Overgeared

Just like how some pets such as elementals didn’t have the concept of growth, Iyarugt didn’t have the growth concept of ‘level.’ This didn’t mean he was restricted or had limitations though. Rather, it meant that Iyarugt could grow through the process of restoring himself.

[* By winning in a battle against the strong, he can regain a feeling of life. The more he wins, the more he will regain your skills. (5/10)]

This was stated in Iyarugt’s status window. Every time he raided a named boss monster, he could break his limits and restore his strength. The power of Iyarugt’s current Sublime Sword was four times more powerful than Peak Sword’s Annihilate and was comparable to Linked Kill Wave Pinnacle.

“Kuek...!” Apollo blocked the sword with a shield and couldn’t help groaning from the shock. His left arm that was holding the shield spun through the air.

“Captain!” The knights’ horrified cries rang out. A demonkin had suddenly appeared, and one of the knights’ captain’s arms was cut off. Apollo used the first aid skill Hit a Pressure Point available for a fourth advancement knight and asked in a resentful voice, “I don’t understand... The evil eyes are a species banished from hell. Why are you helping the demonkin?”

However, Iyarugt wasn’t a conversationalist. He was only interested in pursuing fighting skills. Iyraugt had no interest in other people’s positions, nor was he kind enough to explain his reasons.

“What a load of shit.”

“...”

The moment the atmosphere became tense from Iyarugt’s attitude, a voice rang out.

“Shouldn’t you look at your own actions before blaming others?” It was Peak Sword who shouted from behind Iyarugt. “You are the invaders! Do you deserve to blame other people when you have invaded this territory, harmed the people and took away their peace? You are barbarians!”

“...I omitted the introductions, so there was a misunderstanding. We are the Blue Flame Knights of the Gauss royal family. This is our territory, and we have the right and duty to defend ourselves. It is the evil eyes who are the invaders, not us.”

“G-Gauss Kingdom? Keuk! Still, the evil eyes haven’t hurt your people!”

“How do you know? Can you guarantee that they haven’t harmed anyone? They are demonkin. They must be ferocious to have been banished from hell.”

“Uh...!”

“No... Before discussing race, it is a matter of basic national security... Think about it from our perspective. If you find out that a certain armed group is living underneath your Overgeared Kingdom... would you be able to overlook it?”

“...!” Peak Sword became more and more dumbfounded. It was because he couldn’t refute any of Apollo’s reasonable words. As an easy example, imagine if the Chinese army were living underneath South Korean territory. It was something that could never be tolerated for Koreans.

“I-I see... I fully understand your position. Technically, you guys are the victims...” Peak Sword admitted it honestly. However—

“Ah, I don’t know! In any case, the Gauss Kingdom is our enemy! I’ll get rid of everyone here!”

It was enough to ignore the unfavorable truth. Peak Sword refused any further conversation. He pulled out a dark sword—a long sword that Grid had made out of Belial’s Horn. Just based on the performance alone, it was a weapon that was slightly more powerful than Iyarugt.

“Let’s go, Iyarugt! Exterminate them!”

The new Iyarugt was launched like a flash of light while Peak Sword stood in place and bent over.

“Hell Moon Cut.”

Simultaneously, Iyarugt had cut through the lead knights and was surrounded by the enemies.

“Annihilate.”

Peak Sword’s weapon swept through the enemies around Iyarugt. It was a ridiculously aggressive offensive. Apollo realized the opponents weren’t willing to talk and raised a blue sword energy from the tip of his sword. It was a flame-like sword.

“My fire will protect my country!”

It was a powerful wave of energy! Peak Sword was pushed back during the gap created by using Draw Sword, and Vantner ran to his side to set up a shield. After that, Apollo’s sword energy struck Vantner’s shield. Vantner murmured to himself, ‘It is a whole different level...!’

As expected, a fourth advancement opponent was too much at this point in time.

A third advancement class could overwhelm a second advancement class. Then what about a fourth advancement?

It was difficult to deal with Apollo’s damage, despite his stats falling significantly because of his severed arm.

While suffering an internal injury and coughing up blood, Peak Sword shouted, “Hey! Iyarugt! Get rid of that guy quickly!”

“You aren’t my master so you should shut up.”

The ferocious Iyarugt moved close to Apollo. He also knew that Peak Sword would be in danger if he didn’t get rid of Apollo.

