Overgeared

“Do you know that the god you serve has been a long time admirer of my work?”

The dark dopo that flowed like a wave. The feeling of smearing ink to create waves. It was a sight created by Daoist Sabaek. The swordsmanship he used was unusual. He slowly used Tai Chi with his sharp sword. The demonic creatures couldn’t dodge and were often cut.

Kraugel watched with interest, only to soon frown. During their recent meeting at a villa in South Korea, he remembered Grid and Jishuka waking up in the morning and performing Tai Chi side by side.

‘Why does it have to be Tai Chi?’

Was he lobbied by the Chinese Communist Party?

Even as Kraugel pondered on this, Sabaek’s words continued, “Additionally, the number of yangbans I have punished is at least seven.”

The sword moved slowly before stinging like a bee, cutting at a demonic creature. Sabaek’s wrists and collarbones, revealed through the fluttering dopo, were full of tattoo-like marks. They were marks that permanently raised a large number of stats.

Daoist Sabaek was the one who created the rare treasure that every player wished to have. He even had multiple marks on himself. If Baal killed Sabaek and took his soul to hell—

There was a concern that Baal, who already boasted high stats as a super named boss, would have his stats rise exponentially.

“It means I am one level ahead of you, who has earned a fairly high reputation as a Sword Saint. In terms of hierarchy, experience, and skills, you don’t deserve to tell me what to do. The same goes for that guy.”

The nose of a named NPC was inherently pointed high in the sky. From the beginning, it was close to impossible for a player to control an opponent who had lived for a long time as a transcendent. Kraugel might have a unique hierarchy and reputation like Grid, but he wasn’t Grid. Kraugel’s reputation was the second highest among players, but the gap with the first place Grid was too great.

‘Unfortunately, I didn’t meet Lauel’s expectations.’

He felt sorry, but what could he do? Hwang Gildong, whom they believed would be cooperative, acted just like Sabaek.

Kraugel gave up on persuasion. He silently followed Sabaek and Hwang Gildong, who said that this was a shortcut, and gradually advanced into a space infected by demonic energy.

The group’s destination was Norae Hills. The landscape was said to be all yellow hills. Hwang Gildong had seduced Sabaek there by saying he would be able to obtain a large amount of ‘materials for the marks.’ He had whispered to Kraugel that this was the safest area.

“Old Sword Demon.” Old Sword Demon, who had a dissatisfied expression in the rear, abruptly spoke. He gave his name again to Sabaek, who called him ‘that guy.’ It sounded a bit different to Kraugel. This was the aftermath of witnessing Huroi from up close since entering the Overgeared Guild.

‘Is he Korean?’

No, he didn’t think so. It was hard to imagine that there was more than one person like Huroi in the world. Kraugel believed that he misunderstood. He even felt a small amount of guilt toward Old Sword Demon and changed his listening language setting from Korean to English.

“Old Sword Demon. My name is Old Sword Demon. Didn’t I reveal it when I first introduced myself? Please engrave it clearly in that little head of yours.”

It sounded comfortable to listen to now...

He was able to shake off the horrible assumption that there might be some intention behind Old Sword Demon’s name.

Kraugel was relieved while Sabaek snorted. “Bah, I heard you are revered as a legend among the people, but there is a wild aspect to you. Well, okay. Stop this war of nerves and increase your pace, Old Sword Demon.”

He quickened his pace while wiping at his bloody sword with a talisman. It seemed to give an enhancement effect to the sword that was glowing blue.

‘He has been active for a long time. They said he would be at least a mid-level transcendent, but he is so talented.’

Sabaek used high level swordsmanship, performed daoist techniques with the talisman, and possessed his signature marks, so his value became higher the more Kraugel looked. It was to the extent where he wondered if Sabaek was an existence on the opposite side of daoist immortal Yeo Yulan.

‘I must protect him.’

Kraugel reminded himself of the importance of the mission only to stop abruptly as he was following Sabaek. He widened his stride. A shadow crept across the twilight-stained ground. It was the shadow of Kraugel, who immediately leaned his upper body forward as he drew his sword.

There was a loud explosion. The topknot on Sabaek’s head shook and blood flowed down from Kraugel’s forehead.

“Groan...” Old Sword Demon groaned. He suddenly received a shock and lost a large amount of health. He couldn’t understand the situation for a moment.

However, as a top ranker, his body moved non-stop. He activated his buffs and looked around while drinking potions. The first thing he saw was the back of Kraugel, who was holding out his sword with his upper body leaning forward. The place where the tip of Kraugel’s sword touched was Sabaek’s left cheek.

It had stopped while interlocking with a ‘hand.’ It was a purple hand that exuded a very ominous energy. It floated alone in the air like Grid’s God Hands. It was hard to tell whether it was real or imaginary. It was because it was transparent.

