Chapter 1648
The apostles were invincible and Grid was a G.o.d—this was the general public perception. It was also a play on words using the fact that Grid’s ident.i.ty was a G.o.d, but it was more referring to his actual strength.
It was after the Great Human and Demon War. People had witnessed the invincibility of the apostles from various angles. Additionally, Grid won victory after victory that was delivered in real time due to the epics written. Of course, Grid’s actual win rate was very low, but… he had always benefited, so he seemed to always win from a third party’s point of view.
To the public, it meant that Grid and the apostles were close to being invincible. They couldn’t be distinguished from the Absolutes of dragons, Baal, Hayate, etc., and they were recognized as being part of the same hierarchy. Nevertheless—
“Will it be okay?”
“It looks too dangerous.”
The people were concerned about the safety of the apostles. It was an unavoidable limitation. People didn’t understand the invincibility of an Absolute and they couldn’t even judge it. They made the mistake of recognizing the apostles as Absolutes, while easily thinking about defeat.
There was a reason for it. The environment surrounding Piaro was fire and ashes. It was hot, black, and empty. There was no energy of life from the sky and the ground.
Clatter clatter.
A ghost horse walking in the night sky circled overhead like a satellite. A blue flame lit up the deathly silent sky, while a red flame burned the ground of black ashes, erasing the traces of life. Piaro had fallen to this place.
A legendary farmer—it was the worst situation for him, who borrowed the energy of the rain and wind, the sun, and the earth, in order to show his abilities. People’s belief that Piaro was invincible was greatly shaken.
“Is there anybody nearby who can help?”
“I will quit the game if Piaro dies. XX.”
There were stars in every field. In particular, Satisfy was a game that billions of people enjoyed directly or indirectly. There were countless of the world’s brightest stars in Satisfy. There was naturally a fandom proportional to it. One of the most powerful fandoms was Piaro’s fandom.
An existence who had been with Grid since Grid was about to become the lord of Reidan—Piaro was the foundation that symbolized the Overgeared Guild and Overgeared Empire. Piaro was the reason why the still weak Overgeared Guild could withstand the invasion of the Seven Guilds and the great demons. He was the one who led the army and used all sorts of military tactics in all types of wars. It was rare to find someone who wasn’t fascinated by him.
Piaro’s popularity was the best without distinguis.h.i.+ng between enemies and allies. The sight of him falling to a bad place and being surrounded by demons was enough to make people mourn.
“Piaro, the apostle of the Overgeared G.o.d. I have vaguely heard the name.”
Baal’s henchmen, who kept appearing here, spoke in an expressionless manner.
“He was prepared to die together only with Belial.”
Demons competed with each other and cooperated. Right now, they were intoxicated on the sweet reward of ‘the more you hunt humans, the stronger you become’ and entrusted their backs to each other, but until just yesterday, they had been eating each other. There were many compet.i.tors around them right now, so they were relatively careless and indifferent on the outside.
The old subordinates who had been aiding Baal for more than a thousand years had long lost their pa.s.sion. Would they be interested in mere creatures when they hunted the greatest of all time, Beriache? Everything in the world was insignificant for them, who had already fought and overcome one of the three evils of the beginning. They were even less interested in the surface.
They couldn’t distinguish between the time when the former 32nd Great Demon, Belial, invaded the surface and the time before and after the outbreak of the Great Human and Demon War. They knew only a small fraction of Piaro’s performance. In fact, it wasn’t even a performance from their perspective. All the information related to Piaro was dismissed as equivalent to the information that pine caterpillars needed to eat pine needles to live. This meant it was insignificant.
Unfortunately, Piaro didn’t have any great achievements in the Great Human and Demon War. It was great that he could tie up the feet of the great demons in the 20s, but it was minimal compared to the performance of the other apostles.
It had been less than two years. Putting aside their liking for Piaro, the public was concerned. He was weak compared to the other apostles and now he had fallen to an unfavorable battlefield. They started looking around to search for anyone who could help him. They observed with open eyes the situation in h.e.l.l, which they previously avoided because it was terrifying.
