Overgeared

“Thank you.”

She would surely call the five elemental kings, even if it meant withering. Grid felt the sincere will and eliminated the traces of doubt buried deep in his heart.

‘I’m certain. The world tree doesn’t have a friendly relationship with Asgard.’

In fact, it was natural. If the world tree had interacted with the gods, she wouldn’t have become sick from Yatan’s essence. Additionally, the Overgeared Guild wouldn’t have contracted with the elementals.

The reason Grid had been wary of the world tree was that, at the roots, the world tree was a divine tree. People believed that the world tree was a tree planted by the gods. There was a story that the first thing Rebecca did when creating the world was to plant the world tree.

From Grid’s perspective, it was difficult to rule out the possibility that the world tree was under Rebecca’s control. Putting aside the rapport that his colleagues shared with the elements, he was mindful of the possibility of being betrayed by the world tree.

Fortunately, it was groundless. At this moment, the world tree declared that she would give her lifespan for Grid. It wasn’t empty words. The world tree immediately put it into practice. Graphics that were hard to see in any culture emerged around the world tree and formed rules. The rules produced new forms, colors, and attributes, and became four different magic circles.

“Mother…!” The elves exclaimed. It wouldn’t be strange if they cried right away based on their expressions. It was a reaction that proved the sincerity of the world tree.

Summoning the elemental kings—Filewolf’s prediction that it would be a burden on the current world tree was right. The branches that extended toward immeasurable areas like discussing infinity were withered. The green leaves became haggard like autumn leaves just before falling after a season ended.

Grid could feel it. The ‘status’ of the world tree had fallen. It was a sacrifice for Grid.

Crack!

Eventually, the twisted white bark lost its luster and fell down with an eerie sound. The image of the transparent essence flowing from the trunk of the world tree overlapped with the image of the blood shed by Biban and Mir.

Beings who fought for Grid against all types of dangers—the world tree was like them.

Four magic circles were soon completed.

[The fire elemental king has appeared.]

[The water elemental king has appeared.]

[The earth elemental king has appeared.]

[The wind elemental king has appeared.]

A dimension divided differently from hell, the surface, and heaven—the rulers of the ‘elemental world’ had appeared.

-I’m sorry. For me, this is the limit.

The shapes made of light circled in the air and made noises, but the magic circle wasn’t completed. They were traces of trying to summon the light elemental king. It was even though she heard that Yura would be in charge of summoning the light elemental king. The world tree wouldn’t be pointlessly stubborn.

‘She decided that Yura won’t be able to summon the light elemental king.’

The road to the forest—throughout the journey, Yura’s expression had been dark. Grid thought it was because of FIlewolf’s perverted actions, but after looking back on it, she was probably worried because it was difficult to communicate with the light elemental king.

Yura approached. “How long will the elemental kings be present?”

She couldn’t hide her nervousness as she asked this. She was worried about whether she could summon the light elemental king first, or if the other elemental kings would leave first.

The world tree replied.

-It is up to Grid. It is Grid’s wish that made this summoning.

The eyes of the elemental kings were on Grid.

[Overgeared King. I learned about your reputation from the daoist immortals of the Peach Blossom Spring.]

One of the elemental kings spoke. Just as the world tree was a tree, they were fire, water, earth, and wind. They didn’t have mouths, so the language was implemented through their willpower. The sound resonated from all directions, like the secondary skill of a fourth class martial artist and assassin, ‘All Directions Sound Transmission.’

However, Grid quickly identified the source of the words. It wasn’t difficult for him with his transcendent senses and divinity.

‘It is the fire elemental king.’

The flame that gradually grew larger after its emergence—the attitude of using every tree it touched like firewood was like a tyrant. It even had a momentum like it would burn the world tree.

[It is said that you control fire after the red phoenix’s heart was transplanted. However, do you know? Many of the world’s offerings come from the elements of the elemental world. The source of fire is me and the red phoenix is just my other self. You can’t even bear my fire. How dare you ask for me to descend and ask for my help?]

