How many iterations was this world currently at? Even the parties involved in the repeated destruction and creation of the world wouldn’t know exactly. For them, the world was as worthless as a sandcastle. It was impossible for them to remember the worlds that had collapsed. Yet for someone, this world was everything.
It was the same for Zikfrector. He fought against the notion that everything that was precious to him would be born and then destroyed with this existing world. He gathered up his willpower with his companions and rebelled against the gods. However, he couldn’t go directly to war. The world was already on the verge of destruction when he barely woke up his spirit affected by the Curse of Sloth. No, maybe it had already perished.
“……”
Every time he was affected by the curse that affected his willpower, he had the same dream. His companions sealed in the gaps of the world howled in pain. Then they found him and closed their mouths. They would force a smile at him. It was as if telling him not to worry. It was as if they didn’t blame him. Thus, it was even more distressing. He was filled with an overwhelming sense of guilt and hated and cursed himself. It was a binding that would never end.
He was sobbing as usual when he heard a voice that he hadn’t heard in a while.
"We finally meet.”
It was Jake. Blessed by the god of luck, he was a hero who avoided all death variables with strong luck. He had saved the lives of his colleagues many times on the journey of destroying the demons of hell. He had been silent for thousands of years after carrying the sin of the gods and now he spoke with a wide smile, “You found a great companion, Zik. I’m glad. It is really fortunate.”
***
“Jake…!” He woke up from his sleep the moment he tried to grab onto Jake, who lost his strength and fell back into the gap. There was the sensation of cold metal touching his back. How long had he been asleep? Days? Months? Or a few years…
The surprised Zikfrector looked up and quickly examined the surrounding landscape. He was moving. He was on top of something that was running. It was on top of something high enough that his gaze lined up with a large conifer tree. Due to the influence of his long sleep, his degenerated muscles didn’t work properly. It was useless even if he trained to the limits. This body that was plagued by the Curse of Sloth was at its limits.
Zikfrector got up with a bit of trouble and looked back. The metal giant’s gaze turned to himself. It was an ancient product that caused him to recall old memories of the past, the magic machine.
“Did you sleep well?” Zibal’s voice flowed from Raiders. It was admirable and thankful that he strengthened his accent to hide his fatigue. Were all the other knights dead? Zikfrector felt regret and sorry. He would repay this grace by killing the gods and saving the world.
“Yes.” Zikfrector’s brief answer was as calm as usual. He controlled his shaken expression. He had to restrain his emotions. This was the only way he could hold on in this crazy world…
The ancient runes that emerged around Zikfrector created a brilliant path that was like a galaxy in front of Raiders. This was the magic he had used to visit the Hwan Kingdom. Raiders got on the road and soon disappeared.
After a while—
“…I missed him.”
The Triad, Haegak, arrived at the scene and clicked his tongue. He missed the fish that he caught so he was bound to feel unpleasant. Even so, there was no shame. The cause of this mission’s failure wasn’t his incompetence.
The sudden high-speed movement of the magic machine had the concept of ‘physically impossible to chase.’ It wasn’t like a transcendent’s Shunpo that leapt across a certain distance, but he couldn’t narrow the distance. Thus, there was no way to stop it. Every time he got close to the magic machine, ridiculous bad luck occurred and the tracking was disrupted. It was a feeling like some huge power was interfering. It was like the power of the Seven Evils, i.e. the power of the gods that the martial god once spoke of.
‘It is natural that I can’t catch him if something like that is used.’
However, considering the power, it was something that couldn’t be used often. He just had to succeed in tracking them as soon as possible and he wouldn’t miss a second time. Haegak ordered the followers who were behind him, “Scatter and wait for the next divine message.”
Martial God Zeratul was great. Humanity wanted power for a number of reasons. They wanted power so it was natural to worship the martial god. On the continent, there were symbols such as temples or stations that honored the martial god. All of them became the eyes and ears of the martial god. The dozens of followers, including Haegak, scattered everywhere. The moment a divine message came down from the martial god who would soon find Zikfrector’s position, they would unite again to eliminate Zikfrector.
On the other hand, outside the small city of Bairan in the Overgeared Kingdom…
“I won! I won!” The Guardian of the Forest. It was even the Awakened Guardian of the Forest and it was killed by Prince Lord. The young man jumped around happily. However, the corpse of the huge monster that fell by the boy’s side was very shocking because it was the result of the boy’s actions.
‘Killing the Awakened Guardian of the Forest in 10 minutes…’ The hidden Faker watched Lord and felt rare astonishment. Certainly, this forest was a hunting area with low requirements. However, the Awakened Guardian of the Forest that appeared in a specific cycle that Lord waited a month for was a very powerful monster.
