“…Gulp.”
Returning to Reinhardt, Grid cooled down. He felt a tremendous amount of pressure. His hands and feet were trembling, so the fierce battle with Cranbel came to mind again.
Mercedes was standing in front of him. With her clear skin and blue eyes, combined with her chilly expression, she was naturally reminiscent of ice. It was an iceberg that floated in the middle of the deep blue sea. Wouldn’t she be called the Ice Empress if she went to the East Continent?
“I’m glad you returned safely.”
Fortunately, her voice was amiable. The problem was that her eyes didn’t smile. Mercedes was clearly sulking. It was natural. The moment he heard the news of the dragon invading Reidan, Grid had made an earnest request.
Never follow me. If you follow me, I will resent you for the rest of my life.
The words ‘resentment’ and ‘lifetime’ were put together. It was foul play.
Mercedes was terrified. She couldn’t chase after Grid carelessly. She recalled the fact that he couldn’t die and could only watch his back as he quickly moved away. It was also physically impossible to keep up with Grid’s speed. It was a situation where the warp gates weren’t working. The performance of her Silver Wings wasn’t enough to catch up with Grid who used Shunpo in combination with Barbatos’ Vision.
Mercedes was left behind and literally experienced hell. Every minute and second seemed like eternity. All she could do was pray while her nerves stretched out like an extended rubber band. What was a knight who couldn’t stand by her master?
Mercedes felt a great sense of helplessness and shame. She deeply felt like she was in the depths of despair. She questioned the value of her existence. Irene was the one who supported her while she was shaking. She had felt this way longer than anyone else and warmly wrapped her hands around Mercedes’ trembling hands, even though she herself was feeling sad and afraid.
Mercedes felt the dignity of an empress. She became more respectful of Irene for taking care of her like a sister. Therefore—
“Your Majesty!”
She didn’t dare take Irene’s rights away. She watched silently as Irene was the first to run to Grid and hug him.
“I’m sorry for making you worry.”
Grid tended to be particularly weak against Irene. She was born the daughter of an ordinary (?) noble and became the companion of an emperor and god. The psychological burden she felt would be great. Furthermore, Grid was always on the battlefield. Irene was in the position to assume and prepare for the worst every time. It was easily understandable why her hair turned white before she built up divinity. He always felt sorry toward her.
“Why are you apologizing? Who will blame a father who returned after fighting to protect his children?”
Basara had said this: The emperor should be the father of the people. Irene deeply agreed with Basara’s claim. Of course, it was the same for Grid. Grid was reminded of Basara, who wasn’t here.
‘I will have to visit her more often.’
After the wedding ceremony, Basara became the ruler of Titan and quickly returned to Titan. The reason was that every second was important to restore the city that had collapsed after the Great Human and Demon War, but Grid thought that she felt burdened.
A political maneuver—Grid got married without liking Basara. Basara knew this as well. She thought that Grid would be uncomfortable if she was next to him. At this point, Grid was sorry. Regardless of the reason, they were in a marriage relationship. Grid was obliged to give Basara some affection. It was something he had to try.
‘…The exception is Marie Rose.’
Marie Rose… he disliked it. He had no confidence to handle her. He was just afraid.
Grid unknowingly touched his lips, only to be startled. It was because Irene and Mercedes were staring at him. The slight flush on his face seemed to have created a strange misunderstanding. Grid intuitively sensed that it would be tough tonight.
“Hum hum, Mercedes.” Grid coughed and changed the atmosphere. He handed Mercedes the treasure that the alchemists had risked their lives to protect. No matter how he looked at it, this item resembled coated paper. He questioned if this was truly a treasure.
“This is what you commissioned. The alchemists protected it even as the dragon turned the city into a sea of fire.”
“Uh…!”
“……?”
Grid was confused. It was because Mercedes’ pupils expanded like a surprised cat and her hands and feet floundered.
The ruler of knights—this appearance didn’t match her, who was the envy of all the knights in the world. Eventually, her face turned red and she pulled out a sword. The White Tiger Sword, which was more transparent than glass, shone with sharp sword energy.
“W-What special item…?! I will get rid of it!”
“No, what are you doing…? Calm down! Calm down!”