It originally aimed for Sabaek’s face, but it was blocked by Kraugel’s Twilight. In the glow of the sunset, it emitted a scorching heat that was beyond the light emitted by the sword. They were the traces of the use of magic. It was the fire attribute magic that struck at Sabaek while aiming at Kraugel, Old Sword Demon, and Hwang Gildong at the same time.

‘Can it use magic now?’

Kraugel’s expression became serious.

The fragment of Asura—the Evil God that had briefly put the Overgeared members and apostles into a crisis in the No Offspring Tomb boasted a higher level of completion than before.

“Good. As expected, you endured it.”

Step, step, step.

The gloomy voice that was followed by the sound of approaching footsteps caught the attention of the party. It was a smiling demon with sharp fangs. His appearance differed depending on the viewer. He looked like a huge bat to Old Sword Demon. It was very unpleasant and frightening.

[The 1st Great Demon, ‘Baal’, has appeared.]

“Kuek...” Old Sword Demon groaned and fell to his knees. He was crushed by the status abnormalities caused by Baal.

An old player who was the first assassin player to reach level 100 and be registered in the Hall of Fame as the ‘First Assassin Ranked Number 1’—Old Sword Demon had been playing Satisfy for nearly nine years, including the open beta, and he surprisingly only recently acquired a legendary class. To be exact, he changed classes.

Assassin Who Refuses to be Stealthy—there were parts of the name he didn’t like, but it was like the efforts and achievements accumulated over the past nine years were finally acknowledged. He felt great thrill and satisfaction. Now he was embarrassed that he had been happy.

‘I am unable to resist the status abnormalities? I was very suspicious due to the name. So was it a defective product?’

Legendary classes were immune to status abnormalities. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that this was the reason why Grid was able to advance at an unrivaled speed after becoming the first legend. Yet at this moment, Old Sword Demon was suffering from all types of status abnormalities. The hard-earned legendary class was disabled without him being able to enjoy its basic rights. There was no choice but to doubt its performance.

Kraugel’s voice entered his ears as he was feeling agitated.

-Absolutes are equipped with the ability to cause status abnormalities by default, ignoring the status abnormality immunity. Regain your composure and recover while I buy time.

-...Does the Golden Carriage later sells items that neutralizes the ability to ignore status abnormality resistance?

The online games from a century ago—for Old Sword Demon, there was an image file that became popular on the Internet in the past that listed paid items in games enjoyed by the generations older than his father. Old Sword Demon recalled what he had seen then while Kraugel replied seriously to him.

-At the very least, it wasn’t on the list of products that I could view with my reputation. Currently, the only solution is to build up your level of transcendence and increase the chance of resistance.

-Yes...

He had to focus on the situation. Even jokes needed applause to be completed. In the first place, this wasn’t the environment to make a joke.

The 1st ranked Great Demon had appeared in front of them.

Of course, it was likely to once again be a fragment, but unlike the past, he was accompanied by an unknown ‘hand.’ Old Sword Demon had never seen Asura’s hand and he didn’t even know what it was. Nevertheless, he could intuitively know that it was a very sinister and dangerous object.

The danger was intuitively revealed. It was because Kraugel’s sword energy was being disturbed in real time.

A Sword Saint’s sword energy—the moment the highest grade resource, perhaps comparable to divinity, approached Asura’s hand, it became blurred and repeatedly disappeared. It was the same for the orange energy emitted by Kraugel’s sword. This wasn’t an ordinary thing.

‘Hwang Gildong and Sabaek have to kill Baal while Kraugel ties it up.’

If Baal was just a fragment as he guessed, Hwang Gildong and Sabaek should be able to get rid of Baal relatively easily. However, he always kept the worst case scenario in mind and prepared measures in advance.

Old Sword Demon prepared for a situation where Baal wasn’t just a fragment. He couldn’t sit idle in case Kraugel missed the hand before Hwang Gildong and Sabaek could kill Baal.

‘I need to get ready...’

Assassination—for assassins, it was an ‘achievement’ that accelerated growth. However, Old Sword Demon had never attempted a single assassination. It was a fact that the whole world knew because it was on record. People dismissed him as a fool. They saw him as a stupid old man who had forgotten his duty because he refused to do something cowardly.

This was only half true. Old Sword Demon wanted to be stronger than anyone else, thus he went all in on the skill tree related to swordsmanship. Due to this, he wasn’t capable of assassinations...

In any case, that was in the past.

‘Baal, you evil that shouldn’t resist. Keep ignoring me like this.’

Old Sword Demon paid close attention to Baal, who didn’t even give him a second look. It was while secretly preparing to attempt an ‘assassination’ that hadn’t been carried out in the past nine years.

Some of the debuffs caused by Baal turned out to be good luck for him.

His stats and health that declined in real time and his armor and weapon that were rusting met the trigger conditions for his passive skill.

