‘There are dozens of divine effects in the sword.’
Judar acknowledged that Grid’s performance had never been inferior to his. In particular, he was wary of Grid’s swords. They possessed all sorts of bizarre functions and were deadly to the body. They were so powerful that they even rendered the shields made of magic and divine power almost useless. In addition, the wounds they inflicted didn’t heal properly.
He now completely understood why the dozens of dragons didn’t manage to overpower Grid. They probably needed a breather every time a blow hit them, having to constantly change those who attacked. Even worse, the narrow space meant they couldn’t take advantage of their numerical advantage at all.
‘I thought that after reaching old dragon-level, I could easily win against Grid since he wasn’t able to beat the old dragons. I was wrong. It was a mistake to leave Asura behind.’
He had regrets, but it was too late for such things.
Now that things had turned out like this, Judar had to overcome the crisis alone. His mind was racing. He learned how to use his power and magic in real time. Since he was an expert at making barriers, he had a plan to utilize them at the right time.
“Produce.”
A translucent sphere appeared in front of Judar instead of around his hands, aiming at the sword dance of the charging Grid.
“Distortion.”
The sword dance was sucked into the dimension and reappeared somewhere else–right behind Grid’s back.
Absurdly, Grid’s sword dance stabbed at himself, the unexpected attack inflicting great damage. However, since he was accustomed to pain, he just smiled softly. He was starting to understand the principle of Judar’s power, or at the very least, a rough outline of it.
‘He deals with dimensions.’
He was able to guess easily because he had witnessed Yura’s Hell Leap skill several times.
‘The reason why skills and items become useless once he touches them is because they are transmitted in a different dimension.’
In many ways, it was an overpowered ability. A real headache to deal with, but it was better than when Grid was feeling frustrated because he didn’t know what he was dealing with.
Grid made up his mind and operated the God Hands, confirming that the moment even one God Hand was transmitted, all the hundreds of God Hands became neutralized. It followed the same principle that all his equipped armor became useless when his sword was transmitted.
‘It isn’t a single target ability, it affects a whole category. However, the skill is only transmitted when touched directly.’
The more he learned, the more amazed he was. Still, this didn’t mean there was no room for him to attack. In fact, he might’ve been helpless if this fight had taken place before meeting the old dragons and Chiyou. Now, his experience of fighting against the strongest existences in the world wasn’t useless.
After releasing the combination of Defying the Natural Order and Twilight, Grid started swapping and using multiple weapons. For example, while attacking with Twilight, he let go of the sword in his hand just before it was transmitted. As a result, Twilight’s classification was changed from ‘equipped item’ to ‘possessed item’, causing Grid’s newly equipped weapon and armor not to be transmitted.
[……!]
From the moment Grid started to use dozens of weapons, Judar became flustered because his counterattacks didn’t work properly anymore.
‘Has he come up with a strategy to fight against my power? Experience is such a scary thing.’
Those who were naturally strong relied on their natural strength. Just as human beings naturally walked on two feet, they also ruled with their innate strength.
Meanwhile, Grid was the exact opposite. He started as a weak person and became an Only One God. There were traces of fierce deliberation in every moment of his life.
Judar felt a strange tension as he created a new dimension that surrounded his entire body. The attack range of Grid, who had just replaced his weapon and unfolded the five fusion sword dance, was too large.
Grid started sweating as he watched the sword dance disappear to another dimension. Fortunately, it simply disappeared this time, and didn’t reappear.
‘It looks like it isn’t easy to bring it back after sending it away.’
It appeared that the more precise the use of Judar’s power, the greater the consumption. This could’ve simply been a difference in cooldown time, but Grid decided not to calculate that. Didn’t Haranbeka’s group just fail to calculate Grid’s cooldown time and ended up in trouble?
The battle went on for a long time.
As Judar continued to pour out magic, Grid also had to use a lot of skills.
Ttang! Ttang! Ttang!
Only after his health had dropped significantly did Grid come up with an idea. He ordered the God Hands to forge items, and the sound of hammering was heard.
The God Hands produced a single item in groups of ten extremely fast. Furthermore, using the lava that flowed around the area where Trauka was asleep, the metals would take on the fire dragon’s flames every time it was smelted, turning them red.
