Chapter 1777

The appearance of the tower members gave people a great shock.

The Dragon Slayer, who cut off a dragon’s head, and the legends of previous eras. It was the emergence of a living, breathing myth. In fact, the tower members performed well in accordance with their reputation. They took the lead in the hell expedition and stood tall with new hope.

Many of the people, who suffered losses in the aftermath of the Great Human and Demon War saw them in action and regained their dreams and courage. The activities of the tower members who cut off the heads of the great demons while scattered throughout the vast hell were that great.

The tower members who blamed themselves for not fulfilling their duties—in fact, they were very humble. They were simply unable to resist the disaster called dragons. They shouldn’t be blamed for being incompetent. It was just like people who were swept away by earthquakes or hurricanes shouldn’t be blamed.

That was the existence called dragons. It was best to predict their emergence and minimize the damage. Facing them directly was impossible. This was until the adversary called Grid appeared.

Long before Grid met Fire Dragon Ifrit, there was someone who hoped he would be a dragon’s adversary. It was Sword Saint Biban. He had just climbed the tower when he immediately predicted a bleak future.He saw the fact that Dragon Slayer Hayate was afraid of dragons. Therefore, he wanted to cut down a dragon himself and had a different mental image than before.

To be robust enough to withstand the Breath and weight of a dragon. To be able to cut the scales, skin, and flesh of a dragon. A physical strength where he wouldn’t get tired even if he chased a dragon that crossed the continent with just a single flap of their wings.

In order to have all of that, he turned himself into a non-human sword. He wasn’t afraid even when he felt his intelligence gradually fading away. He knew that one day, he would even forget himself. Sooner or later, he would reach a point where he couldn’t even understand his own condition. So what was there to be afraid of?

That’s right. Biban had been prepared from the start.

Today, he slashed through the willpower of the Fire Dragon and was reborn as a complete sword. Right before the loss of consciousness, he briefly regained the memories he lost so far. On the contrary, this made him feel relieved. If he had to pick out one thing he regretted—

It was that he met Grid only when his condition worsened. If he had a bit of sanity left, he would’ve probably said words of thanks to Grid...

[You have entered the mental world of Sword Saint ‘Biban.’]

“......”

A mental world meant the state of mind. Naturally, the owner’s emotions were contained in the mental world. However, Grid felt nothing. Biban’s mental world was just desolate and tranquil.

“Biban, can you hear me?”

Grid’s voice rang out through the desolate world. It was an empty cry. There was only an echo that returned without reaching anyone.

‘...A sword.’

Grid felt that the bleak wind was particularly cold and noticed it. The chill that gave his skin goosebumps was the spirit of the sword. Grid had made tens of thousands of swords, so there was no way he was unaware of it. The moment he realized it and smelled the iron on the tip of his nose, Grid made a sad expression.

‘It smells like this because it isn’t sharpened with a whetstone.’

A sword without a master—this was Biban’s current state. There was no reward for becoming a sword, and he would gradually become dull, rusty, and covered with dirt.

“...Why did a Sword Saint become a sword in the first place?”

It was a decline. The one who should control the sword had become a sword.

𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

‘It isn’t that I don’t understand the reason for the choice, but it is too extreme.’

This person had thought that even a Sword Saint couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t recognize the sword as a tool unless he was the owner of a talent like Muller’s. Instead, he reached the point where he had to consider himself a sword.

‘Save him for now.’

Grid took a deep breath, shook off his miscellaneous thoughts, and used Shunpo. He intended to break through to the origin all at once. However, this place was Biban’s mental world that was far from reality. It was the space where Biban’s willpower was put first. It was impossible for Grid, the intruder, to show off his full ability.

[Shunpo has failed to trigger.]

[You have suffered 75,090 damage.]

The moment Grid used a skill, swords emerged from the ground and stabbed Grid’s feet. He hadn’t expected an attack to come out of nowhere, so he allowed the attack. The Realm of the Absolute couldn’t be utilized properly. In the first place, the speed of the sword was like a ray of light.