“Sword Saint Kraugel, the law that there is nothing a Sword Saint can’t cut no longer applies to Asura. It learned this after being cut by you. Even I didn’t expect Asura to have this talent, so it was an unexpected harvest. Thanks to this, the newly born Evil God has a durability comparable to the Old Dragons.”

Baal only noticed Kraugel.

Sabaek saw this and tried to slip away, but he couldn’t move recklessly. It was because Asura’s hand chased after him.

Sabaek was vaguely aware of the desires and power in Asura’s hand. He had to notice. His magic power and daoist energy were being dispersed just by being this close. There was a sense of complete helplessness. The feeling of helplessness that he was feeling for the first time since becoming a transcendent baffled him.

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“......”

Kraugel didn’t bother talking to Baal. It was because the demons he had dealt with so far had excelled at bewitching people. Moreover, there was nothing good about exchanging words with Baal, the source of all evil.

“You are scared.”

Baal laughed. It was right after he turned to look at Hwang Gildong, who was creeping up on him like a rat. This made Hwang Gildong stiffen. Fortunately, his prey had come to an area connected to demonic energy.

Baal could feel a familiar smell from them. It was the smell of fear. It was a smell that made Baal feel alive. His infinite life that never disappeared came from the fear of humanity.

“Don’t worry too much. Death is quick, so the pain is short. It is better to be grateful that your souls can exist with me forever after you die and fall to hell. However, once that time comes, the pain will last forever.”

Baal didn’t move from his spot. He used just his will to call the surrounding demons to his side and led them. He put Asura’s hand in the very lead. The hand of the Evil God absorbed and neutralized all resources of all targets except for Baal and it was simply invincible. Baal would finish the hunt without needing to step forward in person.

‘Grid, you must’ve sent the Sword Saint to stop my hunt.’

It is a misjudgment. You should’ve come in person to stop me...

“......?”

Baal’s eyes widened as he was thinking about Grid’s unscrupulous face. It was because Kraugel blew Asura’s hand away. He simply struck it with a sword and blew it away. The loss of the rule that there was nothing he couldn’t cut and of sword energy meant this result was created simply using the power of the sword.

“That sword...?”

Baal noticed something as he operated a gravitational spell on Asura’s hand, which was flying far away. He hastily brought Asura’s hand to his side. It was one step too late.

Twilight—it wasn’t Kraugel’s Twilight made from smelting the scales of a low-grade dragon, but Grid’s true Twilight made from an Old Dragon’s fang that pierced Baal’s heart.

-Grid lent you a sword that is more valuable than his life?

Baal’s question was conveyed as a thought.

“You’re mistaken.”

Kraugel expressed his thoughts as he was covered by the blood gushing from Baal’s chest.

“Even a million dragon weapons are worth less than a single life of Grid’s.”

“Grid... he must’ve become stronger?”

The effect was great. Baal read Kraugel’s true feelings and was inwardly shaken. Of course, it was only for a moment.

“I expected it. In any case, it is within the scope of my assumptions...”

Baal’s face distorted sharply as he sneered and shook off Kraugel. He belatedly felt a sense of urgency. He might currently be only an ego fragment and he was seriously injured by Sword Saint Kraugel, but he also strangely failed to read the signs. They were the signs of the man who maintained the number one ranking until the emergence of a rising star called Faker.

One of the strongest unofficial rankers, an old man who was writing a new legend after countless achievements. He attempted an assassination for the first time in his life and succeeded.

Baal’s head fell silently and rolled on the cold ground. Baal’s red eyes gradually became empty as he stared at Asura’s hand, which belatedly arrived next to him.

“Sword Saint Kraugel... it will be different... in places where you aren’t present...”

It was already the second time after the No Offspring Tomb. Baal declared to Kraugel, who ruined his plans, and turned to ash. Asura’s hand, which terrified legends and transcendents, naturally disappeared along with him.

“...Please escort me well in the future.” Sabaek’s attitude changed dramatically. Kraugel’s terrifying power had been intensely engraved in his mind.

‘In the end, being overgeared is the best.’

Kraugel realized it once again.

At the same time...

Fragments of Baal’s ego that were appearing on various parts of the surface were identifying the location of their prey. They were each accompanied by a part of the Evil God. In particular, the momentum of the fragment that was accompanied by the head was imposing.

He deliberately released demonic energy, as if saying he could fight against Grid like this. The reaction appeared immediately.

“Is it because your life is infinite? You’ve lost all fear.”

Biban descended to the ground. Baal’s ego fragment remembered him as a Sword Saint from a former era.

“I am disappointed. This area would’ve been handled neatly if it was Muller.”

Let’s test the performance of Asura’s head.

The pressure coming from Baal grew increasingly ferocious.

Biban just drew his sword silently. It was the Broken Sword.

Baal laughed. “Were the rumors that the Specter heard true? Well, it is good. I have no choice but to exclude those hiding in the tower from the hunt. Now I can hunt you as well.”