Overgeared

Haegak believed he had no limits. He had practiced martial arts all throughout his life to achieve his beliefs. He was determined to devote himself until he became the strongest being in the world, even if he needed to abuse himself forever. These were the followers of the martial god.

All of Haegak’s body parts were used as weapons. His elbow became a blade and his hands became a spear. His head fell like a mace, his legs moved like a whip, and his fist that struck the sword was like a hammer. However, Faker and Kasim treated the shadows as weapons and soldiers. Even if one human turned his body into a weapon, he would still be swallowed up by the tsunami of shadows.

“You are cowardly and lowly!” Haegak escaped the bombardment of shadows by hiding in the cracks of the collapsed ceiling and criticized them. As a martial artist, he didn’t admit that the assassins’ way of hiding in the darkness and eliminating sound was a method of fighting.

HIs light footwork technique that wasn’t constrained by terrain caused anomalies and overlapped acceleration. He twisted his waist and back and defeated the shadow weapons and shadows attacking in secret with the recoilless attack. Then Faker’s dagger rose out of the shadows and collided with Haegak’s hard shoulder. Blood splattered from Haegak’s shoulder but the wound wasn’t deep. On the other hand, Faker’s right hand wielding the dagger was smashed.

‘Strong.’ There was no exaggeration in Faker’s appreciation. Haegak was strong. His assertion that Lee Jeong was the weakest of the Triad was likely to be true.

Grid felt the same way.

‘His level is just high...’

Grid crossed his arms and watched the battle quietly. The reason he summoned the knights wasn’t out of fear of Haegak and the followers. It wasn’t even because he doubted that he couldn’t protect Zikfrector alone. He was just looking forward to the knights’ growth.

Haegak tried to capture Faker, who was hiding in the shadows again, only to be stabbed in the back by Kasim’s dagger. It was an attack that aimed at the spine but Haegak was fine. The power of Kasim’s dagger was halved in exchange for piercing the strong self-defense of the body. It couldn’t penetrate Haegak’s tightly contracted muscles. Haegak’s elbow shot back to strike Kasim’s face. Haegak wanted to grab the ankles of the bleeding Kasim to bury him in the ground only to read the signs of the seed that Piaro had sown and fired a strong wind from his palm.

The momentum that was like a wild beast was so great that it caused Grid to shudder. Then it soon disappeared like flames. Haegak’s right arm was bound by Zikfrector’s rune before being cut off by Mercedes’ sword wrapped in a silver aura. Mercedes was the owner of Keen Insight and had the excellent ability to detect the weaknesses of the other party. Her attack accurately captured the moment when Haegak’s defense weakened.

Haegak’s arm that was cut off with an eerie sound floated in the air. Thanks to this, Kasim regained his freedom and shifted his gaze to look for a shadow to hide in. It was a fleeting moment of time. It was before Mercedes could even recover the sword she swung.

This was when Haegak’s recoilless attack was fired like a bullet. The amazed Mercedes set up her shield and stepped back. The sight of the shield made by Grid being dented proved Haegak’s strength again. Still, Grid’s evaluation didn’t change at all.

‘He just has his level.’

It was from attack power, speed, and stamina to the type and depths of the skills used. Haegak excelled in this area in many ways, but there was one aspect that was lacking.

This was what he sensed.

Lee Jeong’s senses that were being trained after sealing both his eyes was directly linked to his evasion ability that neutralized most of the enemies’ attacks. Meanwhile, Haegak’s evasion ability wasn’t absolute. He had better reflexes, but it meant his sense of danger was less developed.

‘The feeling of pressure I felt when he took off his blindfold is less than what I felt from Lee Jeong.’

Lee Jeong had aroused a sense of awareness in Grid when he released his covered vision. On the other hand, the difference in momentum before and after Haegak wore the blindfold wasn’t significant. Grid was convinced based on several reasons. In the next few years or perhaps even one year, Lee Jeong would’ve become stronger than Haegak. Of course, this was a story of when Lee Jeong was alive. The first of the Triad he met was Lee Jeong and he was lucky to be able to kill Lee Jeong.

Grid watched Haegak before shifting his gaze to another place and swung his sword several times. The sword energy that was fired cut down the followers of the martial god rushing to the castle. It was the combination of Barbatos’ Vision and the Undefeated King’s Swordsmanship. It was already close to a divine power. He blocked the support that Haegak was waiting for while gaining a large amount of experience and skill proficiency.

Grid maintained his serious expression and urgently spoke in the guild window.

-The people waiting in Bairan right now, immediately control the north shopping district.Quickly!Pick up all the secret techniques that fell there!

