Blank.
“...Shuka!”
Blaaank.
“Jishuka!”
Jishuka’s condition had been strange since two days ago. She was like a mesmerized person. She couldn’t focus on anything and just stared at the air. Her symptoms didn’t improve even in the middle of the hunting ground.
“Hey, Jishuka! Are your ears blocked?”
“What a surprise! Speak more softly!”
“Keok!”
Vantner fended off the stone thrown by Jishuka only to scream. It was because Jishuka’s knee attack caught him in the side. He staggered, raised his head again to blow away the monster’s head, and asked Jishuka, “What is going on with you these days? Why haven’t you been able to focus? It isn’t easy for people to give you a bus ride. Do you want to forcibly get off?”
“I hunt more mobs than you, but I am catching a bus?”
“You are a damage dealer and I’m a tanker. The speed at which you hunt mobs is bound to be faster.”
“So this is a team project. What type of bus is it?”
“......”
Vantner had no words to refute it. The one who claimed he was a bus driver wondered if this was actually a bus. Jishuka changed to the Bow Saint and showed strong attack power despite her lowered level. In particular, if she used the Red Phoenix Bow, then she overpowered damage dealers who were over 100 levels higher than her. He couldn’t help thinking about Grid.
Jishuka once again kicked the side of the thinking Vantner.
“Keok, why did you hit me?”
“I think you just had a bad thought.”
“Is it a woman’s intuition? d.a.m.n, that intuition sucks. I was just thinking about Grid? Why is it not enough when liking someone... Keok!”
“Don’t talk about Grid!”
“......”
It was only after the third kick that Vantner shut his mouth. Over the past two days, he noticed that it was Grid that caused Jishuka’s bad condition.
“Did you get dumped?”
Jishuka glared at Vantner who asked in a straightforward manner. She wanted to believe that what she experienced a few days ago was a dream, and wanted to find words to deny it, but unfortunately, she couldn’t find it. In the end, she had to confirm it.
“Yes, I was dumped. It is hard, so don’t be noisy and go and drive the mobs.”
“Hmm...”
Vantner didn’t comfort Jishuka. From the perspective of a third party, the relations.h.i.+p between Grid and Jishuka was ambiguous. Contrary to her appearance, Jishuka was adept at dating and showed affection to Grid, but she didn’t exceed a certain line. She immigrated to South Korea to stay next to Grid, but she didn’t know how to increase progress and just hung around.
It was around half a year after she immigrated. Vantner and the Overgeared members had been amazed when they saw Jishuka kiss the driving Grid on the cheek and said it was a really happy and thrilling experience. She immigrated all that way just for a kiss on the cheek? Wasn’t this an act exchanged with a friend one hadn’t met after a long time?
...It was hopeless. The future was bleak when seeing that she was excited just to kiss his cheek, rather than launching an aggressive offensive against Grid, who was probably a late bloomer. Jiskuka wasn’t able to make progress for a long time. Due to this, Grid couldn’t grasp how sincere she was. Their relations.h.i.+p that was a bit too close to be friends and too elusive to be lovers might continue for years to come.
Everyone thought so.
‘...Yet she was dumped?’
Vantner was competent. Additionally, he was popular due to his hearty and pleasant personality. He might be bald, but he had a charm that attracted people. He unfortunately didn’t have any dating experience, but he always took the role of dating counselor for his friends. He was the so-called love doctor. He noticed that this incident was suggesting a positive change.
“Hmm, hmm, I see.”
“What? I feel bad.”
Vantner’s smiling att.i.tude after hearing that someone had been dumped was enough to stimulate Jishuka. She was clenching her fists and trembling when Vantner patted her on the shoulder. “You are finally starting to be loved.”
“...What?”
“Don’t you think there is a reason why Grid has dumped you now when he always treated you so ambiguously? Grid has developed feelings for you. He started to feel sorry for maintaining the ambiguous relations.h.i.+p and as a result, he let you go for your own happiness.”
“What dog-like nonsense is this?”
