Overgeared

‘Where’s the dog?’

Grid missed the timing to throw the skewer and hurriedly looked around. Was it because the room was too dark? The dog that Braham mentioned couldn’t be seen. 

‘Why is it so quiet when the foaming dog should be running over?’

It couldn’t be a case where the dog didn’t exist. Braham said that Fenrir’s dog was always guarding Fenrir’s room. Grid trusted Braham’s information 100%.

‘Ah, I don’t know.’

He couldn’t afford to fail because he wanted to save an item. Grid hesitated for a moment before preparing to throw the skewer.

“No,” Mercedes suddenly spoke. Her beautiful eyes were mysteriously shining. “The dog that Braham mentioned isn’t here.”

“...!?”

Mercedes was the owner of Keen Insight. No matter how thick the darkness, it was all meaningless in front of her. On the other hand, Braham’s information was hundreds of years old. If he had to choose between Mercedes’ Keen Insight and Braham’s information, he would naturally choose the former.

‘Is it planning to attack while waiting elsewhere?’

Grid faced an unexpected variable from the start and turned to Braham. Braham’s expression was distorted. The moment he heard Mercedes’ words, he used magic power detection and confirmed there were no dogs here. “I thought he was your soul companion yet you threw him away as the crisis approached?”

“I didn’t abandon Hachika. Hachika... died.”

“...!”

Grid’s expression brightened. The dog that Braham was wary of had died. This meant that the success rate of the raid had increased significantly. It was something to cheer over and rejoice about. However, Braham showed a somewhat upset expression. He clicked his tongue and started to widen the distance with Fenrir. It was clearly a tense expression.

‘Why?’

It happened when Grid’s group was feeling doubt.

“Ah!” Noll exclaimed. It was a reaction that showed he noticed something.

Grid asked what was going on and Noll expressed his views. “Braham’s magic didn’t work on Fenrir’s dog because of the protection of dominance.”

“Protection of dominance?”

“It is the most extraordinary of Fenrir’s innate abilities, the power of domination that he inherited from Mother. It is the power to control and neutralize the enemy’s skills and magic. It was originally a power to defend Fenrir but Fenrir wished for Hachika’s safety and lent it to him.”

“Does that mean that as long as Hachika is dead, the power has returned to Fenrir?”

“Yes, that is the only way I can interpret Braham’s reaction.”

“...Then magic won’t work on Fenrir?”

Grid’s expression stiffened. The death of Fenrir’s dog was actually toxic and he couldn’t help being upset.

‘There are many trolls in the world.’

Grid frowned as he stared at the battle gear scattered throughout the room. They were items lost by their owners. It must’ve been those who harmed the prisoners guarding the entrance of the city some time ago.

‘Did they raid the dog?’

It wasn’t an impossible speculation. Time was fair to everyone. The other rankers were also getting stronger.

Zednos asked Noll, “Can’t Braham’s magic break through the protection of dominance?”

“It isn’t a lack of power. The problem is the formula. Higher-grade magic has more complicated magic formulas and the minimum of high-grade magic is needed to deal damage. You should know that high-grade magic has restrictions on casting.”

“Braham’s advanced magic casting time averages around 10 seconds...”

A player’s advanced magic casting speed was 20 seconds if they were fast or longer than a minute if they were slow. Braham’s 10 seconds was a very short amount of time but it was a different story when the opponent was a vampire marquis. His physical ability was beyond that of a human. Fenrir wouldn’t give Braham time to cast his advanced magic. If Braham was in perfect condition then he could complete the casting while avoiding and blocking Fenrir’s onslaught but it was difficult now that Braham was significantly weakened.

“In the end, our role is important. Braham can’t afford to waste mana using Teleport to evade Fenrir’s attacks while casting advanced magic.”

This was Mercedes’ opinion based on what she observed of Braham’s condition in the hierarchy fights. The others agreed. There was only one way left.

“We will protect Braham.”

“Yes!”

“Maintain your spirits. Never die.”

“I understand.”

The knights answered energetically and started to surround Fenrir. Jude tried to rush in but Grid grabbed him by the neck and he had to stop in place.

-I am asking all of you.

Grid glanced around at the Overgeared members. The Overgeared members stood beside the knight in groups and focused on using magic and skills at any time. Their role was to assist the knights.

“Stay strong!”

Saintess Ruby’s wide-area magic was activated. She purified the status conditions caused from meeting Fenrir from the knights and Overgeared members. The familiar lights spread out and Fenrir felt ridicule.

“It is a low-grade race.”

This wasn’t the first time Fenrir had dealt with intruders. Over the past hundreds of years, he had been challenged by many humans and fought many battles against the Rebecca Church. The purification used by the priests of the Rebecca Church failed to eliminate the ‘beneficial effects reversal’ created by Fenrir and just exacerbated the problem. Now the first thing this group used was Purification. People still couldn’t analyze the causes of the many failures over the years and rushed in sloppily. He laughed at the low-grade race challenging him when they didn’t even have the ability to learn.

However, his ridicule didn’t last long. It was because the light lifted the curse applied to all humans.

“...!?”

Fenrir’s relaxed face stiffened for the first time. His cold gaze was stuck on Ruby.

“Are you the pope?”

“N-No,” the nervous Ruby stammered and denied it to the end. She had been active in every great demon raid but a boss monster was still scary. In particular, Fenrir’s cold gaze chilled her blood and was more terrible than the great demons she had met so far.

