Chapter 2048
A slash. And another. And another. Grid spun like a spinning top as he continued deploying the six-fusion sword dance. He looked almost like the blades of a blender, and Asura was the meat being minced.
However, Grid’s anger didn’t go away at all even though he was playing a game. There were an infinite number of enemies in MMORPG games. Gamemakers tried to keep players engaged in their game by never providing an ending to the storyline and instead always presenting new goals.
Grid understood the concept. The vast majority of players didn’t want Satisfy’s story to end, but Grid hoped it would be over now.
‘I’m sick of it.’
This was how Grid felt. The appearance of new enemies through updates or changes to the worldview? He understood and found it acceptable. However, it was hard for him to accept such enemies when he was treated like this.
Asura really said that Grid had simply been lucky enough to become this powerful without having to overcome any trials? This guy, who was probably the final boss and therefore the spokesperson of the S.A Group, didn’t understand Grid at all.
[I have been living comfortably? How dare you say that to me?]
Even at this moment, people’s prayers were gathering at Grid’s statue. Everyone around the world, whether they were players or NPCs, was cheering for him. Would so many people have supported him if he had only made it this far thanks to his luck? Grid could guarantee that wouldn’t be the case.
Few creatures were as ruthless as humans, who worked equally in the framework of society, so they were jealous and loathed those who achieved things without any effort.
Grid’s power, wealth, force, and honor—If any of these things had been easily obtained, no one would’ve prayed to him, especially the players. What type of madman would enthusiastically pray to a compet.i.tor several times a day? If they wanted a buff, just one prayer a day was enough.
Grid had been carrying the trust of the people on his shoulders. So far, it had supported him.
[Only One G.o.d Grid is writing the thirty-second epic.]
[This is the beginning of the narrative.]
[...It comes from the mockery of Asura, the G.o.d of Fighting who broke Grid’s sword.]
“What?”
Everyone was excited. The people were ready to enjoy the peace that was to come. This was thanks to the players showing up and killing the miscellaneous monsters that appeared near cities and villages to threaten the people’s livelihoods. The players had become strong enough to defeat the tyrannical n.o.bles and knights of each kingdom.
The Overgeared Guild had stopped the ambition of the Saharan Empire, which used to dream of ruling over the continent. The field bosses, who lived all over the surface and hindered the development of civilization, had been turned into hunting targets for the players.
The players had never given up on the West Continent, which had been isolated by the Red Sea. The Overgeared Guild had punished those who tried to become G.o.ds and rule the West Continent.
Baal and the demons of h.e.l.l had been defeated by the combined efforts of humanity. The arrogant G.o.ds and angels had been educated by Grid through violence. The dragons had become afraid of Grid and Hayate.
Finally, humanity had joined forces again to destroy all the Full Moon Fortresses and wipe out all the cultivators.
The world had achieved peace. But what was this? The content of the epic that suddenly appeared was shocking.
Baal, who had succ.u.mbed to his inevitable fate and had been buried in the ground, was rotting away. The G.o.d of Fighting Asura was the seed of disaster planted by him. Now he suddenly germinated and announced his presence in Grid’s epic?
The Overgeared Guild members were confused because they remembered how reluctant Asura had been toward Grid after he became Judar’s servant. They couldn’t believe it.
Surprisingly, only Peak Sword accepted the situation quickly.
“It’s never too late to get revenge, even after ten years. That b.a.s.t.a.r.d Asura had endured and had gone through many hards.h.i.+ps.”
”So you’re saying that the G.o.d of FIghting Asura is wise?”
“No... I"m just saying.”
The Overgeared members were confined to their respective territories in an attempt to rebuild the empire’s economy. It was the same for Peak Sword. He had personally come to the construction site and worked hard to inspire the residents of the territory.
As someone who had been in the military, he was confident in his ability to make others work hard. There was really a lot of attention on him. All the people in the vicinity came to watch him. The knights who had been following Peak Sword faithfully for several years were also here.
However, he was talking nonsense in front of so many people. He used a saying he had heard a few times before, but it sounded like he was complimenting Grid’s enemy.
‘I have a feeling that something bad will happen...’
There were too many people listening... Peak Sword gulped. He was nervous.
"Death Penalty."
A shadow seemed to rise. Faker, the G.o.d of Killing, popped out of it.
As the leader of the Overgeared Shadows, Faker had a lot of difficult duties. This included gathering intelligence for a.s.sa.s.sinations and finding spies. He used Shadow Linkage to share a small part of his senses with the empire’s strongest individuals. That way, he was able to quickly respond to any special situations. It was truly a transcendental ability.
Claaang!
Peak Sword managed to block Faker’s surprise attack with his swift footwork. Peak Sword looked very handsome doing that, but his complexion was pale.
“Y-You madman! You really tried to kill me!!”
“The death penalty is the answer for a traitor who praises the enemy going against Grid.”
“I didn’t mean to praise him...!”
It took around three minutes to clear up the misunderstanding.
Peak Sword narrowly escaped being beheaded in front of his subordinates and the people of his territory. He was only able to shake off Faker after admitting that he had made a mistake with his words because of his ignorance.
“The lord admitted that he was ignorant...!”
“I can’t believe our lord is so ignorant...”
“Mom, I don’t want to be like our lord when I grow up. I will study hard from now on.”
“Yes, I need to make a lot of money so that my son can study in a better environment. I will start looking for a job starting today.”
...Everything ended well. Thanks to Peak Sword’s humiliation, the morale of the people increased.
“s.h.i.+t...!”