The swordsmanship of a demonkin was different from that of human swordsmen. 

The dazzling sword strikes that depended on the innate power and vitality of a demonkin suppressed Apollo fiercely.

Apollo was aware that Iyarugt exposed one or two gaps, but he didn’t take advantage of them. 

They were a trap.

Apollo had a hunch that he could suffer more damage if he was lured in by these gaps. It would’ve been easy to fight back and defend if only he hadn’t lost his arm. The biggest problem was that he failed to gauge the power of the first attack.

“Good! Well done!”

“Push him, Iyarugt!”

Peak Sword and Vantner didn’t bother getting involved in the fight. It was because they weren’t in a perfect state and would just be a hindrance. Now there were less than 10 Blue Flame Knights left, and they vented their anger with an energetic shout. “These guys!” 

While they were fighting for their lives, these two people were hiding behind the crazy demonkin and cheering.

“We’ll deal with you!” The blue flaming sword energy of the knights rose in unison. They had trained together for many years, and their cooperation was close to art.

“Aack!” Peak Sword screamed as two swords pierced his left side while he was busy blocking. Another two attacked from the right, and Peak Sword would be in danger of being killed if he didn’t handle it right. Peak Sword forgot about his pride and rolled his body. He thought about Grid as he barely managed to avoid the crisis.

It was hard to deal with four players at once. Then what about Grid who won against 400 players? It was really amazing. He was a truly great guy.

‘Cool! Too good!’ Peak Sword could only be described as crazy as he praised Grid while on the verge of dying, “God Grid is the beeeeest!”

‘He is sick again.’ Vantner clicked his tongue while hiding behind a sword. His shield’s durability was low and was on the verge of being destroyed. “...!?” 

‘They are royal knights!’

The Blue Flame Knights were truly powerhouses. Their level of swordsmanship was so high that it was difficult to find a gap of opportunity, and their attack power was also high. Eventually, the four blue flaming swords shattered Vantner’s tattered shield.

“Eek! Hey! I’m dead!” Vantner cried out as he was stabbed in the stomach, but Peak Sword couldn’t afford to help him. Peak Sword was in the exact same situation was Vantner. He had already been stabbed in the stomach several times.

“Oh, shit! You are a tanker and should be protecting me! You should go before me!”

“...”

The two of them were part of the 10 meritorious retainers of the Overgeared Kingdom. The Overgeared soldiers watched the legends of the Overgeared Kingdom struggle. They had been expecting a fierce and wonderful fight, but the situation was a mess.

“We will fight!”

“Yes! Go!”

The soldiers, who had been staring blankly for a while, raised their weapons. They hadn’t participated because Vantner had been urging them to stay away, but now they had hit a limit. The soldiers were prepared to die. They decided to sacrifice their lives to save Peak Sword and Vantner.

“Waaaaahhhhh!”

“Ugh... Run away...”

Peak Sword and Vantner didn’t welcome the soldiers joining the fight. They might lose experience and items if they died, but they could resurrect again. On the other hand, the soldiers only had one life. Piaro, Asmophel, Jude, and the elite soldiers they worked hard to train... The two people didn’t want the soldiers’ to die after they had fought together for more than a month.

Peak Sword escaped the immediate crisis due to the soldiers joining and shouted while coughing up blood, “Shit...! Iyarugt! Protect the soldiers!”

Unfortunately, Iyarugt wasn’t in a position to respond to his call. Apollo was also a strong representative of his country. He was furious, and Iyarugt couldn’t shake him off easily. Vantner pushed the knights with his shoulders and saved his allies. Then he glared at the tightly closed gates. 

“Shit! Those evil eyes to the end...!”

If there was such turmoil, they should open the gates and help. However, the evil eyes didn’t do anything.

‘These nasty bastards, who are we fighting for?’

The people they were sacrificing their lives for were ignoring them. Thus, Peak Sword and Vantner felt that all their efforts were in vain. It was called sage time in jargon. Their frustration was decreasing their morale. At this moment, a flower bloomed in the middle of the battlefield. The red flower was blooming from the heart of a Blue Flame Knight. 

“...?” 

Was it a hallucination? The knight was bewildered as he discovered the red flower at his heart. Blood started pouring from his nose.

