Chapter 1615

The sky above the sky—it was a place where golden clouds formed the sky: Asgard. It was the heavenly place where the seven main gods and 18 lower gods resided.

“......”

The expression of Martial God Zeratul was calm as he reached the temple. The soaring eyebrows and long beard that descended to the ground were dignified and his gait was majestic. He looked like usual. However, the evaluation of the angel who met him was stinging.

“Unattractive.”

The number one archangel, Raphael—they were the leader of the angel army, which had recently grown to 465, and had the second largest military power after Dominion, the god of war. Raphael was one of the only beings with the right to meet the goddess, and the expression of ‘influential power in heaven’ wasn’t exaggerated.

“Quite a few humans have witnessed your defeat. Rumors are going to spread quickly. Perhaps it is because their allowed lives are short, but humans are obsessed with pleasure, right? They will surely enjoy the story of how the martial god ran away for a long time.”

“Are you not going to treat me like a god any longer?”

“Huh? Haha, I made a mistake. It isn’t a story, it is a myth, a myth. It is even a myth that will last forever.”

“How can a mere story last forever? The only eternal beings in this world are the gods.”

After all, as always, the world will perish and begin again. Rebecca and Yatan would make it so. Therefore, he had decided not to pay attention to it.

Zeratul barely regained his composure that started to collapse due to Raphael’s subtle provocation and entered the temple. The second largest of the 25 temples in Asgard. This place proved his authority.

Yes, no matter what humans say, I am me.

I am Martial God Zeratul.

Raphael warned him as he was gulping down wine, “Well, yes. There is nothing eternal. However, isn’t it true that you are half ruined in this world? It is different from when you were defeated by the Dragon Slayer, so I can’t help much. Many humans have started to doubt your martial ability and your divinity will steadily fall in the future.”

“Have you forgotten who I am?”

“No?”

“I am the martial god. I am the source of the armed force that human beings and other beasts aspire to. It will rise faster than it falls so you don’t need to worry.”

“...Aha!”

Raphael tilted their head and blinked their big eyes. Then they clapped their hands. The inside of their smiling eyes was colder than ice.

“Are you out of your mind right now? Haha, I’m scared. I’ll be going now! Don’t go out for a while and get some rest!”

“...Someday, I will kill you.”

It was only after Raphael left that Zeratul, who revealed his killing intent, sat down as if he collapsed. Everything was in vain. In fact, he also knew it. The martial god wasn’t the source of martial arts.

On the contrary, martial arts came first and the martial god came next. The martial god was a god that was born from the aspirations of many human beings and the name of the god was Chiyou. Chiyou didn’t even have a temple. There was no need to prove himself, so he firmly existed.

“Proof... I can do it.”

The sky of Asgard was a universe that the sun didn’t reach. The entire space would be dark if it wasn’t for the clouds that formed the ground emitting light. The temple had no light and the darkness obscured Zeratul’s distorted expression.

The Overgeared God—the one who received Chiyou’s recognition. Additionally, he was a god born from the aspirations of humans like Chiyou. The one who made the world’s time flow rapidly faster was indeed beyond the ages as the dragons had evaluated. The concept of time was strongly overshadowed. He approached as a completely different person from the last time they met. It was more than expected.

Due to that, Zeratul was defeated in a battle he thought he would definitely win. He felt more regret than anger. If only he had sought the cooperation of the other gods and achieved the trinity as Raphael advised. At the very least, he should’ve only descended to the surface after securing enough status to establish a sanctuary. No, he should’ve dealt with Grid right away without waiting for the holy weapons to be made. Then he wouldn’t have experienced today’s humiliation.

On the other hand, he thought it worked out. The Overgeared God would become more arrogant after today’s incident and would surely challenge heaven one day.

At that time—

Just kill him at the moment when he was most confident in himself. Zeratul would repay several times the humiliation that he went through today...

A pale energy rose from Zeratul’s fingertips. It was a fairly dense god killer qualification. It was an energy that would’ve destroyed Grid if it had descended to the surface. Zeratul’s divinity might’ve been greatly damaged, but he was still close to invincible in Asgard. He was confident that he could defeat Grid, even if he gradually weakened as Raphael predicted.

'Win and win again. Since you have used me as a stepping stone, you must be sure to climb to this place.’