“...This isn’t the divinity of Rebecca.”

Fenrir frowned as he grabbed a piece of the purification light floating in the air. Saintess. He immediately flew forward the moment he grasped Ruby’s identity. His first target was naturally Ruby.

A metallic sound was heard as something blocked Fenrir’s blow that should’ve shattered a human skull. Two solid shields stood firm against Fenrir’s fists. Fenrir’s eyes shifted toward the shields. He could see a young man throwing up blood and a white-haired person supporting him. The white-haired human looked at Fenrir without avoiding his gaze.

Fenrir had many doubts about the situation. “Braham, you worked tirelessly to repay the grudge from being expelled from the clan. You obtained two useful humans.”

“Two?” Braham wondered.

Flames were forming around his hands. It was the peak of fire magic. Once it clung to the target, it would keep burning until the target became ashes. The 1st ranked fire magician, Laella, was astonished by the sight. “Flame that won’t stop burning...!”

The black flames’ momentum was growing. The target, Fenrir, flew forward to stop Braham’s magic casting. However, Mercedes’ shield limited his path and Piaro and Asmophel isolated him in the ensuing narrow path.

‘It isn’t just two.’

A brilliant color rose in Fenrir’s eyes. As someone who relied on his innate power, he felt a bit threatened by the ability of humans who honed their ‘technique’ or became legends and built up equivalent skills. He suffered injuries after exchanging several blows and looked at the humans with displeasure. 

‘My physical ability is superior but I am being pushed in skills.’

It hurt his ego but he had to admit it. Fenrir used blood magic. He made the decision not to confront Mercedes, Piaro, and Asmophel.

“Keuk!”

Asmophel was swept away by the bloody whirlwind that appeared without any precursor and suffered a serious wound to his arm. Mercedes defended herself with the shield while Piaro slashed at the magic with a sickle. They were unharmed but while they were briefly tied up, Fenrir flew like an arrow toward Braham. 

“You can’t pass!”

Orc Lord Teruchan, Knight of Destruction Singuled, and dozens of Overgeared members moved systematically to block Fenrir’s path. However, most of their skills and magic were lost in vain, unable to penetrate the protection of domination.

“...!”

The world became momentarily silent. Fenrir broke through the skills and magic that scattered like a mirage and there was a moment of silence as the gazes of the Overgeared members tangled in the air. It was only for a mere moment.

“...Keuk!”

Fenrir’s moan shattered the silence. His heart was pierced by an ice thorn of killing intent. It was Singuled’s killing intent. It might be a half-complete technique but Singuled’s killing intent method was judged as SS-grade and it was a powerful force that penetrated even the protection of domination. It was the moment that proved the protection of domination wasn’t a complete technique.

“Use your ultimate attacks!”

Zednos shouted and the Overgeared members simultaneously used their ultimate skills. Most of the ultimate techniques were blocked by the protection of domination but some pierced through and dealt a series of blows to Fenrir. Then Braham’s spell was completed.

At the same time, Fenrir demonstrated the true power of domination. It was a force that couldn’t be digested with the intelligence of a beast. It was the ability to identify and control the nature of all concepts that threatened him.

“...!”

Braham, the knights, and the Overgeared members all lost the weapons in their hands. The weapons were placed under Fenrir’s control and judged as unavailable. Braham’s magic and the skills of the Overgeared members were greatly weakened because stats were lost. The disaster didn’t end there.

“T-This...! My body isn’t listening to me!”

Some of the relatively low level Overgeared members were placed under Fenrir’s control. Their role as Fenrir’s puppets were to be meat shields. Fenrir descended to escape the black flames created by Braham and hid behind the puppets. He could see a black-haired man running through the gaps of the puppets. The man who emitted demonic energy was moving faster than the speed of the black flames. Fenrir found he was skilled and exerted the power of dominance.

[The power of Vampire Marquis ‘Fenrir’ is controlling you.]

[The conditions of use for your weapons will be changed to ‘Fenrir.’]

[The class effect of ‘Pagma's Descendant’ has allowed you to keep using the +4 Lightning Sword Born from Enlightenment and Strong Desires.]

“...!?” Fenrir’s eyes widened. He was perplexed that the black-haired man didn’t lose his weapon despite Fenrir using the power of domination. He could see the human reaching right in front of him.

‘I’m sorry.’

Grid’s eyes were staring straight at the puppets. His colleagues were nodding. Grid didn’t hesitate.

“100,000 Army...!”

“Oppa!”

[The party member ‘Ruby’ has used the skill ‘Holy Weapon’ on your weapon.]

[The party member ‘Ruby’ has used the skill ‘Holy Impact’ on your weapon.]

“Massacre Sword!”

It was a single blow with the intent to cut the vampire. The bodies of his colleagues, who were turned into puppets, were cut by the single blow and this was followed by the explosion of unquenchable flames.

“Kkuk...! Kuaaaaak!”

The attack blew away the defense he believed to be sufficient and caused Fenrir to feel pain, astonishment, and anger. Engulfed in the roaring flames, he screamed and reached out to Grid. However, Grid’s turn wasn’t over.

[The effect of God's Command has reset the cooldown time of 100,000 Army Massacre Sword! Reuse of a reset skill within 3 seconds won’t consume resources.]

Grid’s sword moved in a crescent arc once again and Fenrir’s hand was cut off, causing a fountain of blood to spurt. In the midst of the first crisis in hundreds of years, Fenrir realized something.

‘Blood King...!’