“...!” He couldn’t even scream as his body fell. The flower that blossomed at his heart was already dying as it scattered petals everywhere. The scattered petals became blood and soaked the ground. That’s right. The red flower that had fallen from the heart of the collapsed knight wasn’t a flower but blood pouring from the heart. 

“...What?!”

Who killed the knight without a trace? Who showed up and helped? Both the Blue Flame Knights and the Overgeared soldiers were incredibly astonished.

“...Phew, I survived.”

Peak Sword and Vantner smiled with relief. They were aware of the identity of the person who had entered the battlefield. He was the shadow that protected the Overgeared Kingdom—the Death God Faker. Another Blue Flame Knight lost his life and collapsed.

‘Where the hell is he?’

The knights became tense as two of their colleagues died. They focused and desperately looked around. Nevertheless, it was useless. Faker invoked Lantier’s technique and was in an extremely secretive and mobile state.

Duguen. Duguen. Duguen...

It was a battlefield where only the heartbeats of the frightened knights were heard. There was complete silence. All the Blue Flame Knights died without knowing who killed them.

“...In any case, his form looks good.”

“He looks too cool in some ways. I’m going to spew.”

Peak and Vantner sat down and turned their gazes towardsIyarugt.

Iyarugt and Apollo were moving all over the battlefield. They had already moved away from the gate and crossed the city as they exchanged blows. Then a black sword fell between them. It was Faker. Apollo, who was maintaining a breathtaking balance, completely missed the opportunity to reverse the situation thanks to the sudden increase in enemies.

The result was a great victory. The guards, including Peak Sword and Vantner, were able to defeat the Blue Flame Knights with less damage than expected.

After a while, Grid arrived at the scene. He was relieved when he saw Peak Sword and Vantner, as well as the troops they led.

“You must be dying from the hard work. Leave the rest to us and go rest.”

“Yes, rest. Everyone has gone through a lot of trouble.”

“Hehe... Log out.”

“Wahhhh! King Grid!”

The soldiers cheered. Grid who led the large army was their savior.

“I won’t forget your hard work.”

The appearances of the survivors weren’t great. Grid knew how hard they had been struggling and remembered their faces. He would give them big rewards in the future.

“Your Majesty.” Then Sticks approached Grid with a bad expression. “A mighty magic power can be felt from the castle.”

“From the castle?” 

Grid turned his gaze toward the gates. The gates were firmly closed. There were no signs of outsiders having broken in.

“Are you referring to the magic power of the evil eyes' king?”

“Of course, I can also feel the magic power of the evil eyes' king. However, this is as powerful as the evil eyes' king... No, it is several times more powerful than the other magic power.”

Sage Sticks—the person who stayed calm when encountering Magician King Goldhit now had a shaky voice. “It is clear that someone has breached the castle.”

That someone was naturally...

“It is someone more powerful than the evil eyes' king.”

“...Don’t tell me!” Grid immediately opened the gates and ran into the castle. Then he saw it. There were blood stains in the corridor leading to the king’s great hall. This was the place where the evil eyes ministers resided. It wasn’t difficult to infer as to the owner of the blood marks.

“Shit!”

The evil eyes' king was in danger! Grid was filled with nervousness as he ran. He entered the great hall of the evil eyes' king and received a message.

[You have encountered a strong person who has transcended the times.]

The young man holding the evil eyes' king caught Grid’s attention. He was a slender beauty who looked tired.

“You are the one who advances your destiny.”

His identity was Zikfrector. He was famous as the grandmaster instead of his real name.

“Hmm, for the sake of convenience, I will kill you, Overgeared King.”

[An unknown survival instinct has been activated! Your fighting energy is charged to the maximum!]

“Let go of that hand!” Grid combined the Blade Aiming at the Gods and the Enlightenment Sword before using 100,000 Army Massacre Sword. Several dozen red energy blades struck the grandmaster. However, the grandmaster used the evil eyes' king in his hand as a shield and was perfectly fine.

“The concept of death doesn’t work with you, but this doesn’t mean you won’t receive any damage. You are going to die,” the grandmaster uttered blankly before pulling out a white mirror and untying the band covering both eyes of the evil eyes' king.

Then it happened at this moment.

“Mass Teleport!”

Grid instantly moved to the side of the evil eyes' king thanks to Stick’s spell and placed the glasses on the king. They were an easily transferable accessory—the Ether Glasses made by Elizabeth.

“...?” The fatigue on the grandmaster’s face deepened.