Overgeared

There were games where field of view wasn’t important, but it was particularly emphasized in Satisfy. It was because some wide-area skills worked using ‘range of vision.’ The Undefeated King’s Swordsmanship was a prime example. Long-ranged skills that attacked by ‘specifying a target’ like Request to Stand With Me’s battle gear rain were also larger and the utilization increased when there was a longer field of view. If Grid had a third vision then his power would work even in places where he wasn’t present.

“Kuek!”

Back and forth, left and right, up and down.

No matter where he went, a black hand would rise from a dimensional gate without warning and persistently aim at Grid. This form of sniping that he had never experienced before consumed his mental power and physical strength.

‘Damn, what is this bullshit skill?’

A sniper where he couldn’t determine the sniping point... wasn’t it telling him to just open his eyes and be attacked? It was natural for a person in his position to swear. Grid was running and cursing when he suddenly questioned it. ‘Why is he targeting me?’

Barbatos’ subordinate, Krucha, was fighting with Leraje. Additionally, the reason Krucha was fighting Leraje was due to Demon Slayer Yura. Barbatos’ sniping priority should be Leraje or Yura. So why was he aiming for Grid?

‘It’s fortunate that he isn’t targeting Yura, but I don’t understand it.’

The ideal situation was for the sniping target to be Leraje. She was slowly regaining the dominant position in the fight despite previously being pushed back by Krucha. She seemed able to deal with Krucha and Barbatos’ sniping at the same time.

‘The aggro should be on Leraje so I can easily kill Krucha... Ah, that’s why he is targeting me.’

It was clear. Barbatos knew that sniping Leraje wasn’t efficient. Rather than ignoring the opponent two ranks lower than him, he was wary. He suppressed a demon’s aggressiveness.

‘Leraje seems to be special. The reason for not targeting Yura is because he has determined that Yura’s fighting power isn’t threatening to Krucha.’

Named bosses with intelligence would identify the player’s combat power and decide the hunting order. There were bosses who set the strongest player as top priority. For example, Elfin Stone appeared every 24 hours and kept using Extreme Blood Transfusion on Grid. On the other hand, there were bosses who set the weakest players as top priority. Barbatos seemed to belong to the former.

“Hell Leap.”

As Grid analyzed the situation, Yura opened a small portal connecting hell and the human world. Originally, this was a Demon Slayer ‘movement’ technique, but Yura knew how to apply it differently. She overlapped the portals in front of the gate where Barbatos’ sniping occurred and distorted his aim in a completely different direction. The black hand reaching out to Grid was sucked into the portal opened by Yura and then appeared in a remote place.

‘This is dangerous...’

Grid’s heart sank despite receiving help. He thought that Yura’s performance would cause Barbatos’ aggro to shift. It was as he expected. Barbatos’ sniping started targeting Yura, not Grid. The evaluation that Grid had a higher risk than Yura seemed to have changed.

“Avoid it!” Grid’s transcendent senses noticed the gate forming behind Yura’s back and he screamed urgently. Yura didn’t notice it until the moment the gate was opened behind her. A black hand emerged from the gate and grabbed at Yura’s body violently.

“Yura!” Grid’s expression distorted. However—

She was fine. Yura’s expression was calm as she was held by the black hand. The jade magic power flowing over the surface of her silver armor emitted a strong light.

“......?!”

The black hands contained terrifying demonic energy. Grid’s cloak had just been slightly touched by the hand, but it was eroded by demonic energy, reducing its durability and deteriorating its function. Yet the demonic energy scattered in front of this jade magic power. It was suppression, not purification. The Demon Slayer’s magic power suppressed the demonic energy in a way completely different from divine power. The sight of her intact appearance without any wounds flustered Grid.

Yura brushed off the remnants of demonic energy and explained, “As I said earlier, Barbatos was a tricky opponent for Alex. Thus, Alex researched and evolved.”

These evolved abilities were passed down to the current Demon Slayer. Demons who fought Alex and lost once would be pushed in a battle against Yura, even if they were great demons. It was just like how Barbatos’ sniping couldn’t hurt Yura’s body right now.