“Baby, love is like a dog. In particular, when inexperienced people are in love, they make choices like fools.”
“Then what... Grid dumped me because he likes me and he is going to regret it now?”
“He will regret it. If he misses you like this, he might have lingering feelings for you forever.”
“I-Is that so?”
Jishuka’s eyes widened as she returned her bow to her inventory. Vantner grabbed her as she was about to leave to search for Grid. "Are you a fool? The reason Grid didn’t accept your heart and let you go is because he likes Yura better than you. In the end, he chose Yura instead of you. What are you going to do when you find him right now?”
“Then what should I do?”
“What else? Don’t hide the sorrow and melancholy you feel, but express it. Every time Grid sees you lose your energy, he will regret it more. He won’t be able to bear it and will eventually come back to you. If he doesn’t come? Then you can run a new strategy. First of all, the love doctor will design a plan that will induce jealousy. Grid currently has a greater liking for Yura because he is dating her every week. The moment my plan is carried out, things will be reversed.”
“......”
Jishuka didn’t hear Vantner’s words starting from the middle.
Grid, who would feel regret and hurt...
From the moment she heard this, Jishuka became depressed and distracted. She was distressed as she imagined Grid struggling because of herself. Therefore—
“What type of love doctor are you when you haven’t even dated anyone~ are all the doctors in the world frozen and dead?”
She smiled brightly on purpose.
“Let’s go hunting. Hurry and drive the mobs over.”
“...Sigh, so frustrating.”
Vantner had been watching Jishuka since he was a teenager. He knew the captain’s personality so he noticed the choice she made in this moment.
“Sun Guard!”
Vantner expressed his anger with his entire body. He wasn’t a performance artist. Monsters flocked to him as he reflected sunlight off his bald head, while Jishuka’s arrows shot them down in turn. Thanks to Vantner being at her side, Jishuka’s growth rate exceeded the transcendent Grid when he was at the same level.
***
All living things had their own status. Among them, the demons were judged using status. Out of tens of thousands of demons, only 33 acc.u.mulated enough status to become ‘rulers of h.e.l.l.’ Then out of the 33 great demons, only nine could turn h.e.l.l inside out alone. In that sense, Leraje’s status was somewhat ambiguous.
Ruler of the 10th h.e.l.l. She was obviously strong. In the vast h.e.l.l, there were only a handful of beings who could stand above Leraje. Yet if one asked Leraje if she could overturn the situation of h.e.l.l alone, this clearly wasn’t the case. She was very strong, but her strength was somewhat inferior to compete with the single digit great demons.
Fortunately, the single digit great demons were located deep in h.e.l.l. In the ‘surface’ areas, Leraje’s status was already at the top of the pyramid of h.e.l.l. This allowed her to reign like an emperor of the rulers of h.e.l.l and there were countless demons who envied and followed her.
Leraje wanted to revive the expectations of the demons who followed her. Thus, she developed a habit.
“Ever since the birth of me, King Leraje, only the word ‘victory’ and ‘winning’ have been on the path I walked.”
"Ohhhh! As expected, Leraje is the best!”
"Kyaaak! Leraje! Too cool!”
...It was the so-called bragging. There were nine rulers above her, but Leraje always called herself ‘the best.’ She instilled the fact that she was the best into the demons who believed in her and followed her. In fact, it wasn’t a big exaggeration.
“Just one time.”
Gulp.
Leraje’s eyes had always been overflowing with confidence and ambition. Now, in a rare manner, they sank and the demons couldn’t help gulping.
“There was only one time when I didn’t win.”
“Gasp...”The demons were frightened. Out of the thousands of demons gathered at Leraje’s castle, there was only one demon who wasn’t surprised. It was Rose, the only great demon ‘candidate’ among the players.
‘Is this so surprising? She is obviously in 10th place. She must’ve lost after challenging the 9th great demon in the ranking battle.’
Wasn’t that why she was 10th?
Leraje noticed her thoughts. “You... are the rumored child who was born at this time.”
“Yes! I am called Rose! I became a demon with the blessing of Amoract!”