Judar was suspicious of the sudden process and attacked the God Hands with his magic. The God Hands only stopped and trembled for a moment when struck by the spells. They weren’t destroyed.
Judar decided that he needed to get rid of the metal they were smelting, so he unleashed a massive wide-area magic. Dark red magic power spread out and golden thunderbolts flashed. Grid moved as if he had been waiting for this and attacked Judar.
Judar was stunned when he realized that the God Hands’ behavior was nothing more than bait. Still, he reacted immediately, just like an Absolute would. He created a dimension in the direction of the sword dance and transmitted it. He surrounded his two hands with layers of translucent spheres and stretched out his hands like a flash of light.
Judar was holding Grid’s spinal cord and heart in his hands.
Finally! He was filled with joy and poured strength into his hands.
His face stiffened. Grid’s heart didn’t pulsate. It was as hard as a stone.
‘A fake…!’
As Randy was captured by Judar, Grid appeared by Judar’s side and attacked him with the six fusion sword dance.
The trick worked!
Judar, who almost blacked out from overwhelming pain, let out a groan for the first time. He flailed his limbs maniacally and counterattacked a few times before soaring into the air.
Grid didn’t follow him because a dark red storm rose violently and crushed him. Every time there was a golden flash within the storm, powerful metallic magic power spread and neutralized some of Grid’s equipped items in real time.
‘Crazy. Did he calculate all of this?’
Grid couldn’t hide his flustered expression. He noticed that the previous traces of Judar’s attacks were emitting light. It was clear that some type of magic worked on it to form the barrier of this storm. Its power was immense. Seemingly, a lot of magic power had been invested into creating it.
‘Dominion’s intuition wasn’t false.’
Judar’s expression also wasn’t very amiable. He finally understood why Dominion had left to train after being defeated by Hayate. He wasn’t inferior to Grid in terms of magic or his power, but he couldn’t fight against Grid head-on. This made him sigh.
Then Nefelina’s bewildered face appeared in front of him.
[Get out of the way.]
He created a translucent sphere around Nefelina. Nefelina released Polymorph and even used Dragon Words, but it was useless. Judar’s dimensional binding was a secret technique that easily trapped even a top dragon.
[Let’s change the order.]
Judar’s will was strongly engraved on the space as he reappeared next to Trauka’s neck.
His fervent desire was clearly conveyed to Grid and the group of dragons.
“Judar, how dare you?!!”
The group of dragons began firing Breaths as soon as they read Judar’s intentions. By the time Judar approached Trauka, eight colorful Breaths had already reached him. He had to do at least something, so he covered himself with a sphere, reappearing shortly after the bombardment of Breaths and placing his hand on the back of Trauka’s neck.
Clang.
However, a shield flew in and protected Trauka.
The shield had just been made and thrown by a God Hand. It was only epic, so it was torn apart by a single blow. Still, it had the effect of ‘blocking one attack’, rendering Judar’s attack meaningless.
However, Judar was already preparing his next attack.
Clang.
Once again, a shield flew in and blocked it. Judar felt annoyed and finally wrapped a translucent sphere around his hand. He ignored the shield and prepared to stab Trauka in the neck.
Claang.
Once again, shields flew in to prevent Judar’s from doing anything.
The first shield to fly in was sent to another dimension, but the shields that flew later weren’t transmitted. Thus, they retained their physical force. Since those shields were classified as ‘items made by the God Hands’, they should’ve all been sent. However, this wasn’t the case.
Judar was puzzled, but he quickly realized what was going on.
‘Is it because they were completed at different times that they aren’t placed into the same category?’
Judar made sense of what was going on.
In order to effectively block Judar’s dimensional transfer, Grid ordered the God Hands to produce items in real time. He also added the detailed command of staggering the timing of an item’s completion.
Crafting items was Grid’s specialty, so he thought he should do it whether it worked or not. Fortunately, it ended up working.
Judar clicked his tongue and admitted this slightly bigger loss. He squeezed out most of his remaining magic power and added divine power to activate a protective barrier. The shields made by the Gods Hands no longer protected Trauka. They clung to the dark blue barrier as if drawn in, gradually evaporating.
Just then, Grid escaped from the storm and hurriedly unleashed a sword attack.
“Wave.”
The sword energy of the Wave sword dance poured toward Judar. It was weak as a single sword dance, but Grid didn’t care. He charged with all his might and also performed a two fusion and three fusion sword dance.