“Ohh!!” The true value of the Demon Slayer that was often revealed made Grid feel admiration. The fact that Yura was unharmed and had enough potential to solve the difficulties in the future made Grid’s face shine brilliantly. Of course, the bright expression was soon erased. It was because Barbatos’ sniping once again aimed at Grid. Grid avoided three sniping attacks using his transcendent senses and looked up.

‘He is a really dirty and annoying guy.’

Grid was being attacked one-sidedly by an enemy whose location was unknown and his physical strength was continuously being consumed. This was the worst. Unless there was a limit to the number of times Barbatos could attack, he would eventually be exhausted first.

The most hopeful thing was that Barbatos’ sniping cooldown time had been identified. It was two seconds for a single shot, five seconds for two consecutive shots, and nine seconds for three consecutive shots. He didn’t know about after this since he hadn’t experienced it, but it was likely the cooldown time would be twice as much.

Every time he dodged the attack, he was exposed to remnants of demonic energy. Grid drank a potion to heal his consumed health and shifted his gaze to Leraje. Her small feet were just trampling on Krucha’s face. The reason she wore such high heels didn’t seem to be due to a complex about her height. It was to use them as a weapon.

Krucha was stabbed by the sharp heel and screamed. There was a hole in his forehead and blood flowed out. “I can’t believe you’re using a dirty trick based on gender! It is despicable! You deserve to be called the role model of all demonkin! Grrrr!!”

“I still have a long way to go from your master, who hides and shoots like a coward.”

“Yip yip! That’s right! You still have a long way to go compared to Barbatos!”

Were they insulting or praising each other? It was difficult to interpret even though he spoke the same language.

“......!”

Grid was clicking his tongue with amazement, only to become startled. It was because he made eye contact with Krucha.

‘Dammit, this son of a bitch dog.’

Barbatos used his subordinate’s vision to locate and snipe the prey. The most important thing to avoid Barbatos’ sniping was to not be seen by Krucha. Grid took advantage of the temporary gap in Barbatos’ sniping to hide, but he was found too quickly by Krucha.

'I wanted to catch my breath for a second.’

Grid’s gaze turned to the entrance of the great hall and he changed his position using Shunpo. At the same time, a black hand appeared where Grid had been hiding just a moment ago. Grid sighed with relief after passing another crisis while Leraje and Krucha once again engaged in a fierce battle. Every time their fists or kicks cut through their air, there was a sharp explosion and the shockwave generated shook the great hall.

‘Amazing.’

The reason why Leraje wasn’t pushed in this fight, despite having her mucus dried by fire and losing some power, was due to her excellent combat skills. She was like a martial artist who had trained all her life and knew how to use her body as the most ideal weapon. Her obsession with victory must’ve constantly honed her.

‘...Isn’t this angle good?’

Was it because he was too absorbed in the battle with Leraje? Perhaps it was in preparation to block Kalbaba’s surprise attack, but Krucha suddenly revealed a gap. He was very puzzled when he couldn’t find the hiding Grid. Grid was behind him in his blind spot. It was such a big gap that Grid was convinced that if he did a sword dance and approached using Shunpo on the final step, he would be able to deal a serious injury.

‘Now is the best time for a surprise attack.’

In the end, Grid couldn’t withstand the temptation and took a step forward. Then Barbatos’ attack flew toward him, as if it had been waiting. Once again, transcendence was triggered, but Grid failed to avoid it. It was a sniping shot that predicted where Grid would step, so it was physically impossible to immediately react and dodge. Grid’s right foot was held by a black hand and burned black.

[The +1 The Arrogant Blue Dragon's Boots have been eroded by demonic energy.]

[It is an item with infinite durability. It isn’t damaged.]

Fortunately, his boots were fine. It was a myth rated item made from Greed, so there was no decline in its function due to damage. Just—

[You have suffered 2,540 damage.]

[Demonic energy is eroding your wound.]

[You have received an internal injury. Some organs contaminated by demonic energy won’t work properly. There is an additional 30,000 damage accompanied by the ‘poison,’ ‘bleeding,’ ‘can’t take potions,’ and ‘confusion’ abnormal statuses.]

[You are immune to poison.]

[Bleeding resistance has failed.]

[Resistance to ‘can’t take potions’ has failed.]

