Every time the magic power that spread to the soles of his feet swirled, Judar’s figure stretched and accelerated.
As evidenced by his upper body, which leaned forward like it was pouring out, Judar was running with all his might.
He was the son of a god of the beginning and had been given everything from the moment he was born. This was the first time that the rational god of wisdom had shown such passion.
‘There will never be another chance like this.’
There was a reason why Judar was doing all of this. He believed that now was the right time to take Trauka’s life.
It was all thanks to the goddess and Grid.
Hayate, who was supposed to die, was brought back by the goddess’ blessing. The old dragons were tied up. By now, they must have been busy watching Hayate, who had become stronger than before.
Weren’t they still silent even though a top dragon had lost his right?
On top of that, Grid had split up the dozens of dragons guarding Trauka. It was hard to analyze how this was possible even with Judar’s knowledge, but… He had no choice but to convince himself that this was why Grid was the goddess’ hope.
Anyway, the important fact was that this was a great opportunity for Judar.
‘Thanks to the heart of Kubartos, my divine power has increased significantly. Now I can cut off the Breath of an old dragon and raise my status.’
The reason why Judar’s character was cautious was because he was lacking in combat strength. Of course, he had the skills to be considered one of the best among the Absolutes, but he was at a disadvantage against the strongest beings like Chiyou, Dominion, and the old dragons.
He had spent his whole life training his power to create and manipulate dimensions, but he wasn’t able to utilize it properly since it consumed so much divine power.
But today, he got the heart of a top dragon.
Thanks to humans being more useful than he imagined, Kubartos had been greatly weakened. He was able to use Baal’s legacy to take away Kubartos’ heart.
Asura was bound by a contract and was a reliable tool from Judar’s perspective.
‘After many events, I got exquisite luck. This is why I have faith in the goddess again.’
Maybe it was because the goddess blessed him that he got this type of luck. A mocking smile spread across Judar’s face as he thought about it. Memories of the distant past when he believed in his mother unconditionally came to mind, making him feel empty and humiliated.
‘She is a god of the beginning, but she is no different from those who live ephemeral lives.’
Judar surmised that his power was born from Rebecca’s desire. Maybe, around the time she realized the true nature of this world, the goddess was overwhelmed by infinite fear and dreamt of escaping to a higher dimension, the true universe.
However, Judar had failed to fulfill the goddess’ wish. His power was limited to producing lower dimensions.
After experiencing a deep sense of despair, the goddess disappeared for a while. Then one day, she suddenly came back and started to inflict all types of trials on humans.
Back then, Judar had no way of knowing why this was happening. However, after the world had been destroyed and recreated several times, Dragon Slayer Hayate was born. From then on, Judar vaguely guessed the goddess’ intentions. Several doubts started to arise as another thousands of years passed and billions of ‘non-dying human beings’ started to invade the world.
At the same time, he witnessed Grid performing all types of miracles. He reached a certain conclusion based on the goddess’ attitude toward Grid.
That’s right. Judar also glimpsed the truth of the world on his own. He just didn’t let anyone else know. Even when he was alone, he was silent about the truth of the world, because he was wary of the eyes and ears of the foreign god.
He felt a great fear toward this foreign god, who had sent an apostle called the refraction dragon to kill the goddess, and was worried that the foreign god might send another apostle who would prove deadly to him, so he pretended to be ignorant.
Every time the goddess was away, he acted arrogantly, as if he was the master of the world. He ignored the various miracles caused by the players, brushing them off as insignificant, and he suffered several failures because he was obsessed with immediate greed.
Acting like a frog in a well proved to require quite some effort.
‘It is worth holding out like a rat. There are only a few steps left before my grand plan is achieved.’
Judar’s goal was to gain such immense power that even the foreign god wouldn’t be able to respond immediately. Absorbing the heart of the top dragon and taking Trauka’s life were just the first steps to gaining the power needed to overwhelm the old dragons.
Judar placed his hopes on what would follow once his plan unfolded.
First of all, the aftermath of Trauka’s death would be great. The old dragons would be gripped by a strong sense of crisis and rely even more on the refraction dragon, instilling a strong devotion in him. The refraction dragon would become even stronger, and the goddess would surely perish. Naturally, Judar would take over the hierarchy of Asgard’s supreme god and gain even greater power and authority.
‘I will use the authority of the supreme god to hold the world hostage.’
Judar intended to impose a ban on the entire world so that humans from the world of the foreign god wouldn’t find any value in being active in this world. For some reason, the foreign god was making every effort to provide convenience to them, so Judar thought this would be a good bargaining chip.
‘I will surely ascend to the higher dimension.’
The reason why Rebecca had reset the world so many times and hurt countless human lives was because, contradictorily, she loved the world. Her purpose was to make the world self-reliant. She wanted to eliminate the possibility that this world, created out of the needs of a superior being, could disappear overnight on a whim.
On the other hand, Judar dreamed of becoming a higher being. He wanted to go out into the real universe and become a truly living being.
Today was the day he would make the great first step toward that goal…
Every time Judar slammed into the ground, the maze shook violently. He was still speeding up. He’d become stronger by embodying the magic power contained in the Dragon Heart in real time.
The moment he arrived at the heart of the lair, he would fully digest Kubartos’ heart and evolve. This was all part of his calculations. It was also the reason why Judar wasn’t attached to Kubartos’ body. He stole just enough energy to evolve. That way, he would be able to completely digest it in time.
He was still conscious of Grid. If Grid was unexpectedly fine when he arrived in front of Trauka, he needed the strength to overwhelm Grid.
‘There are two variables to worry about, even they are unlikely.’
One variable consisted of both Grid and the group of dragons being intact and the two forces cooperating. The other consisted of Grid being fine, while Zeratul, who arrived later, having recovered above a certain level.