There was a big uproar. Grid tried to protect the object containing the blood and sweat of the alchemists while Mercedes, who didn’t dare swing a sword at him, was in a hurry.
***
“Thank you.”
“As expected of Grid. You are beyond favor or spite.”
At the Overgeared Castle, Reinhardt…
In the now emperor’s palace, which was almost treated as a sanctuary, Grid and Asuka exchanged bright smiles.
[Player ‘Asuka’ has joined Overgeared Guild One.]
[Player ‘Black Teddy’ has joined Overgeared Guild One.]
Asuka achieved her dream. The right to commission items from Grid. It was the moment she had been desiring for years. It was also a satisfactory deal for Grid. Asuka and Black Teddy’s skills had long been famous. They were able to join Overgeared Guild One, which still had spots open because it only received high rankers. It was easily understandable after hearing the news that they rescued Noll and the vampires. Asuka’s biggest variable was ‘financial power,’ so it wasn’t strange that she could create a miracle with money.
In any case, Grid was deeply grateful to them. They protected Noll and chose to be with him.
“I thought there was a deep resentment because you hadn’t applied for membership until now. Fortunately, this isn’t the case.”
“That… as you know, I hurt your soldiers who guarded Fenrir’s city. I was too sorry and scared because of that..”
“It is regrettable, but… things have changed since then.”
“…I’ll be the person who protects your soldiers from now on.”
“From now on, they will be your colleagues.”
“That’s right.”
The idea of eternal enemies was too old and narrow-minded. In order to fight against strong and evil enemies, it was necessary to understand and reconcile with each other. Just like Xenon.
Grid had grown up before he knew it. After that—
“How is it?”
“Isn’t it great?”
Asuka entrusted Grid with the production request immediately. Grid suggested it first. It was because he planned to stay in the smithy for a while.
“It is a great idea.”
Asuka was a special case among weapon masters. Not only did she handle all types of weapons, but she had the ability to gain the necessary weapons. Wasn’t there a story that all the Grid-made weapons on the market belonged to Asuka? Her weapons knowledge was excellent. Her eyes shone as she explained to Grid the form of the weapons she had desired for years. There were some objects with a fresh approach that inspired Grid.
‘A mace… I should try it too.’
There was a fact he had realized when fighting Cranbel. There were limitations to slashing and stabbing. If fighting against targets with exceptional resilience, breaking and crushing seemed to have a greater effect.
‘The more complicated the wound, the greater the time it takes to regenerate. It is easy to cause an injury.’
For example, if he crushed a dragon’s chest that contained scales. It was possible that the fragments of the scales would penetrate the dragon’s flesh and organs. He could expect more abnormal physical conditions. In fact, it was close to basic common sense. There were many players who used a blunt weapon as a secondary weapon.
However, Grid didn’t feel the need for a blunt weapon due to the nature of the sword dances. The active and passive skills of Overgeared God’s Sword Dance were only activated when wielding a sword-type weapon. Grid’s overwhelming attack power was only exerted when a sword-type weapon was equipped. Apart from long distance weapons like bows that exerted great effects in special situations, he had the perception that it was a waste to use any close range weapons other than swords.
Now he changed his mind.
‘For example, the attack power of a weapon made of moon night iron is fixed anyway. It doesn’t matter if I don’t get the effects of the sword dances when wielding a blunt weapon made of moon night iron.’
Grid realized that the powerful performance of the sword dances had actually narrowed his horizons and suppressed his potential. It was a fact that he gained enlightenment from Asuka’s new weapon designs and her ideas that she added every time she handed over a design.
“Then I’m asking you.”
“Yes, I’ll get in touch when it is done.”
“Huhu, I’m excited to join the hell expedition with a new weapon.”
For the next four days, Grid focused on Asuka’s commission. He wanted to cover Asuka and Black Teddy’s entire bodies with new items. He didn’t act fretfully due to reasons like he needed their power right away or he wanted to repay them quickly.
Grid was aware that there was nothing urgent right away. He didn’t intend to make rubbish because he was in a hurry. He needed time to organize his inspiration. Before smelting Cranbel’s arm and Xenon’s scales, he wanted to make his thoughts as flexible as possible.