The cruel sights tormented their eyes and minds, but they didn’t care. There were many people who would endure this much pain for Piaro’s sake.
“Ah...”
Let’s find it. The moment I find an apostle near Piaro, log out and post about it to the community. Someone from the Overgeared Guild will respond...
Those who looked up at the sky with such hopes soon felt despair. There was no one near Piaro, no matter where they looked in the sky that showed h.e.l.l. The other apostles and tower members were all far away. They were also in a mostly isolated situation. Well, there was one. Lauel was nearby, but...
‘Isn’t this nonsense?’
...Lauel had long lost his reputation as a warrior. Few people remembered that he was the peak of the 1st generation rookies. It was natural. He had been away from the battlefield for too long. Looking back on the work he had done as the prime minister, it was likely that his stats had been remodeled to be closer to an internal affairs official. No, it was certain.
Sending him to Piaro would only be a hindrance rather than a help. The situation would just become worse if he was caught at the scene and taken hostage.
‘We need to find someone else...’
Most people tried to ignore Lauel, but...
[Piaro is in danger alone, but Lauel is nearby.]
There were already many related articles posted in several large communities. It was posted unnoticed by people who had a relatively poor eye for reading the game. If they had to calculate the ratio, there were far more beginners than experts in Satisfy.
There were only a small number of masters who listened to the so-called experts. It was the same logic as this.
-UP.
-I will add a recommendation.
-Rise up, rise up!
-Heeeeey, Overgeared Guild! Read this article!
People in each community started to click to recommend posts that they didn’t notice...
It wasn’t only a short time before it became the number one popular post.
Lauel.
The only hope.
Lauel who was near Piaro.
Overgeared Guild, look here.
Etc, etc.
All types of related keywords flooded the real-time popular posts on search engines and social media. The members of the Overgeared Guild, who were looking at external information while logged out, quickly caught onto the fact. Some of the Overgeared members of the h.e.l.l expedition were activating the emergency contact network in turn.
“You say that Lauel is near Piaro?”
Those logged in relayed the situation after hearing the news from the outside. It had been less than two minutes since the community’s popular posts were registered.
Everyone’s eyes turned to Yura. Yura had already taken action.
The Demon Slayer’s magic that purified the demonic energy of h.e.l.l—the unique bullet made using this magic power, the ‘penetration bullet’ that were in the shape of a ‘bird,’ was shot. It was a technique designed by Alex, who struggled in the unfavorable environment of h.e.l.l, to cooperate with those who rarely helped him. It enabled communications.
It purified all demonic energy present in the path of the bullet and easily deceived the senses of the demons. Even if it was discovered, it couldn’t be caught smoothly. In the worst case where it was caught, powerful debuffs would be sprayed.
There was an explosion at the same time that Yura pointed the gun at a gap in the open window.
“......?”
A sinister jade trail pa.s.sed over the battlefield and the agitated demons all raised their heads in unison. The price for a quick glance was their deaths. Zik took advantage of the brief opportunity to take the lives of dozens of demons. Then he quietly brushed off the blood on Saharan’s Sword. The unchanging expression on his face was horrifying for the demons.
Chepardea’s mind was complicated.
‘Why aren’t they cooperating?’
The strongest from the previous era—Zik was the best among the seven malignant saints, a half-G.o.d who made the G.o.ds wary. The nose of Chepardea, Baal’s closest subordinate, might be raised high into the sky, but he couldn’t leave Zik alone. He devised a plan to take advantage of the enemy’s power rather than directly colliding and taking great damage.
A magic circle was set up around the crystal castle. He was waiting for the magic circle that would trigger a trap that absorbed magic power the moment a ‘human’ stepped in it.
However, the humans trapped in the castle didn’t intend to come out at all. They continued to pretend that they were unaware, despite ZIk being isolated on the battlefield after coming to their aid. It was an incomprehensible reaction considering that humans were a race that cooperated easily, unlike the demons.
‘Did they notice the magic circle?’
