Overgeared

“Kukuk...! Kuahahahat!”

Superhuman Strength Loyal Subject—it would be a very unfamiliar title to the humans of this time. However, just 300 years ago, the prestige of Superhuman Strength Loyal Subject Antrino was great.

With a head to body ratio of 1:4, Antrino showed great power within his well-proportioned body and was the strongest warrior that supported the dwarf race. It was only due to him that the wealth of the dwarves could be preserved. He appeared in the ‘Unfinished Biography’ that was about Muller’s last years as the subject of the sentence ‘Every sword I hit him with was broken so I was in trouble.’ In terms of strength alone, Antrino was comparable to the legends of the previous generation.

He was still energetic and boasted dark hair. From his perspective, Grid was just a little boy. He was better than Pagma, but he was still lacking compared to the other legends that Antrino had met.

‘No, it is hard to say he is better than Pagma.’

Pagma might be evil, but he showed great power by combining several sword dances. Meanwhile, Grid had a strong body and high strength, but he couldn’t use the fusion sword dances. He might be ahead of Pagma in strength, but his overall ability was lower in terms of technical aspect.

Antrino burst out laughing at the courage of this child who hadn’t even completed his heart, body, and technique. “Your qualifications have already been confirmed. You can’t overcome my strength and even my strength can’t open the door of Pandemonium. You will never be able to enter Pandemonium.”

“Is it necessary for me to make fun of your tongue? Don’t you know that you should look at the tall and short things? Ah, you don’t know because you’ve never been tall.”

His words came out naturally. Grid’s provocative look and tone caught Antrino’s attention.

“You are fearless. Perhaps you... the person who is Pagma’s Descendant doesn’t know me?”

“I might be Pagma’s Descendant, but I only inherited his technique. I have no way of knowing what happened between you and Pagma.”

“Kukuk, this is why you’re so arrogant.”

Antrino shrugged and took out a book. It was a familiar book for Grid—the dictionary of minerals, something naturally acquired after changing to the blacksmith class. Players couldn’t share or give it to others, but it seemed different for NPCs.

Antrino opened up the dictionary of minerals. The minerals information he accumulated throughout his life meant his book was twice as thick as Grid’s book. Antrino was a warrior, yet he accumulated so much information on minerals...

‘Does he have a miner or blacksmith as a second class?’

Grid never considered a second class to be a domain specific to players. It was natural. Wasn’t Pagma a legendary blacksmith and Baal’s Contractor? Grid guessed that many named NPCs had two or more classes and it was true.

[You have acquired new mineral information.]

[You have acquired new mineral information.]

[You have acquired new...]

[You have acquired...]

......

…

Was it benefiting through any means? In return for a glimpse at Antrino’s dictionary of minerals, Grid managed to achieve a collection twice as large as before. Originally, more than half of the pages in his book were blank. Now they were almost full, with only less than 10% of it being blank.

However, Antrino had no idea about what was happening. “You are a legendary blacksmith, so your knowledge of minerals must be more profound than mine. You naturally know about the regi stone.”

‘Don’t you know the power of the years I’ve accumulated?’

Grid was overrated by Antrino and felt embarrassed. Even so, he didn’t express it and read the information of the regi stone from one of the many newly added minerals information from a little while ago.

[Regi Stone]

[It is the heaviest stone in the world. A strong adult male is limited to holding a fingernail-sized regi stone.]

‘It is a mineral with little value.’

Weight was directly related to hardness. This meant the density was high.

A piece the size of a fingernail was at least 60 to 80 kilograms... it would be ineffective to make something using the regi stone. The shape wouldn’t change no matter how hard a person beat it with a hammer.

‘I think it would take me a few months to smelt this.’

It would take craftsmen years, no, perhaps even decades. Antrino’s voice rang in Grid’s ears as he was lost in thought. Grid felt it the first time he met this person, but Antrino was really loud. “The door of Pandemonium is made of regi stone.”

“……”

"How is it? Do you realize now that you can’t open it?”

“Hmm...”

Certainly, even if the size of the door was limited to ‘only one dwarf can pass through,’ it would still weigh thousands of tons, and it would be impossible to open with physical strength. It was a completely different test compared to the door of Radwolf’s workshop made using the Moon Night Iron.

He might be nervous, but Grid’s expression was calm. “Just because you can’t open it doesn’t mean I can’t open it.”

“You are crazy to the end.”

Antrino showed a tired expression and asked King Charles, “Your Majesty, do you mind if I guide him to Pandemonium?”

In order to liberate the empress’ soul in the God Hands, Grid had to take action himself—Antrino thought it was reasonable, considering the empress’ personality that he remembered. However, King Charles would probably deny it. It was as expected. “I can do it myself. Is it necessary to entrust this simple work to outsiders? I don’t know why he is so stubborn about handing over the empress to me.”