‘Come to think about it…’
Grid’s concentration rose to its limit and he faced the most pressing problem. Storm of the Fire God, the mental world embodied by the heart of the Red Phoenix, was fire. It was an unsuitable attribute for the current Overgeared God. Perhaps Storm of the Fire God was also one of the factors suppressing him.
‘The same goes for the armor that uses the Breath of the Four Auspicious Beasts.’
The things he needed to do were starting to become clear. It was a good idea to use the scales he was previously gifted by Hayate and the scales that Xenon would continue to give to Reidan in the future to change all his armor to new ones. He would ask Braham and the Red Phoenix for advice on how to change the mental world.
‘I might have the Heart of the Frost Queen, but…’
The Heart of the Frost Queen was ice that didn’t melt. It was hard to say that the Frost Queen’s hierarchy would be the same as the Red Phoenix. The Red Phoenix was a god. It was unlikely that the Heart of the Frost Queen would offset the Red Phoenix’s fire.
‘I just have to ask the Red Phoenix and I will know. I will also complete Filewolf’s quest to get the moon night iron. Cranbel’s arm… I think it is right to smelt it after finishing all these things.’
In fact, Grid was most disappointed in his attack power. The six fusion sword dance with all the buff effects, including Dragon Knight—it transcended the power of a Dragon Breath for a moment, but it didn’t mean anything. He couldn’t even scratch at Cranbel’s health gauge. He needed a stronger destructive power to kill Baal, who was estimated to be more powerful than Cranbel.
However, Grid pushed the production of the weapon to the end. It was intended to respond to any changes that would occur when changing his mental world and armor.
“……”
Grid’s expression suddenly stiffened.
Khan’s gift. It was because the poison contained in Valhalla of Infinite Affection, which Khan created by burning the last of his life, came to mind. That’s right. Valhalla’s attribute was also not nothingness. Maybe he should say goodbye to Valhalla this time.
“I don’t want to…”
Grid clutched his chest with a large hand. He felt the warmth of Valhalla, which was as warm as Khan’s heart, and gritted his teeth.
‘Kuek… I will definitely save you, Khan.’
Grid’s expression crumpled as he barely suppressed his tears.
***
“This is the infamous river of reincarnation.”
Countless souls were screaming. They were souls captured by the river. They kept the memories of their lives and could only curse.
“This place… it is just the downstream area. The river stretches endlessly. The more you go up, the more you hear the screams of the souls.”
Yura’s expression was dark as she explained it. The expressions of the other people were the same. They felt uncomfortable thinking that the people they had once been with would be suffering somewhere here. Some people were furious.
“Can’t we just go into Dog’s Mouth and raid Eligos?”
The momentum of the hell expedition was very high. The players had grown greatly in the Great Human and Demon War, while hell lost numerous troops and great demons. In addition, all the expedition members had carried out several Hell Gao raids. They received Hell Gao’s recognition (?) and overcame the hell penalties. The sky and distorted stars, which seemed to have all sorts of ominous colors overlapped with each other, the moon with thousands of eyes wide open, and the thick haze in the air didn’t threaten the expedition at all.
They had played through hell and they weren’t afraid of Black Knight Eligos. They heard the information that he was a powerhouse who transcended a single digit great demon, but what was the big deal? The expedition had witnessed the tremendous performances of Demon Slayer Yura, Bow Saint Jishuka, Faker, and Katz. The Overgeared members such as Regas and Pon who assisted them were also powerful. The expedition members were confident in their skills.
However, the Overgeared members thought differently. In particular, Yura accurately grasped Eligos’ power.
“The difficulty of the 20th Hell is much higher than before. Eligo has already suffered a raid and it is impossible that he hasn’t set up any defenses.”
Dog’s Mouth, which managed the river of reincarnation, was one of the most important points of hell.
There must be a solid basis for the choice to place Eligos there. Considering his attitude of stepping down in consideration of Leraje’s reputation, he seemed to have a temperament close to a cautious strategist. It wasn’t strange if he prepared several layers of protection to greatly weaken intruders and strengthen himself.
-Child. I still covet you.
“……!”
Yura’s body stiffened at the sudden voice. She clearly remembered the owner of this voice. A being who used to be a big turning point in the past. She couldn’t forget the voice of the 2nd Great Demon, Amoract.