At that time, I will complete the qualifications for a god killer and destroy Chiyou.

I’ll erase the traces that Rebecca made me and destroy the temple, completing myself.

I am the martial god, the only one god.

***

“This place...”

The view of the canyon in the mental world resembled a place that Grid could never forget. The place where he wrote his first epic during the battle with the Great Demon, Berith. This was where Grid was completed.

“It is Taleren Canyon. It is a historic place where Your Majesty stood tall as yourself and not anyone’s successor.”

“Lauel, you remember everything.”

“Of course. Your Majesty is an object I respect, love, and serve. I can forget my birthday, but I remember everything about Your Majesty.”

Lauel had approached Grid because he saw Grid’s potential. He was determined to follow Grid. He believed that he would succeed unconditionally if he was with Grid. It was just an opportunity.

Over time, Lauel gradually became fascinated with Grid. The reason why he started to serve Grid in the hope of being overgeared only to become an internal affairs official who didn’t need items was because his pure desire to help Grid grew bigger than his greed.

“It isn’t just me. All the colleagues we have been with from the beginning basically love Your Majesty. Even these days, Vantner calls me when he is drunk. He watched the moment Your Majesty wrote the first epic and was so moved that he was in tears. I have suffered from this drinking session exactly 866 times, but in fact, Vantner must’ve watched Your Majesty’s videos more than 1,000 times. Huroi must’ve watched it over 10,000 times.”

“......”

“At this point, the S.A Group also seems quite favorable to Your Majesty. Of course, Your Majesty will deny it, but... I’ve felt it ever since I heard your theme song. The S.A Group actually understands you very well. Just looking at the form of this mental world, isn’t it a meaningful place for Your Majesty? It is a sudden thought, but the reason why Your Majesty has no restraints on your repeated growth even when you go beyond the limits of the system is because they also believe the purification of hell is essential.”

It was a fact that had been proven for a long time. Every time Grid grew significantly, the level of the other players also rose. In the past two months, monster waves had been occurring in hell. It was around the time that Grid started making the dragon armor. A large number of demonic creatures who received Baal’s buffs attacked the expedition several times a day, rapidly accelerating the growth of the Overgeared members.

At this time, he was reminded of the words that the absolutes had emphasized many times.

“Grid has accelerated the flow of the world.”

The acquiescence of the S.A Group to this proved two things. It was okay for the world to maintain its current pace. However, it was necessary for all players to grow together in line with that speed. This suggested that Grid alone would face clear limitations.

“It is speculated that new content will emerge after purifying hell. In fact, the heavenly gods who don’t wish for the purification of hell have declared war. We need to be prepared from now on.”

“Are they going to declare war first?”

Grid shivered with disgust. It was a situation where a fake god who descended to the surface almost killed him. What if a number of gods led an army of angels and attacked them? They could not stop it. There would be nothing but destruction. Enough time was needed for his colleagues to grow. He worried if he should delay the Baal raid as much as possible.

“Among those who participated in the expedition, how many people did the fifth class advancement?”

“Five people. By the way, what level is Your Majesty?”

“691.”

“As expected of Your Majesty. It is already almost level 600...”

“It isn’t 591, it is 691.”

“Six...???”

“I made a series of dragon armor and weapon one after another and won a big fight against Zeratul. He might be a fake, but he is still the martial god.”

There were also several incidents before that.

During the time when Lauel was entranced, Grid was deep in thought.

‘The fifth class advancement... it is fast, but also slow. It is safe to say that there is little room for me to grow.’

Completing the dragon armor set and making a few more myth transcendent dragon weapons...

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

It was the final specs that was theoretically possible. No matter how much you think about it, there wasn’t much room for growth other than level. Becoming a god killer according to Chiyou’s wish? It was difficult. He was convinced after the fight against Zeratul this time. He had no way to catch the one fleeing with all his might. As evidenced by the immortality skill that was strengthened when Grid became a god, the system in which a god escaped to their temple was an absolute right.

It was right to judge it as the best of all the systems. It was physically impossible to stop that and kill a god...

“...Huh?”

Grid’s eyes widened. It was due to checking the details of the newly obtained mental world.

[Sanctuary of Metal Lv. 1]

[A sanctuary derived from the mental world of the Overgeared God.