No… it wasn’t possible. It was invisible to the human eye. It was impossible to decipher it even if the Saintess performed a miracle and noticed it. No one could figure out the ident.i.ty of the magic circle unless it was a monster like Braham, who deciphered the magic circle installed at the entrance of the elevator in an instant.
Inside the castle, Rose was watching the puzzled Chepardea, who was gradually being pushed out of the front line little by little.
‘That toad really doesn’t know I’m here.’
The most important function of the crystal castle was ‘protection.’ It had all the laws favorable to defense. Thus, there was naturally the law of concealment. It was difficult to estimate the power inside the castle from the perspective of those invading the castle. Their presence was completely blocked, so there was no way of knowing who and how many people existed in the castle.
This was why the initially anxious Rose calmed down. Now she wasn’t afraid. She cooperated with the Overgeared Guild to her heart’s content. In order to gain the trust of the Overgeared members, she shared information and warned them about the magic circle surrounding the castle. It was all about doing her best to survive. There was no objection because she was in a position to form an alliance with Grid.
‘It is the fault of those guys who stabbed us in the back first.’
Strictly speaking, it was Amoract who tried to stab Baal in the back first. However, it was Baal who actually put it into practice. She was isolated due to the b.a.s.t.a.r.d who changed the laws of h.e.l.l and waged a full-fledged war without consulting Amoract. Therefore, she had no choice but to side with the Overgeared members.
Rose was rationalizing it proudly when Jishuka confirmed it again with her. “That magic circle has a cooldown of 33 minutes?”
“Yes. It repeats the cycle of 33 minutes of charging, followed by 3 hours of activation.”
“Hmm... it is close.”
Could they open the gates, go out to join Zik, and return to the castle in less than 33 minutes? Her beautiful brow furrowed as she recalculated the power of allies and enemies, the formations, the distance from the castle to Zik, and the status of her allies’ skills.
It was only for a moment. Surprisingly, she soon relaxed. Jishuka had a smile on her face as she patted Rose on the back. “Shall we go out together?”
“...Where?”
“Huh? Of course, it is to save Zik.”
There was no invincibility in Satisfy. Even the invincible celestial G.o.ds had been shot down several times. The enemy’s reinforcements were also arriving in rapid succession. Zik couldn’t be active forever. They had to unconditionally rescue him and give him a break to rest. If ZIk was killed—
It would be a disaster if a demon absorbed his power.
“Why me...?”
“Is that a question? Aren’t you pretty strong? Then we have to fight together.”
“However, I’m a demon. I might be bullied in the demon world later...”
“Is it time to think about the later things? You don’t have a veto right, so do what you’re told. Or I’ll shout to that frog that you leaked information about the magic circle before throwing you out of the castle.”
“......”
Rose remembered the Tzedakah Guild that had been active a long time ago. The Tzedakah Guild only had a small number of members, but it grew its reputation based on the leader’s ruthless actions. It was comparable to the Seven Guilds in terms of fame alone. Jishuka was the leader.
‘This b*tch is the same as a runaway locomotive.’
Rose inwardly swore while nodding with a helpless smile. No matter how high her notoriety, it only worked among the public. She was close to a gentle sheep in front of the main force of the Overgeared Guild.
“Okay... since we are on the same side...”
Baal’s new laws were working against humans. Just like Grid’s succubi or the red-skinned demon Glant, who was contracted to Yura, the demons or demonic creatures who were already subordinates of humans were subjected to all types of restrictions. It was also impossible to communicate with Grid through the succubi. Rose had no choice but to overcome the situation she was in on her own.
“Now, everyone get ready. Let’s go in 10 minutes.”
At this time, the expedition led by Yura and Jishuka stood in front of the castle gates.
[The G.o.d who descended to h.e.l.l arrived at the river of reincarnation. The demons were perplexed as he comforted the wailing souls with the warmth of his divinity.]
The 20th epic that was activated with Grid’s entry to h.e.l.l—the first line was recorded in the temples. It was by those watching Grid from the surface.