Overgeared

Thump!

Dozens of books were placed on the table where babies who were only three months old were seated side by side. These books compiled concepts such as personality traits, morality, etiquette, and laws into illustrated stories that were easy for children to understand.

“Uhm... Isn’t this a textbook for the lower grades studying at the Beginner’s Academy? This is used to educate children who are at least seven years old...”

Ruby often gave lectures at the academy and immediately recognized the pictured fairy tales.

“No matter how easily understandable these stories are, they’re still not fit for babies...”

“Prince Lord understood writing less than three months after he was born.”

“Well... Lord has always been very talented, but couldn’t he do that because Kasim secretly stood by his side and taught him?”

Irene was adamant. “That’s right. From now on, I will be by the princesses’ side to teach them. They will be just as skilled as Lord was when he was a baby. I will be in trouble if I can’t do that. You can’t deny that these children were born in a better environment than the crown prince.”

Irene declared that she would thoroughly educate babies who were only three months old. Grid seemed embarrassed as he created a soundproof barrier and placed the children inside. He’d gained this from a mystical art after killing cultivators.

“Irene, I want the children to live more freely. The world is at peace. Even if a new threat emerges, the surface, the Overgeared World, Asgard, hell, and the Peach Blossom Spring will work together to eradicate it.”

In other words, there was no need to thoroughly educate the princesses. Moreover, expecting something from the newborn children and giving them an early education was against Grid’s wishes.

Irene smiled. “Yes, my wishes are the same as Your Majesty’s. I want the princesses to live freely and happily. But that doesn’t mean they should grow up to become villains, right?”

“Uh...? U-Um. I guess so. But how can our children grow up to become villains...? Haha, isn’t this too much of a reach?” Grid laughed awkwardly.

Basara told him, “It isn’t too much of a reach. Your Majesty witnessed the Saharan Empire that was on the verge of collapse, right? How many powerful people from there had been corrupted? There were plenty of people in the Saharan Empire who made others unhappy just because they were born into the imperial family or nobility.”

“Meanwhile, the knights were well-qualified through proper education,” Mercedes added. She soon remembered a certain fact and became depressed. “...There were some knights who were corrupted by the Servants of Yatan, but... As Your Majesty knows, that was an unavoidable event...”

‘In any case, the bottom line is that we need to educate the kids.’

His wives agreed to that. There was no way Grid could refuse them. It wasn’t like he intended to be adamant about his personal opinion.

‘Of course, we need to make sure to educate the girls so they’ll be well-mannered. My point is that it’s too early for that...’

Thud, thud, thud!

The sunny-faced princesses were banging on the barrier using pure strength or raw magic power. They were much stronger than average newborn babies. In terms of attack power, they were comparable to the knights.

‘...Though they should be disciplined before they hurt anyone even though they might not mean any harm.’

Grid recognized that his children were incredibly powerful and finally nodded.

“I will leave the children’s education to you, my wives.”

“Yes!”

Grid cheerfully left the work to his wives and left the room.

***

“Everything should be okay as long as the children are healthy. It’s a shame that I won’t be able to play with them for a while, but I’m excited for the future.”

Ruby shook off her worries and quickly regained her energy. As expected, she was a bright child. Grid was stroking his cute little sister’s head when he suddenly stopped. Sexy Schoolgirl was running toward Ruby in a hurry.

“Yerim, haven’t seen you in a while!”

“Hehe, hello Youngwoo oppa!”

Sehee’s best friend, Yerim, was an ordinary gamer. No matter how good her items were, she hadn’t exactly improved by a lot. Once the level of the enemies increased rapidly, she couldn’t keep up with them, so she had withdrawn from the battlefield for the time being. After all, even without the Saintess’ Knight, there were plenty of skilled people who could protect Ruby.

In any case, she appeared after a long time, grabbed Ruby’s hand, and started running.

“Uncle Piaro has finally figured out how to restore cursed plants! He wants to see if he can incorporate your heals into it!”

“Oh, really? I’m glad. I hope I can help.”

“Surely! I think we can fully restore the World Tree if we do well! Then the elves will be back in their prime!”

‘I was wondering what she has been up to these days. Has Piaro been training her?’

Grid didn’t really trust Yerim. He thought she would be having fun somewhere where he couldn’t see her but, in fact, that wasn’t the case. She seemed to have been working hard in the fields.

After checking Yerim’s dirt-covered footprints, Grid smiled happily and looked out the window. He felt a familiar presence. A guest he had to meet one day had come on his own.

‘Martial God Chiyou.’

***

“No matter where I look in the world, it’s so full of vitality. I’m proud to say that even though I have lived for a long time... I have never witnessed such peaceful times.”

Grid and Chiyou traveled thousands of kilometers away from Reinhardt before they stopped flying. They made it to a highland area with clustered mountain peaks.

“Nevertheless, there seems to be no end to human greed. There are still many people who worship power, so my strength is still growing.”