[Confusion resistance has failed.]

Just because the armor had infinite durability didn’t mean it could absorb all of the impact that followed an attack. Grid’s feet in the boots were damaged by demonic energy. The demonic energy penetrated deeply through the wound.

“Cough!”

The physical condition of his ‘five organs decaying’ brought great pain and crisis to Grid. In particular, the ‘confusion’ state was a big problem. Confusion made controlling himself difficult. Grid’s body staggered like a broken doll.

‘Do I have to experience this every time I allow a hit?’

The 8th Great Demon, Barbatos. He was so great that he was likely to raise questions like ‘perhaps he is a target that can’t be attacked.’ Wasn’t it too much to win against a sniper who fired from an invisible place and caused a fatal injury to the target? He once again thought about how great Yura was to be immune to such an attack. She was one of the few hopes that human beings could purify hell.

“Grrrr!”

“......?”

The eyes of the collapsed Grid widened. It was because Krucha was looking this way. His nose sniffled loudly, as he seemed to laugh at Grid.

‘That son of a bitch... he was determining my location with his sense of smell.’

This was why it was meaningless to avoid his gaze. No matter how hard he tried to hide, he would be detected by Krucha’s sense of smell and be shot at by Barbatos. At least, this was the case if Grid was a normal player.

“Youngwoo-ssi!” Yura used Hell Leap and flew to Grid’s side. Grid avoided hitting the ground with her help and his shaking hands struggled through the air.

“Calm down! First recover from the confusion!”

Legends were immune to most abnormal status conditions. Additionally, Grid was the very first player to become a legend. Therefore, status abnormalities, especially those affecting the mind, must be unfamiliar concepts to him. He wouldn’t be able to adapt to the inability to control himself and blurred vision caused by confusion.

Once again, Barbatos attacked.Yura held the still floundering Grid in her arms and was hit instead. The black hands didn’t hurt her. It didn’t matter how strong the demonic energy exuded by the black hand. It was all scattered by the jade magic power. However, the story changed when the black hand turned into a sharp awl.

A black awl penetrated deep into Yura’s side. This new form of sniping focused on physical attacks rather than demonic energy and it had the power to penetrate Yura’s defense. Just as Alex evolved from his experience fighting Barbatos, Barbatos had evolved as well.

“Ugh...!”

Blood flowed from Yura’s mouth. Even so, she didn’t let go of Grid. Rather, she hugged him tighter. The time remaining until Hell Leap was available was only two seconds, but it felt like two hours.

‘I have to protect him.’

She couldn’t always receive help. Moreover, this was hell. It was her domain. It was the place where she should be active. She gritted her teeth as she turned her gun into a sword and used Hell Leap that just became available. She threw Grid instead of herself into the dimensional portal.

After that, she rushed at Krucha. She also figured out that killing Krucha was the only answer to stopping this one-sided sniping. However, Krucha wasn’t an easy opponent. The reason he confronted Leraje was because he had the strength to be the master of the 10th Hell.

He was afraid of Hell Gao, whom he wasn’t sure when would return, so he didn’t aim for the vacant seat of the 9th Hell. Still, he was confident that he could fight and win against the living Leraje. For such a monster, Yura’s attack wasn’t very threatening. Yura hadn’t fully grown and the opponents she could challenge were demons in the hells in the 20s.

“Have you come to be killed by me? Grrrr!!”

He blocked Yura’s sword by swinging his flaming fists and showed a sly smile. He reached out to hold Yura’s small face. He was just about to raise the heat of the flames to burn Yura when it happened...

Flap.

A red cloak slowly fell from the air.

“......!”

Krucha’s expression crumpled like a piece of paper. The smell of hundreds of different types of blood paralyzed his sense of smell.

‘What is this?’

His excellent sense of smell turned into poison. Due to the smell of hundreds of types of blood piercing his nose, Krucha was confused by the body odors of Leraje, Kalbaba, and even Yura right next to him. It was impossible for him to locate the position of the human who had disappeared somewhere.

“Drop Dragon Pinnacle Kill Wave.”

A dragon descended from the ceiling and pierced Krucha. Barbatos’ sniping stopped for the first time.