Judar would be a bit flustered, but neither scenarios were likely to be realized. The odds weren’t worth his concern.
Step.
The god of wisdom made careful calculations as usual.
“……”
Finally, he arrived at his final destination in the lair. He was initially captivated by the sight of the old dragon, whose eyes were closed like he was dead.
Fire Dragon Trauka.
Judar never thought the day would come when the strongest dragon would die. Maybe even the foreign god couldn’t have imagined it. Judar shuddered as he recalled the sight of Trauka preying on the heavenly gods in the distant past. He realized that the grand plan he had been preparing for a long time was fast approaching.
Zeratul looked shocked. “Judar? Why are you here…?”
Seeing how haggard he looked and hearing his soft voice, it was clear that he had barely recovered a portion of his damaged divine power.
One of the only two variables had disappeared.
“You really took Kubartos’s…!”
The dragons shouting in anger weren’t in very good condition either.
Revola and Haranbeka, who had great reputations among the intermediate dragons, were present, but their conditions were the most severe.
First of all, they were all polymorphed to human form.
‘The lair’s structure makes it difficult to release Polymorph.’
Judar knew that the dragons had been struggling against Grid, so his transparent eyes finally landed on Grid, examining him.
Naturally, Grid was in the worst condition.
The aftermath of fighting alone against the foreign god’s apostles was considerable. Judar confirmed that even the last variable had disappeared and moved forward without hesitation.
“You…!”
Zeratul stepped forward.
Judar didn’t bother to operate his dimensions. He was the god of wisdom. He would never make the mistake of showing his power prematurely in front of the enemy.
Judar just wielded pure magic power.
Zeratul hurriedly used a technique to disperse the power, but Judar’s magic power was very powerful now that he had fully digested Kubartos’ heart.
Zeratul frowned as he felt a sharp pain in his hand. Judar quickly linked the attack, magically intercepting the counterattack and slamming his magic-wrapped fist into Zeratul’s stomach.
Zeratul’s body flew into a corner like a cannonball.
Judar’s magic was also destroyed, causing his face to be slightly damaged. Still, it didn’t affect his condition. Zeratul was more exhausted than he thought.
[Thank you, Grid, for standing by the goddess.]
Ever since Grid turned away from the resurrected refraction dragon and sided with the goddess, everything had been working out for Judar, as if Grid was his benefactor.
‘I will repay this favor when I get to the world you live in.’
Judar broke through even the dragons, whose movements overlapped, and finally closed the distance between him and Grid.
Then he unleashed the trick he had kept hidden so far. A translucent sphere formed around his fingertips that spread out like blades.
Looking closely, it was three-layered.
The surface sphere would counterattack or defend against Grid, the central sphere would send Grid’s armor away and the third sphere would send Grid’s skin to another dimension. Then Judar’s hand would be able to pierce Grid’s heart without meeting any resistance.
Grid was an easy opponent to target compared to Kubartos, who had a total of four self-defense weapons: his Absolute Defense, magic, scales, and skin.
It wasn’t because Grid was weaker than Kubartos. The differences were due to the characteristics of their race. Dragons were a race that always had Absolute Defense, so it was inevitable that one more layer of spheres was needed when attacking.
Judar’s hand leisurely passed through the sword dance that unfolded at lightning speed.
From this point on, Grid’s sword dance and Defying the Natural Order sword had no influence on reality. Grid’s eyes filled with doubt while Judar’s hand broke through the sword dance and stretched out like a flash of light.
Now with one of the two remaining spheres, he could transfer Grid’s Absolute Defense to another dimension…
‘…Wait, Absolute Defense?’
The stunned Judar hurriedly created another layer of sphere. However, the timing wasn’t right. His hands were already touching the chest beyond Grid’s armor.
Grid’s body was pushed back a few steps but, unexpectedly, he wasn’t seriously hurt. This was due to his reflexive use of the White Tiger’s Posture and putting all his stat points into stamina the moment the sword dance was broken through.
‘Is his Absolute Defense always active, like a dragon’s?’
Grid was armed with dragon armor, so it made sense that he could use Absolute Defense. Judar just wondered if he could handle it as well as a dragon.
This uncertainty made Judar’s position awkward. He could create a small dimension and use it to transmit things. There was only one type of concept or substance that could be transmitted per dimension.
If a target had three defenses, he must have three spheres in his hand. There couldn’t be more than four. Then, Judar’s hand would pierce the target.
Of course, if he released his power while piercing the target, he could deal a penetrating wound but… There was the possibility that his hand would be trapped, so he decided that was a bad idea.
‘Destroying the heart doesn’t mean the target will be killed immediately. I need to be careful.’
Judar made a quick decision and swung his hand filled with magic power rather than the spheres.
The more blows he exchanged with Grid, the darker his complexion became. It was because Grid’s Absolute Defense was sometimes solid and sometimes silent.
‘Is it just a coincidence? Or can he control it?’
if it was the latter, then Grid had an advantage over him in terms of compatibility. The moment Grid understood the principles of Judar’s power, Judar would be at a disadvantage. Nevertheless, it was too hard to attack Grid without using his power. Grid was tougher to fight than a top dragon.
Simply wielding magic power didn’t deal much damage. He tried using spells but the magic would disperse as soon as it was completed.
Judar remembered that this was a power that Grid had inherited from Braham.
‘It is puzzling.’
Beings who fought against Grid usually had bad personalities.
The moment they noticed his survival ability was superior to a cockroach, they would feel frustrated, their heads would become dizzy and their anger would soar.
But today, Grid had the survivability of an old dragon.
Judar, whose composure was his weapon, allowed a rare frown to frame his face.