The waves of sword energy gradually grew and eventually became a tsunami. The overall strength was comparable to that of the five fusion sword dance.
Judar’s hand was touching the back of Trauka’s neck. Suddenly, a loud roar shook the entire lair.
The lair could feel when its master was in danger and screamed.
Boom, boom, boom!
The group of dragons repeatedly slammed against the dark blue barrier surrounding Judar, but to no avail. Not only was the barrier tough, but it was also strange in nature. It drew in any force that collided with the barrier like a magnet, gradually reducing the power of that force.
Assuming that the power that hit the barrier was a ‘ten’, it felt like the initial ‘ten’ was divided into smaller fragments of ‘one’ rather than hitting all at once.
Judar’s hand touched the back of Trauka’s neck once again. This time, the roar was louder. Trauka’s thick neck, which had remained upright even in his sleep, tilted slightly.
Just in time, the tsunami of sword energy from Grid collided with the dark blue barrier, shaking it violently. Compared to the group of dragons attacking all at once, this attack made Judar a bit nervous.
Nevertheless, it wasn’t enough. The tsunami of sword energy also didn’t immediately exert its power, instead clinging to the barrier and gradually losing its strength, like a flame going out.
‘This expenditure of magic power and divine power is worth it.’
The relieved Judar squeezed out his remaining magic power until it reached its limit. As Grid approached the barrier, Judar even spent his power one more time to ensure that things would end. He thought that by killing Trauka and increasing his status, he would naturally regain both his magic as well as his divine power.
The same translucent sphere that had sent Nefelina away occurred around Grid. It was a guaranteed targeting skill, one that could not be blocked or avoided.
[You are isolated from reality.]
‘I must kill Judar at all costs.’ Grid made a serious commitment as he fell into a bleak, deserted world.
Judar’s power was too strong. If he missed Judar this time, he would have to worry about the aftermath for the rest of his life.
How many more minutes or hours passed like this?
In a state of panic, Grid returned to reality.
Contrary to what he felt, the time that passed was only a fleeting moment. The tsunami of sword energy was still clinging to the barrier.
[You’ve already escaped?]
Judar’s startled words reassured him. This didn’t mean that things were in a better state.
The barrier between Grid and Judar was still intact.
Grid even borrowed ‘Keen Insight’ from Mercedes to identify the weaknesses of the barrier. He invested all his remaining skills into launching an onslaught, but it only slightly cracked.
Just then, Judar touched Trauka’s neck again. The lair shook even more fiercely than before. Trauka’s neck looked like it was going to be cut any time now.
Grid was blaming himself for wasting too many skills analyzing Judar’s power when a wave of sword energy swept past Grid’s side, seeping into the tsunami of sword energy still clinging to the barrier. The tsunami ate the waves and swelled up.
The surprised Grid looked back. Lord, who had just arrived, ran forward, using a sword dance again.
It was a sword dance that contained the Wave sword dance.
Lord’s Wave sword dance continued to power up Grid’s Wave sword dance.
Originally, it was a mere wave, but the sword energy suddenly overflowed like the sea.
[What…?!]
The barrier couldn’t withstand the power and bigger cracks started to appear on its surface.
“Father!”
Lord’s cry awakened the momentarily dazed Grid. He came to his senses and reacted quickly.
[You have formed a party with Lord.]
[You have formed a party with your child and the effect of ‘First Father’ is activated. All stats have increased by 8%.]
The most effective buff for Grid was a stats increase. He distributed all of his increased stats to strength and swung his sword at a flaw in the barrier. It was the Link sword dance. There was no way Lord didn’t know it when he grew up watching his father’s back all his life. He also used Link.
Thanks to Braham’s acceleration magic attached to him and his shadow manipulation, he was able to stand by his father’s side.
[You are performing a cooperative sword dance with the Overgeared Prince, ‘Lord’…!}
The father and son danced under a mysterious, dark blue light. The number of sword energies grew uncontrollably. It represented the number of connections that the father and son had built.
[You have understood the heart of Lord’s sword dance.]
[Lord feels great awe for you.]
[The skill ‘Link’ has evolved.]
The moment Judar’s barrier shattered—
[The goddess’ hope…!]
Judar expressed these hateful final words and fell down without being able to endure it any longer.