‘This is the true Heart Sword.’

The swords formed by Biban’s mental world—the two swords that pierced both of Grid’s feet rose up and rotated around and around, guarding against Grid. They were poised to shoot the moment Grid moved.

‘It isn’t at a level where I can respond with the God Hands.’

He was forced to shake them off himself. It happened the moment Grid made this judgment...

New swords sprang out from the wilderness. Hundreds. No, tens of thousands of swords aimed at Grid in unison while releasing a brilliant glow.

‘Isn’t this crazy?’

Grid recalled Biban’s mental world that he had witnessed in the past. There was a huge sword higher than a great mountain and thousands of swords hovering around it like clouds. It was as powerful as a spectacular production effect. Now? It would naturally be more powerful than it was in the past. Right now, the spirit of the sword was much more powerful than before.

‘I don’t know if it is possible to break through without using Shunpo.’

Swords flooded in before Grid could take any countermeasures.They stabbed, slashed, and pressed Grid from all directions.

Grid spun and shook off four swords with his kicking feet, applying strength to both armpits. Then the nine swords that had been digging toward Grid’s chest bent and were crushed.

Grid frowned. He felt a tingling pain. The nine swords held tightly in Grid’s arms left scratches on Grid’s skin This meant it had penetrated through the defense of ‘Fire Dragon Ifrit’s Arm.’

The sword’s energy easily dug into the tightly bound smooth red scales. This was definitely the energy of a Dragon Slayer.

‘It must be due to his achievement of slashing the willpower of an old dragon. It can’t be blocked by armor that is only a vague reproduction of the body of a top dragon.’

Currently, Grid wasn’t using the Sanctuary of Metal. It was because it was physically impossible to build his mental world in another person’s mental world. Of course, it was possible if the owner of the mental world was experiencing some type of psychological problem, but Biban’s current mental world was perfect without any wavering. It was just after achieving his goal of becoming a sword, so it was natural.

‘I’m looking forward to it.’

His desire to save Biban became even stronger. The resurrected Biban would be a completely different person than before. Wasn’t there a high probability that he would return as an Absolute? It was an Absolute form that evolved by mixing the Sword Saint and the Dragon Slayer, half and half.

Grid had a smile on his face as he reached out into the air. A huge spiral of golden light swirled around him. They were the God Hands, not divinity. It was the process where hundreds of God Hands linked together by holding each other’s hands. It seemed like a large amount of gold had melted down like a waterfall and gushed like a fountain. It was a very gorgeous sight.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of swords repeatedly slashed and stabbed at Grid. Grid resisted as best as possible, but the rate at which his health decreased was very fast. Grid was prepared for his immortality to be consumed while in his mind, the treasure of the giants and Trauka’s lair were intersecting one after another.

‘A sphere.’

There was something in common between the last treasure of the giants, currently held by Fronzaltz, and the lair of Fire Dragon Trauka. It was that it formed a circle.

Grid was inspired by this. He naturally recalled it in the face of a crisis where multiple abilities were sealed. The experience and knowledge that had dissolved into his subconscious surfaced in conjunction with the desire to survive. No, the desire to save Biban was a thousand times stronger than the desire to live.

Grid had to break Biban in order to save him.

[You have suffered catastrophic damage!]

His vision blinked red in an instant. The tens of thousands of swords, each with the energy of a Dragon Slayer, were easily overwhelming him.

Grid was inferior compared to usual because he couldn’t summon the Sanctuary of Metal, overlap Infinite Valhalla, or use abilities classified as ‘powers’ such as Shunpo and the rune. The biggest problem was that it wasn't an environment where he could use the sword dances or the Undefeated King’s swordsmanship.

Each of the tens of thousands of swords were using Matchless Swordsmanship. The moment Grid used skills related to swordsmanship, they would join forces to destroy it.

‘There is a reason why Muller sent me in alone.’

As the speed in which the God Hands joined together increased, so did the speed at which the golden circle rotated. Grid backed up and shot his bow to intercept a few swords. Then he used the grappling technique to crumple dozens of swords together like a ball and gradually found some room to act.