The fire elemental king was as violent as its outward attitude. It was as if he was putting the world under his feet.

‘The source of fire is the elemental king?’

He was saying that the red phoenix, one of the Four Auspicious Beasts, was just his other self? Grid, who was surprised after learning this new fact, asked, “Then is Trauka also your other self?”

It was a question raised out of pure doubt. There was no other intention, but the response of the fire elemental king was very fierce.

[Do you have to belittle me by referring to an existence outside of the specifications? You are truly an unreliable person.]

It took it as a provocation.

Grid was blinking from the absurdity when Filewolf whispered to him, “There is definitely a myth that Rebecca used the elements of the elemental world when she created the world. It is just that no one can answer the question of whether the elemental world has existed since the beginning. On the other hand, the old dragons are definitely of the same generation as the gods of the beginning, including Rebecca.”

“…Do the elemental kings feel inferior to the dragons?”

“That’s right.”

“No, you should’ve told me that quickly.”

“I never thought you would bring up Trauka’s name.”

[What are you muttering?]

The body of the fire elemental swelled even more. It surged like a tsunami and threatened to swallow Grid. Grid was feeling flustered when a whisper was heard. It was an elf specific sound transmission that carried the voice on the wind. The beautiful voice rang in Grid’s ears only.

-Basically, elementals aren’t favorable to humans. They instinctively reject the civilization pursued by humans because it damages nature. By the time they are an elemental king, they don’t properly communicate with the humans they have acknowledged and contracted with.

-Overgeared God, you didn’t do anything wrong. The elemental kings must’ve been thinking of testing your qualifications from the beginning. So, they would’ve found fault no matter what attitude you showed.

Testing his qualifications? Certainly, the world tree mentioned that the time that the elemental kings would stay depended on Grid.

‘Are we going to fight?’

Elementals—beings who didn’t intervene in other dimensions. Those who felt hostile and avoided humans couldn’t be liked just because he was Grid. However, there were elementals contracted with his colleagues, including his light elemental, Light Stone, so he tried to respect them. There was no reason to refuse a fight at a time when there was the justification of proving his qualifications.

‘Rather, it is good.’

He would take this opportunity to vent. What was so good about those who hid among themselves and raised their noses high in the air at a time when the demons were active or the gods were playing insidious tricks?

Grid’s gaze toward the elemental kings became cold. He let go of trying to respect them and expressed his honest feelings. It was closer to hostility.

[You?] The fire elemental king moved up and down loudly. [Are you staring at me in a situation where you should be keeping your head down?]

“Let’s talk nicely. That is how to make your words good.”

[What? You are quite nasty. Do you mistakenly think you are equal to me? I’ve met quite a few humans, but I’ve never seen a human like you who doesn’t grasp the subject.]

‘As expected. It doesn’t know that I’ve become a god.’

Grid found out that the elemental kings were ignorant about the world’s affairs. He noticed it when the fire elemental called him the Overgeared King. He thought they had been grasping the information through the elementals on the surface, but the actual truth was surprising. The problem seemed to be caused by being indifferent to the human world, or lacking a sense of time because of their eternal life.

In any case, it was good for Grid. The Grid identified by the elemental kings would be the Grid around the time when he just got the heart of the red phoenix.

Clink!

Grid combined four swords into two and both hands were armed. The elementals were more of a phenomenon, not a substance. It was estimated that he needed special measures to cut them, such as the Falling Moon Sword that could only be wielded once every 10 minutes.

First of all, he planned to amplify the attack power as much as possible before slashing.

‘The odds will be high if physical attacks work.’

Grid had gained quality experience. From the time of the Great Human and Demon War, he had met and fought Baal’s ego, Martial God Zeratul, the number one archangel, Mir, the three masters, and Ifrit. If he placed the gods of the beginning as 1st tier, it meant he experienced the worldview of around the 2nd-3rd tier in succession. His eye for measuring the level of the opponent was raised greatly so he didn’t stiffen in front of the elementals.