Grid’s long black hair and bright red overcoat gave off a very powerful impression. Could his presence be recreated with some red and black strokes from a thick brush? Grid stared at Chiyou, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time.

“You want me to annihilate you before you get any stronger.”

“I’m glad you haven’t forgotten. Also, as I said before, I would like you to refrain from speaking formally with me. I want it to be clear to you that we’re on equal footing.”

“Thinking back on what happened over the past few months, you have helped me out a lot. I will treat you with respect and gratitude.”

Grid pulled out Twilight and Defying the Natural Order. Then he immediately used Item Combination. In the Overgeared World, he wasn’t affected by skill cooldowns. He was much stronger than when he fought Asura.

“I will make your wish come true.”

Chiyou smiled brightly and nodded. “...Thank you.”

He grabbed a sword that looked like an iron bar with both hands and prepared to fight. He showed no weaknesses. Grid’s high Insight was completely useless.

Of course, Grid was unfazed. He had the power to store actions as skills and, in the last few months, he had grown a lot more stronger after wiping out the cultivators and eventually killing Asura.

Every time Grid swung his sword, several sword dances and spells activated at the same time. Every AOE attack had the power to slaughter hundreds of enemies.

“Haha...! Hahahahaha!!”

Chiyou’s eyes widened and he burst out laughing. He was happy. This was the first time he had ever felt fear. An ominous feeling was telling him that death was approaching.

Baang!Baaaaaang!

The movement of the six-fusion sword dance became the cornerstone of linking the five-fusion sword dance. The sky-high mountain peaks couldn’t withstand the shockwave and collapsed one after another. The landslides that occurred after a delay melted into ashes because of the Annihilation energy.

A single sword dance activated a spell.

Every time a two-fusion sword dance was performed, the effects of the single sword dance were stacked on top of each other. If a three-fusion sword dance was performed, the mystical arts from the cultivators and blood magic poured out at the same time.

The movements of the four-fusion sword dance had Shunpo incorporated in it, and the distorted area created an attack.

Chiyou’s counterattack was also formidable. Every swing of his sword caused a natural disaster.

But—

Grid repeatedly blocked Chiyou’s counterattack without taking much damage by using Multiple Weakening Barriers and Annihilation energy. He was also borrowing the Power of Light to his heart’s content with the help of the Goddess. He couldn’t have shown this power against Asura. The consequences would have been catastrophic if Asura had learned Multiple Weakening Barriers and the Power of Light.

After all, Asgard wasn’t Grid’s domain. It was impossible for him to cast skills non-stop there. In other words, Grid was currently dozens of times more powerful than when he fought Asura.

Grid hadn’t lied when he had told his colleagues that his strength had already reached the limit.

Chiyou coughed. He could learn and evolve his target’s techniques. Unlike Asura, he was unable to replicate powers such as Annihilation energy or light. Grid was convinced of this when Asura replicated Annihilation energy. Seeing that Asura had been proud to have finally surpassed Chiyou, Grid wondered if Chiyou couldn’t take away Annihilation energy.

The sun had set. Chiyou’s HP bar reached critical levels after half a day of fighting.

Grid asked him, “Is your wish still the same?”

It was better for Chiyou to disappear. If an Absolute with a screw loose was left alive to run wild, there was a chance that he could bring forth disasters one day. However, Grid had no ill will toward Chiyou. There were times when he had resented the martial god for a while, but once everything went well and Chiyou regained his composure, Grid no longer had anything against him.

If Chiyou vowed to never threaten humanity again, then Grid would let him live. Grid was a bit nervous. Chiyou’s blows were too heavy. Every time he hit Grid by smashing through the Multiple Weakening Barriers, Grid felt like he was riding a roller coaster. Every time he was hit by an attack, he flew back tens or even hundreds of kilometers. He absorbed most of the damage thanks to the Annihilation armor, but he still got motion sickness.

“Don’t say that. I couldn’t be happier right now.”

Chiyou took an offensive stance that he had never shown before. He held his sword in both hands, lifted it just below his eyes and pointed straight ahead. He was preparing for his ultimate move.

For Chiyou to die, there was a condition that he had to be defeated in a thorough confrontation. Both Chiyou and his opponent had to do their best.

Grid was aware of this. He strengthened his resolve after seeing the desire and joy in Chiyou’s eyes.

“...Okay. I will do my best to ensure that you don’t have the slightest regret.”

Thanks to the daily overflow of prayers, Grid’s stats were always tripled. After redistributing his stats toward Strength—

[Strength: 150,000 (MAX)]

—he had reached the limit. Not even the old dragons could attain this number.

......

All noise disappeared. A one-kilometer radius entered a vacuum state. Grid’s six-fusion sword dance absorbed everything in the area—the air, the wind, the earth, and even the power of Chiyou’s sword.

“Ahh...”

The light faded from Chiyou’s eyes as he smiled brightly like never before.

“...Finally.”