He didn’t care about his empty health gauge. It was because his recovery power was overwhelming. He just needed to buy a very brief break. Then Grid was confident that he could regain all the health he had lost. He wouldn’t need to die even if his immortality was consumed.

Grid made full use of the terrain. He left the wilderness and stood with his back to the wall as much as possible, reducing the number of swords he faced directly. He used a shield to block the offensive that spread out like light and threw a spear to distract the swords.

How many times did he repeat this? The swords that were tracking Grid, who had even started to utilize the Motley Flail, stopped advancing all at once. They moved as one body so there were naturally no entanglements or collisions with each other.

Due to the sudden stop in acceleration, there was only the sound of wind blowing everywhere. In the middle of the stopped swords, the world started to change. The ground where Grid stood and the wall behind him changed its form to a sharp sword. A forest of swords had unfolded.

Now Grid was being targeted by the swords from all directions. The swords increased from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands and shot at Grid in unison. It was meant to definitely put an end to the intruder.

However, it was too late. A golden sphere completely enveloped Grid’s entire body. It was a small sun. The sphere made of hundreds of God Hands was infinitely small compared to Trauka’s lair, but it was majestic. It was brilliant, unlike Trauka’s lair, which was as bleak and desolate as the moon.

The reason it took so long to form was to not be disturbed. The God Hands didn’t let go of each other even when facing the barrage of swords that stabbed from all directions.

The sun surrounding Grid was maintained. There was no need to worry about it breaking. Greed’s greatest strength was its infinite durability.

“How many years did it take?”

It took so long to figure out how to properly utilize the God Hands. Grid’s sharp eyes as he laughed from the absurdity glared through the gaps in the slowly widening sun. Several swords immediately responded and dug into the gap, but Grid had already completed the sword dance. It was inside the sun, without being hindered by the swords.

“Transcended Linked Kill Wave Pinnacle.”

Sword energy stretched out in all directions and pushed away the swords that had been harassing Grid unilaterally. The God Hands dispersed for only a moment before suddenly reconnecting. The counterattack of the swords was completely sealed off. It was a scene like the sun was flickering.

Grid went forward without hesitation. He gradually got closer to the source of the energy. There—

-I... am a sword...

Biban existed. To be precise, it was Biban who had become a sword. Biban was nailed to the center of the giant sword that soared higher than a great mountain and was seeping into it. It was deeper and deeper, so that he would never be able to get out of it.

“Wake up, you human!”

Grid threw a punch first. He didn’t think a conversation would work in the first place, so he relentlessly hit Biban in the face. To be honest, it was quite a relief. There were many things that had accumulated aside from his liking of Biban.

Where are you only saying this now?

It was the nightmarish line that he still often heard as an auditory hallucination these days.

“What sword, what bullshit sword!!”

Bam! Bam bam bam!

“Did you become a Sword Saint for this?!”

Crack!

“What should I do with you?”

-...Stop.

“Should I melt you and mix you with Greed? Or should I make you into a dog food bowl...?”

-Stop it, Grid.

The mental world wasn’t omnipotent. If it was omnipotent, Braham would’ve unconditionally drawn his opponents into the mental world when fighting enemies stronger than him. The reason he didn’t do so was because it was dangerous. The exposure of the mental world meant revealing their psychology to the enemy. It might be different with Grid’s mental world, where every direction was blocked by canyons, but most mental worlds would expose their weaknesses the longer the enemy was inside.

Moreover, Biban’s current thinking was extremely simple. All he could think of was ‘I will become a sword.’

It was an easy thing to target. Every time Grid threatened to use it as his weapon, mix it with Greed, or melt it down into a dog bowl, Biban’s mental world shook. It was to the extent that he briefly regained the sense of reason he lost when becoming one with the sword.

Eventually, the eyes of Grid and Biban, who fell out of the sword, met in the air. They were embarrassed by each other and kept their mouths shut.