In Grid’s view, the status of the elemental kings wasn’t very high. They weren’t comparable to Ifrit or the number one archangel, and they were a long way behind Mir. They seemed similar to Baal’s ego, if he gave them a high evaluation. It was unlikely that it would be an illusion like when he mistook Ifrit’s other self.

The elemental world didn’t belong to the center of the world view. In the first place, it was unfounded for an elemental king to be very strong.

‘The light elemental king proves that.’

It was said that if the light elemental king was completely manifested, it would be comparable to a great demon. As for the current Grid, all the great demons except ‘the three evils of the beginning’ were just small fries.

[You don’t seem to be afraid of fire because you trust the heart of the red phoenix. Arrogant fellow. You will soon regret it.]

“You talk too much.”

Grid raised his chin.

“Bring it on.”

As his reputation grew, Grid had worked to be polite, but this depended on the opponent. He didn’t want to be polite to those who took advantage of the position of being asked for help to talk nonsense.

[You need educating!]

The fire elemental king expanded its size like a wave and rushed toward Grid. He thought it would feel like this if he was surrounded by hundreds of thousands of soldiers, but it left little impression.

Grid’s swordsmanship covered all directions.

“200,000 Army Crushing Sword.”

First, he slashed all the flames that entered his field of view.

“Transcended Linked Kill Wave Pinnacle.”

The five fusion sword dance was implemented with one step. From the standpoint of facing each other, it was a step and sword technique that implied dozens of possibilities. The flames were split into hundreds of branches. They scattered in all directions and dyed the forest red. It meant they were cut.

As the name suggested, the fire elemental was a collection of fire phenomena, but permanent phenomena didn’t exist. Even the scales of a dragon were torn apart, weakened, and lost by all types of physical phenomena caused by the damage of Grid’s slash.

[Wh…at!]

The rapidly reduced flame revealed its core. It was a flame that burned fiercely alone while the waves of fire were swept away by the sword wind. It was natural for it to be Grid’s target.

“Drop Dragon Pinnacle Kill Wave.”

He was humble in front of Sword Saint Biban, but Grid’s techniques were good enough.

The process of using the finishing stride of Transcended Linked Kill Wave Pinnacle as a stepping stone to link it to Drop Dragon Pinnacle Kill Wave was as natural and rapid as flowing water. It was a speed that wasn’t easy to respond to when facing it for the first time and it was linked with unpredictable power.

The fire elemental king rapidly raised its body temperature to burn and melt the approaching sword, transforming into a blue flame. However, it was meaningless. Grid’s sword, made of Greed, didn’t melt. It maintained an eerie air as it penetrated the blue flame.

Thunder seemed to echo. The deafening sound was chained and the fire elemental king completely lost its momentum. Like the fire of a match that was about to become ashes, it was reduced to a weak existence and fell at the feet of the other elemental kings.

“Next.”

Let’s organize the hierarchy properly. Grid held the swords and raised his chin again, but the elemental kings slowly reduced their size.

The water elemental king, which poured out water and wet the ground, becoming a small dew. The wind elemental king, which was creating a storm, became a warm breeze. The earth elemental king, which grew like a mountain, became a stone that could fit in one hand.

[The fire elemental king doesn’t speak for us. One who burns its body can’t have an organ for thinking, right? To borrow a human expression, it is brainless.]

[I’ll wait until the light elemental king is summoned.]

[I, like, human.]

It was a satisfactory reaction. Grid put away his weapons and reassured Yura, “Take your time. I’ll wait for you slowly. Pretend we are on an outing.”

“Yes.” Yura smiled while the elves were completely mesmerized. He talked about an outing just after almost killing an elemental king.

They were afraid in various ways. The fact that Grid wasn’t the enemy of humanity was the greatest blessing in history.