During the time when Faker was active here, the Tzedakah Guild couldn’t raid it even if they all joined forces. Yet Lord alone took down the Guardian of the Forest in 10 minutes. Lord possessed all types of legendary skills so his potential was excellent, but the Grid created items he was armed with were also outstanding.
A weapon that increased damage every time the same target was attacked, armor that improved tolerance to all types of damage, a cloak that frequently removed aggro, as well as the white tiger shoulder guards and the blue dragon boots similar to the ones that Grid favored.
Over the past 15 years, Grid had prepared many gifts for Lord. His care for Lord could be felt.
“There are so many blue orichalcums! Father will be pleased!”
Did he feel like it was his turn to reciprocate? It was wonderful to see Lord smiling happily as he grabbed the items that dropped.
“This…?!”
“……?” Faker cocked his head. It was because Lord showed interest in a small statue carved from stone. The statue had been in the forest for a long time and Faker had seen it many times. He had just never been very interested in it. The statue of an unknown person was just part of the background and it was common everywhere.
However, Lord’s thoughts were different.
"I might’ve been taught that the suppression of faith isn’t very good, but… this is the Overgeared Kingdom,” Lord murmured as he stepped on the statue and smashed it.
In Faker’s eyes, it was very reasonable behavior. The Overgeared Kingdom was Grid’s kingdom and Grid was a god. In the future, there was no reason for the symbols of gods other than Grid. At the very least, the faith of the Overgeared people had to be focused on Grid.
‘I have to release the Shadow group members to get rid of all the other divine symbols.’
Based on what he heard from Grid and his experience with the Sariel event, the gods weren’t particularly divine. Rebecca’s position was so great that he should be cautious about touching the symbols of Goddess Rebecca, but the other religions were fair game.
Faker thought about it and threw a dagger to destroy another statue lying among the bushes.
Suddenly—
“……?”
He discovered the galaxy lighting up the broad daylight sky and became alert.
***
[There is a rumor that the procession to your stone statue is endless!]
[The Stone Statue of Overgeared God Grid has achieved level 9.]
[Over the next month, your dexterity stat will rise by 30% and the probability of making a high rated item has slightly increased.]
[Over the next month, your strength, stamina, intelligence, and agility stats will increase by 19% each. The casting speed and power of sword dance-type attack skills and casting speed and cooldown time reduction of magic will increase slightly.]
The moment he longed for had finally come. As expected, once the statue reached level 9, he received the same dexterity and production probability correction effects as when the Hero King’s Stone Statue was level 15.
‘It isn’t easy to level up the stone statue…’
The number of people in the Overgeared Kingdom had now reached 200 million. Two-thirds of them were players. Although many people visited the stone statue to complete the weekly quest, the speed at which the stone statue’s level rose wasn’t as fast as before. It seemed that after the Hero King’s Stone Statue was promoted to the Overgeared God’s Stone Statue, the amount of experience required to level up had increased.
‘It is understandable since the function of the stone statue itself has improved.’
The problem now wasn’t the level of the stone statue. It was command. The hidden stat didn’t rise.
“Why?’
It was the 19th day since the vampire species became unsealed. The number of players who changed species to a vampire was already reaching 20 million. This meant 20 million vampires were clearing the Blood King’s Order every week. So why wasn’t the command stat rising?
‘Does it rise by 1 point when the Blood King's Order is cleared 100 million times?’
No way. Still, if the effect of the command stat was as good as expected, then he could endure it. It didn’t matter if the command stat increased by 1 point every 100 million times the Blood King’s Order was cleared. Looking at the trend of vampire players increasing, there would come a time when it rose by 1 point every week. It wasn’t bad.
‘It would be understandable if it was 1 point per 1 billion… no, this is a terrible calculation.’
Dammit, it had been a long time since he became a slave of the S.A Group.
‘Well, it’s fine.’
The reason why Grid wanted the command stat was because he wanted to speed up the formation of blood magic and the duration. However, there was a saying that ‘if you don’t have teeth, you should live with your gums.’ If the command stat wasn’t rising then he should change the method by improving the Pulling Device. His dexterity stat buff was restored so he was keen on making items for the time being.
‘Let’s speed up the ejection speed and put the aim assist effect. I need Elizabeth’s help.’
Grid’s face was energized as he lit up the furnace for the first time in a while. Rest could sometimes be inspirational. Grid had envisioned more than one or two items in the time when he waited for the level of the stone statue to rise. He had plenty of materials from his colleagues who competed in the National Competition.
“Let’s start production.”
It was time to become stronger.