★ Build a canyon of metal. Currently steel.

* The metal that forms the canyon can make weapons or armor in response to your will.

* The weapon’s attack power is proportional to your willpower and strength stats, and the armor’s defense is proportional to your willpower and stamina stats.

* The number of weapons you can make is proportional to the number of weapons (unique rated or higher) you’ve made so far and the number of armor you can make is proportional to the number of armor (unique rated or higher) that you have made so far.

★ Your senses extend throughout the canyon.

* You can ‘disarm’ those you perceive as enemies and the weapons you create will constantly pursue your enemies.

* Provide additional defense by placing armor on those you recognize as allies.

★ God is omnipotent in their sanctuary.

* Specify all the weapons that have been disarmed and assign a compulsive force to them.

* The power of the weapon you’ve assigned the compulsive force to will be affected by the stats of the most powerful weapon you’ve ever made and the God Hands will be armed with them.

* The compulsive force lasts as long as the sanctuary is maintained and 20,000 mana per second will be consumed during the duration.

* Every time a weapon you borrow attacks a target, you will gain additional attack power.

* The armor you borrow will be overlaid over your body.

* Every piece of armor has a duration of 0.1 seconds and the cooldown of the immortality is greatly reduced every time damage is received during the duration. However, the reduced cooldown will be reset if the sanctuary fails to be maintained.

★ The 9th Heart of the Red Phoenix is completely absorbed.

* It resonates more easily with the Red Phoenix. Instantly unleashes the Red Phoenix’s will and bring a rain of fire down throughout the canyon.

* The rain of fire will deal damage to the enemies and heal your allies. The amount of damage and recovery is affected by the Red Phoenix’s stats. No mana will be consumed. Cooldown Time: 10 minutes.

* If you want, the main body of the Red Phoenix can be manifested.

* However, if the summoned Red Phoenix dies, then a severe penalty will be imposed on both you and the Red Phoenix. 100,000 mana will be consumed when summoning. Cooldown Time: 12 hours.

★ Your willpower that is as strong as metal will inspire your allies.

All allies in the canyon are significantly less likely to gain an abnormal status.

* Every time your allies resist an abnormal status, you and your allies will gain a buff skill. However, it doesn’t stack with buff skills of the same type. The buff duration time varies depending on the type of buff.

* This effect will last while the sanctuary is maintained and no additional resources are consumed. There is no cooldown time.

Skill Cooldown Time: 1 hour.

Resources Consumed: 100,000 mana.]

‘This is crazy...’

He checked the performance immediately. It was just a scam. Yes, it was a scam. By the way, levels existed? He thought he had reached the limit, but there was more room for growth.

“Your Majesty?” Lauel woke up belatedly and was worried when he saw Grid’s stiff expression. He felt guilty because he thought Grid was burdened after he talked about the conquest of hell. His heart throbbed. The sealed black dragon seemed to be laughing at him.

“Ah, I was thinking about something else for a moment.”

Grid took back the mental world and laughed. The canyon of steel disappeared like it was a lie and the two of them sat face to face in Grid’s office again.

“Let’s think about this later. First of all, our goal is Baal.”

He didn’t know what would happen in the future, but as the emperor, he wanted to save people’s souls quickly. It wasn’t just because of the quest to free Pagma. He always felt heavy-hearted and pained when he thought about how Khan and many other people would be suffering at this moment.

‘I’ll give the secret techniques to the apostles. There is no one to use the holy weapons, so I will melt them and extract the adamantium... what?’

Grid’s expression hardened as he looked at the loot he obtained from the martial god. It was because his high insight stat, which replaced the concept of vision, captured the strangeness of the holy weapons. The holy weapons were similar in shape to the works that Grid had made so far. They contained faint nostalgia when they should be plagiarized works intended for provocation.

“What’s wrong?”

“This... it isn’t plagiarism.”

“Huh?”

“The details are too different to say that they were made while looking at the real objects. It was almost as if...”

It seemed to have been made by recalling memories. There was care and affection in the smallest details as if the maker missed those days.

‘Don’t tell me...’

Grid’s face turned cold as he recalled the family member he didn’t want to talk about. His Formless Will became uncontrollable due to killing intent and shook and cut all the furniture around him.

As if to calm him down, a guest came.