like a dragon or Grid would be seriously injured.
‘Mumud.’
The angel in the form of a slender man—Grid had a complicated expression as he identified the angel who was leading the angel army with mysterious magic. Of course, there was no hesitation in his actions. He avoided all the beams using Shunpo and fell into the middle of the battlefield. The problem was that Mumud clearly predicted his actions.
A huge magic circle activated the moment Grid stepped on the ground. Originally, it was a magic trap that would’ve caused a terrible explosion and hurt Grid quite badly. However, there was Braham in Grid’s arms. He had restored some of his mana core and gathered some magic power on the way here. This allowed him to intervene in the magic circle in real-time.
“…Amazing.”
Mumud was amazed when the multi-explosion magic that should’ve engulfed Grid turned into multi-shield magic that protected Grid. Grid was so angry that his temples twitched.
“Can’t you please stay still?”
Twilight and Defying the Natural Order, held in both of Grid’s hands, were moving without hesitation. Every time his left and right hands made a horizontal movement, the heads of six or seven angels fell off and blood spurted out in an explosive manner.
However, there was formidable resistance from the angels. They lost their weapons but they fired sharp feathers like they were swords, while emitting rays from the halos still aiming at Grid. It was like launching a wide-area attack with great lethal power.
Grid had thought about it—if the entire Overgeared Guild and the angel army faced off, thousands of ordinary members, except for the elites of the guild, would suffer devastating damage.
‘What type of bastard angels specialize in killing people?’
They weren’t angels, they were assassins. They were like those born to kill people.
‘I’m not much different…’ Grid thought when seeing the reflection of himself in the wavering eyes of the angels. ‘…Am I like these guys?’
Suddenly, he felt his irritation surging. The speed at which Grid moved among the angels gradually accelerated. He didn’t get hurt at all in the process. It was thanks to the shields that Braham converted from Mumud’s magic and covered Grid with. A rainbow, shimmering shield surrounded Grid in layers.
The power of the mana shield, which was activated based on Mumud’s magic power, was very outstanding. Of course, it wasn’t invincible. Every time it was attacked by angels, the shield’s durability weakened. It came off layer by layer. It was completely gone by the time nearly half the angels had died.
“Now.” Mumud had accumulated his magic power to the limit and activated great magic.
The battlefield turned white. It was as if all the noise around him disappeared as a huge thunderbolt fell toward Grid’s head.
The greatest advantage of lightning magic was its speed. Mumud was clearly conscious of Braham. The thunderbolt of magic power was created so that it wouldn’t be stolen along the way.
Grid’s face became stained with blood.
‘It completely ignores not only magic resistance, but also attribute resistance.’
The genius magician who earned Braham’s jealousy—his magic was basically equipped with the advantages of Braham’s enhanced magic. Except for the power, it was correct to say it was an upgraded version. In a way, it was natural. At some point, he brought out the jealousy of the being who would become the God of Magic in the future.
“Mumud…” Braham repeated the name of his old disciple. Every time, he could feel his breathing fade in real-time while losing blood.
Grid glared at this foolish figure with resentment, only to become aware of something. His anger, which had been soaring for a while, was something that started from the moment he witnessed Braham having his heart pierced by Chiyou.
Chiyou was such a bastard today. Grid knew that Braham would be resurrected if he died, but Grid didn’t want him to experience the pain of death. Even if he put aside his personal feelings, there was nothing good about dying as a god. The loss of status was too big.
“Shit.”
It wasn’t just Braham. Today, a lot of people must’ve suffered tremendously because of his choice. In fact, Hayate was said to have lost his soul and fell into a coma. The unusual appearance of Zeratul and Biban, who were unable to overwhelm the angels, appeared right in front of his eyes.
In the end, as always, Grid acted on his own. That was why he was even angrier. He was strongly aware of this but he had no regrets.
‘This is the right thing to do.’
He must never side with the dragons. He couldn’t allow his precious people to lose their dignity just because this world was nothing more than a game…
Grid’s vision was finally clear as he regained his composure. His face, which had been red with anger, returned to its usual color. His radical movements regained some organization. The feathers and rays that were used to make the unshielded Grid bloody were no longer effective. They kept losing their target and started going astray.
“You must’ve developed some technology in heaven.”
Grid realized that the angels’ movements were quite light and finally noticed it—it was the fact that the angels were immune to the dimensional effects of the Overgeared World. Just as the blessing of Gourmet Dragon Raiders gave him immunity to the dimensional effects, some god must’ve bestowed a blessing on the angels. Most likely, the identity of the god was Judar. It wasn’t strange for him to continue to develop new techniques when he was the God of Wisdom. Furthermore, he had sent Dominion and Asura to the surface not long ago. He had sufficient data.
In a situation where Grid was hostile to the dragons, Asgard was never an easy opponent. Nevertheless, what could he do…?
We are strong as well.
Grid experienced ‘growth’ for the first time in ages due to the evolved Ultimate Martial Art. Therefore, he believed in himself. He also believed in his colleagues who had defeated an Old Dragon. There was no fear.
“Mumud.”