“It seems that he is a person who needs to be humiliated.”

“Hmm...” King Charles’ expression softened somewhat. The word ‘humiliated’ seduced him. King Charles made a big smile and shouted, “Summon all the people before Pandemonium! All the people of Talima must accept the royal command!”

“Attention!”

The warriors saluted and scattered in all directions. Antrino shook his head after reading King Charles’ intentions and the lion-maned Pelot grabbed his forehead.

‘It’s not that I don’t understand the king’s feelings...’

A person related to the enemy of his mother. It was natural to want to lead him to hell. However, wasn’t it a bit intolerant as the leader of a race to use the entire nation for personal revenge? It was as the empress had evaluated before her death—Charles’ vessel was small. She hoped that her child, who was younger than 100 years old, could grow up well. Of course, it was only by transcending death that he could qualify as a king. Among the 111 princes and princesses, only two or three could transcend death.

“Let’s go to Pandemonium.”

King Charles led the way with Grid.

***

‘Indeed.’

The entrance of Pandemonium was located deep in the royal palace and it closely resembled Grid’s expectations. It was the size that one dwarf could barely pass through. It seemed only possible for Grid if he bent over.

“Then I’m going.”

There was a huge crowd. There was no reason to delay time when he wanted to see Pagma’s Descendant disgraced. King Charles looked around at the crowd filling the entrance of Pandemonium and shouted, “The descendant of Pagma, the enemy of our race, said that he will enter Pandemonium. We will watch it.”

“Booooo!”

There were boos from all over the place. Most of the dwarves suspected and disliked Grid, except for the ones who met Grid. It was natural since he was the successor of a deep-rooted grudge.

‘Damn Pagma.’

He respected Pagma, but he resented Pagma’s actions that made things worse every time. In the midst of the unpleasant jeering, Grid clicked his tongue and placed his hand on the entrance of Pandemonium. He felt a tremendous weight. He was certain that this door wouldn’t move even if he pushed with all his strength.

“Sigh.”

Grid took a breath and the dwarves, including King Charles, laughed. They felt like they had eaten something good when seeing the descendant of their enemy being overwhelmed by the door.

“It is funny that Pagma's Descendant is trying to open a door that can’t be opened without royal lineage.”

“He is just like Pagma. He can’t understand what he is facing. Spit. It is unlucky.”

“Hurry... I want to quickly see his despairing expression.”

The expectations of the dwarves were heightened. Grid stood in the middle of the enemy and opened up the Rune of Gluttony.

‘Open, Rune of Gluttony.’

In such a situation, he could only bring out one trump card. Grid hesitated as he was trying to unleash the newly gained power of Saleos. The four God Hands were floating in front of Grid—the hands were constantly moving and Grid noticed they were warning him not to enter Pandemonium.

King Charles was furious. “You unscrupulous person...! My mom... you are trying to get rid of the crisis by using my mother!”

How old was he that he was still clinging to his mother? It was even worse than the young Lord. Grid shook his head and deliberately ordered, “Stay out of the way.”

“……”

The God Hands rotating around him stopped moving immediately. They wanted to stay still, but they couldn’t overcome Grid’s glare and moved to the side. Grid pulled the power out of the rune.

‘Power of Not Knowing Defeat.’

[Power of Not Knowing Defeat]

[Gain a strength beyond your potential.

You must win in a fight of strength.

If the next action after using this power is affected by strength, it will unconditionally get positive results.

However, it can’t win against the top three great demons, dragons, absolutes, and gods.

Cooldown Time: 12 hours.

Skill Resources Consumed: None]

Grid’s large hand touched the door of Pandemonium. The weight of the regi stone passed through Grid’s fingertips. Grid felt a huge gravity. It felt like he was rejected by the world the moment he pushed the door to Pandemonium.

“Hahahat! This person is really challenging it!”

“Boo! Booooo!”

In the midst of the dwarves’ booing, Grid pushed the door open.

“......!”

“......!”

“……”

All the dwarves, including King Charles, Antrino, and the lion-maned Pelot, had their mouths drop open. They were so surprised that it seemed like their eyeballs would pop out. Grid smiled at them. “Isn’t it easy?”

He wanted to add ‘you can’t even do this?’ but Grid drew a line since he needed to get along with the dwarves. Grid taunted the entire dwarf race and then sniped at King Charles, “If it wasn’t for the empress’ lineage, wouldn’t you be an incompetent person who couldn’t even do this? The empress dismissed you for a reason.”

Had Pandemonium ever been shown to outsiders since it was created? Not even once. Pandemonium was a place that only the dwarf royal family had the right to enter. At this moment, Grid was denying the dwarf royal family. The eyes of the dwarves looking at him became strange.

In particular, Antrino had a big smile on his face. His eyes were filled with admiration rather than anger.