Regardless of whether it was a deception or not, Rose was very sincere toward Leraje. She acted like she was serving the most precious being in h.e.l.l. She was prepared to slam her head into the ground in a bow. Then Leraje’s firm face twitched a bit.
“Hmm, Amoract... Yes, I’ll remember.”
Leraje looked at the group once again. She closed her eyes and opened then again as if she was recalling the past.
“No matter who I compete with, I always have the habit of winning. I am sure to win. The one who left a record of a ‘draw’ with me, one of the 33 rulers of h.e.l.l... it was surprisingly a human.”
“......!”
“......!”
The eyes of the demons widened. They started to murmur the name ‘Muller’ among them. Leraje denied it.
“The human who reached a draw with me wasn’t the Sword Saint. His name was Madra... yes, Madra.”
Madra—it was a name Rose had heard of. He originally wasn’t a famous figure. Like Pagma, he was a legend belatedly known to the world thanks to Grid.
“He was called the Undefeated King!”
“The Undefeated King!”
The commotion among the demons grew. The Undefeated King—a king who never lost. Wasn’t it a t.i.tle that could challenge Leraje?
“He deserves to be undefeated. It might’ve been a fight in the human world, but... I was overwhelmingly at a disadvantage, but... it is commendable that he barely survived the fierce battle with me. Huhuhut.”
“Ohh!” The demons admired it. They thought this human was certainly great to be praised by King Leraje. It happened when their attention was focused on the Undefeated King.
“Deputy Commander Kalbaba has returned from his mission!”
The ground shook and the proud chariot army of the 10th h.e.l.l returned. However, there were two humans standing on the chariot of Deputy Commander Kalbaba. The demons were filled with killing intent. They read the energy of the infamous Demon Slayer.
“Calm down.”
Leraje restrained the demons with a single word. The demons who had been rushed toward Yura immediately bowed and took a step back. There was a smile on Leraje’s face.
“Let me introduce you. That man is the successor of the Undefeated King.”
“......!”
“......!”
The eyes of the demons staring at Yura belatedly focused on Grid.
“I, Supreme King Leraje, will have a fair fight with the successor of the Undefeated King in order to express my condolences to the Undefeated King, who couldn’t handle the wounds inflicted by me and died, as well as restore my record of total victory.”
“Uwaaaaahhhhh!”
The atmosphere in the great hall heated up. It was an absurd feast of bulls.h.i.+t and an unconvincing development from Grid’s perspective.
‘What? Is this why she invited us?’
What draw when she originally lost to ‘Death Knight’ Madra? Did she have dementia or something? He thought there would be a special event, but his expectations were shattered. He came for nothing. It was a type that shouldn’t be crossed.
Leraje spoke to the disappointed Grid, who was looking for a way to retreat, “You, successor of the Undefeated King.”
“......?”
“Unlike when I fought the Undefeated King in the past, this is h.e.l.l. It is advantageous to me and disadvantageous for you. Thus, I will set some conditions. Hmm... Yes, I will sit still on this throne. Additionally, I will only use one arm. It is also a fair duel. I won’t take your life.”
“......”
“Five minutes. If within five minutes, I rise from the throne or use both arms, it is my defeat. Otherwise, it is my victory. Will you accept this duel?”
Leraje, the great demon of struggle—she had to fight and she had to win. The more she won, the stronger she became. She told the Undefeated King, ‘It is only by turning my defeated record into victory that I can gain more power.’ Now that the Undefeated King was dead, she had no choice but to cling to Grid, who inherited his skills.
“...I understand.”
Grid nodded after confirming the contents of the quest that popped up in front of him. At the same time, a quest with a time limit of five minutes began. Grid didn’t delay. He used all his buff skills, started the five fusion sword dance and triggered Shunpo the moment the action of the sword dance reached the end.
“...Wait, let’s do it again.” Leraje’s eyes widened before she politely made a request. She was still sitting on the throne. However, the mark of Transcended Linked Kill Wave remained on both her arms.