Grid’s killing proceeded more efficiently after he regained his sense of reason. He didn’t swing his sword randomly due to being blinded by anger. Instead, he used the sword dances at the right time.
Mumud was watching as the number of subordinates decreased rapidly. Then his eyes suddenly widened.
The crazy god had always shown bizarre behavior. The man, who had been rampaging like a madman as rumored, was now looking at him with warm eyes. His attitude was completely different from when he looked at the other angels. He even knew Mumud’s name.
“This was your teacher when you were alive.”
The crazy god gestured with his eyes to the man he was holding in his arms. Seeing him talk about things that weren’t appropriate for the situation, this was truly a crazy god.
Mumud felt a great deal of reluctance, but he still observed the appearance of the silver-haired man.
The God of Magic—Mumud was familiar with him. Then he started laughing. “I had a great magician as my teacher. I must’ve been very happy as a human being.”
“…Mumud…” Braham was flustered. He felt so bad that his face was contorted under the weight of his guilt.
This was why people shouldn’t live committing sins.
Grid let out a deep sigh. Then while slaughtering the angels around him again, he said, “I’ll spare you, so just leave.”
“I am Mumud, the angel. I’m not Mumud, the disciple of Braham…”
“I’ve seen Lich Mumud as well.”
“……?”
“It is insignificant.”
Grid felt tremendous fatigue today. In retrospect, it seemed that the conversation he had with Nathaniel consumed a lot of his mental strength. He didn’t want to face a complicated situation, at least, not today. It meant he didn’t want to hurt Braham’s disciple and hurt Braham even further.
Grid used multiple wide-area sword dances. Before he knew it, the angels on the battlefield had turned to ash and Mumud was the only one left alive.
“…I understand.” There was no reason to die here when there was a way to live. Mumud bowed his head respectfully and cast return magic.
His eyes were on Braham, not Grid. His thanks was directed to his old teacher, not the crazy god.
Braham’s expression darkened even more, but Grid couldn’t care about this.
‘He knows good manners.’
Mumud was a good guy in his life, so Braham was plagued with guilt for so many years.
Grid put away Twilight and Defying the Natural Order and pulled out the Emperor’s Sword. He stood tall on the blood-soaked battlefield and caught sight of Reidan in the distance. He was bothered by the players gathered on the outer wall.
[You have used the authority of the Emperor to access the city’s information.]
It was one of the largest cities representing the Empire and a long list of information emerged. However, there was only one area that Grid paid attention to.
[Population: 1,270,199.]
“Lauel.” Finally, Grid shifted his gaze in the direction of his colleagues.
“Yes.”
“How many people were there in Reidan?”
“Exactly 1,270,199 people. The population has steadily decreased after it was transformed into a full-fledged alchemy city…” Lauel rushed over and replied. His answer was smooth thanks to his genius memorization skill.
Grid nodded and returned the Emperor’s Sword to his inventory.
“Yes, I’m glad.”
If the population of Reidan had decreased by even one… If any of the players watching the battle as spectators took advantage of the disturbance and harmed Reidan…
Grid’s slaughter wouldn’t have ended.
That was how sensitive Grid was today.
It was perfectly normal. If anyone was comfortable fighting a war, then they would be a monster in human clothing.
***
“I have to hit Trauka.”
It was as the soldiers from Reidan were clearing up the battlefield. Grid exchanged greetings with his colleagues who worked hard and listened to Lauel’s report. Then he came to this conclusion. Everyone was stunned, but Lauel smiled.
“That is for the best.”
It was a war where dozens of dragons cooperated. Each dragon was at the level of an Absolute while the power of the Empire was limited. Even the territory to be defended was too large. There was absolutely no answer if the dragons were left to run wild.
Defending the cities was practically impossible.
Therefore, strike first. The reason why he was aiming for the dragon without a heart was because the dragons had formed an organization. They would try to protect Trauka at all costs. Losing a powerful boss would jeopardize the organization. This meant they would pay the price of coming together as one.
“First of all, let’s wait for news from Knight. If we regain Hayate’s soul while our power recovers and attack the lair together, we can increase the odds…”
Grid told him, “I will go right now.”
“Huh?”
Lauel was confused while giving his opinion. There were strong doubts in his eyes as he looked at his ruler, who was getting smarter by the day.
“…Aren’t you too excited right now?”
It didn’t seem like it just by looking at Grid’s face?
Lauel was cocking his head in confusion. Then Grid delivered important news to him, “The Rothschild family came to visit me. One day, if Ghamid crashes into Earth, then it can change the world. Morpheus is preparing for this and strengthening players in reality as well.”
Lauel was stunned. He slowly opened his mouth while feeling like a fool from the neighborhood, “Huh…?”
Grid patted him on the shoulder.
“Do your research on it.”
“W-Wait…!”
Lauel barely regained his mind and tried to grab Grid, but he was unsuccessful.
Grid soared into the sky while saying, “I am stronger than I thought. So don’t worry and wait.”
Rebecca’s faith, which was regrettably sealed in a secret story, instilled strong confidence in him. Of course, it looked absurd in the eyes of those who didn’t know the circumstances.