This was great. Peak Sword should be rejoicing, so why was he crying so much? He stomped his feet on the ground. Faker looked at him like he was pathetic.
“Go back to Reinhardt right now,” Faker told Peak Sword. “The tower leading to Asgard is on the verge of completion. Lauel’s command is that you should help out.”
The infinitely-growing tower was the masterpiece created by Eat Spicy Jokbal. Every time a challenger cleared one floor, a new one was created. The tower would continue to rise until, one day, it would reach Asgard.
The Overgeared Guild had been steadily expanding the tower with the help of the Tower members and Apostles. Grid argued that this was unnecessary, but his colleagues didn’t agree. Unlike Grid, who could reach Asgard on his own, others didn’t know how to make it to the divine world.
“I was going to do that anyway,” Peak Sword answered nervously.
The huge warp gate behind him released magic power. Peak Sword had been ready from the moment the epic appeared.
“Now, let’s go find the captain.”
Similar events were happening throughout the empire.
***
In retrospect, Baal had been a surprisingly sincere being.
In order to maintain the distorted environment of h.e.l.l, he constantly promoted conflict. He trapped King Daebyeol to create the h.e.l.l moon and barely managed to bring Asura into being before he died, as if he had planted a tree right before the world was destroyed.
On second thought, Baal had been a needlessly sincere being.
I also want to emulate that sincerity and resurrect him to kill him over and over again...
While Grid was having such thoughts, the fragments of a sword broken in half were projected in his eyes.
[The combination of Defying the Natural Order and Twilight has been forcibly released!]
Grid was now holding two swords. The epic stated that Asura had broken Grid’s sword, but that wasn’t exactly the case. The skill that combined the two swords into one had been forcibly lifted.
Grid’s swords had infinite durability, so they couldn’t be easily destroyed. Of course, this wasn’t exactly good news. Item Combination was a skill that amplified the power of the combined weapons by a lot. The moment the skill was over, Grid’s attack power lowered significantly. Asura had the physical strength to endure this level of attack power comfortably.
Plus, they were in Asgard. Since they weren’t in the Overgeared World, it was impossible to use the skill indefinitely without a cooldown.
[Item Combination.]
Grid’s thoughts were carved on the s.p.a.ce. If he hadn’t focused and shouted this skill name, he would have been spewing a lot of curses, most of them aimed at Baal.
Asura had folded his skin into tens of thousands of jagged layers sharp as blades. This made Grid’s hatred for Baal, who had created a monster with thousands of seven-layered razor blades serving as armor all over his body, become infinitely stronger.
Grid’s sword, engulfed in Annihilation energy, cut through Asura’s razor-like skin.
[The target’s resistance to sword attacks is extremely high. The power of your attacks will drop significantly.]
Grid’s attacks weren’t cutting too deeply.
Claaang!
His sword got stuck as he was about to stab Asura and broke again.
[The combination of Defying the Natural Order and Twilight has been forcibly released!]
This was the result of Weapon Breaker. Asura neutralized Grid’s sword dance by shaping his skin, flesh, and even his organs and bones into sharp razor blades. The moment Grid’s sword touched his skin, Asura held it in place with the razor blades. The power of the attack was halved and Grid’s sword eventually broke.
“Really, nyang...” Noe muttered with a soulless expression.
Grid had designated Asura as the final boss of the game. It was hard to imagine that someone who was clearly one of the strongest beings would fight so dirty...
Asura snorted as he noticed the reaction around him and raised one of his twelve fingers.
[A hundred million.]
What he said made no sense. However, the words exerted a magical power to control the listeners. Everyone in Grid’s group was listening.
Asura didn’t miss this momentary opportunity. He aimed for the gap Grid exposed in the very short moment he listened carefully and launched an attack. He swung his tail like a dragon.
[Ack...!]
Grid coughed up blood. He wasn’t able to completely defend against the surprise attack that came from an unpredictable direction. He hadn’t expected Asura to use his tail as a means of attack.
Asura’s tail was only thirty centimeters long and was as thin as a whip. It wasn’t suitable as an offensive tool. But, just then, his tail had grown rapidly larger and became harder. This was because Asura connected all the Treasures taken from the cultivators to it. It was a method of bringing out the power of the Treasures, which had different abilities and effects, so every swing of the tail was extremely powerful.
Asura succeeded in this dirty surprise attack and looked satisfied. Finally, he continued speaking. [The number of lives I’ve killed throughout this life and my past life is over a hundred million. The total amount of power and techniques stolen from them is so high that even I have lost count. This is the greatness of the G.o.d of Fighting. No one can beat me.]
Asura’s black magic power turned purple. He had even learned Grid’s Annihilation energy. He was an exceptionally fast learner. Just as expected from someone who had learned Martial G.o.d Chiyou’s techniques in no time.
Grid had expected this, so he wasn’t that surprised. Instead, he laughed and raised his fingers like Asura. He raised ten fingers instead of one.
[One billion.]
Grid was a player. He had become stronger by constantly slaughtering monsters. In the process of becoming a n.o.bleman, a king, and then an emperor, he had killed many people in the wars he had fought.
[I have taken over one billion lives.]
Defying the Natural Order and Twilight held in Grid’s hands turned into sawblades. He used the Item Transformation skill to give them the properties of Weapon Breaker. The skills and responsiveness learned from slaughtering over one billion lives and being killed multiple times were now manifesting.
[.......!]
This was the clash of two different instances of Weapon Breaker. However, Grid’s instance had infinite durability. Therefore, Asura got wrecked without having a chance to fight back.