“...Keuk!” Grid gave off a solemn atmosphere and Haegak groaned. He saw the abominable angel with a halo still above their head who betrayed the god who created them and became Grid’s dog. This disgusting angel rushed at him with a spear. “Fallen angel! You are more shameless and disgusting than the demons! It isn’t enough to betray the heavens! You are even blocking the road of the apostles of the martial god!”

Did Haegak finally feel a sense of death? Sariel’s expression was sad as he rushed toward Haegak, who had lost his composure and started to get caught up in his emotions. “The heavenly gods acknowledge only angels as apostles. You are just being exploited for your desires.”

“Bah!” Haegak snorted at the pity in Sariel’s eyes. Exploited for his desires. How could he not know this? The same went for Haegak, who was using the other party. The reason he was loyal and worshipped the martial god was simply because he wanted strength.

Zeratul, the martial god who mastered all martial arts in the world. Every time Haegak gained a secret technique from him, Haegak became stronger and more developed. Therefore, he served Zeratul. In the end, he was acknowledged and obtained the title of the Triad.

“The reason why the martial god uses me is because he needs my strength while I am acting on behalf of the martial god. So what if I’m not an apostle? I am an angel of the earth. I am fundamentally different and stronger than you, who was cast out of heaven.”

Haegak’s back started to wriggle. His swelling skin revealed its bright veins before erupting as two pairs of wings popped out. It didn’t seem capable of flying based on the damp wings. The feathers were like a bird that just hatched from an egg. Even so, Grid’s group was extremely vigilant.

After the four wings sprouted, the pupil of Haegak’s left eye split into three and he was far away from a human being. Based on his expressionless face, his emotions had been lost.

"Those wings...”

The wings that protruded from Haegak’s body seemed to be part of his body, but the reality was different. Grid’s Insight and his knowledge as a blacksmith showed that the material that made up the wings was ‘something that doesn’t exist in the human world.’

A greater sadness appeared on Sariel’s beautiful face. “Human life is fleeting and short. Therefore, gods don’t acknowledge or sympathize with humans. For them, humans are nothing other than consumables.”

Haegak kicked off from the ground. The man who watched the surrounding area by fiercely rotating his eye that was divided into three pupils quickly captured and avoided the magic shot by Braham and Zikfrector. Then he rushed toward Sariel.

Sariel floated in the air and blocked Haegak’s kick with a spear. He pierced through the ceiling and soared high into the sky, spreading out his wings to prevent himself from falling. Then he burned all the shadows in the castle. His wings exploded with a brilliant and pure white light to brighten up the surroundings. There was no place for shadows.

The invisibility of Faker and Kasim was forcibly lifted and Braham protected them with Shield. At almost the same time, Haegak’s fist fell on the shield. Faker and Kasim’s body were protected by Shield and flew out toward the collapsed outer walls.

Haegak didn’t follow them. He raised his just regenerated arm to block Piaro’s hoe and counterattacked with a leg that was bent like a scorpion’s tail. The kick that stretched out behind Haegak’s head was a perfect dead angle from Piaro’s perspective. He had to get hit by the attack and rolled to the ground. Of course, he wasn’t just helplessly hit. His mortar crushed Haegak’s body.

However, Haegak soon recovered.

“Is it converting a human into an angel? It is stinking.” An angel’s trait was to neutralize magic. Braham clicked his tongue when magic didn’t work on Haegak and reinforced Mercedes’s sword and shield. It wasn’t the enhancement magic that added magic power to an object to reinforce it. It was elemental magic that reinforced the attributes of the substances that made up the object to bring out the fundamental potential of the object. This would also work on angels. It had the disadvantage of greatly reducing the durability of the target object but what could he do? Grid should be able to repair it or make a new one.

Mercedes’ refined swordsmanship cut at Haegak’s body again and again. Her movements that connected six strikes in one breath seemed to be disconnected. They were too fast to follow the motion with the naked eye. However, Haegak was also fast. The actions of the guy who attacked Mercedes also seemed disconnected.

‘No way?’

The world of transcendence was a passive that triggered when Grid was in danger. Grid was unable to follow Mercedes and Haegak’s movements and felt a bit of uneasiness because his world of transcendence didn’t trigger. Mercedes’ wounds continued to grow while the wounds on Haegak soon recovered. Therefore, the situation was bad. Should he intervene?

Grid was troubled and once again opened Barbatos’ Vision. It was a good time to identify and judge if there were more followers running here.

“......?”

Grid flinched with surprise. New war god followers were entering Bairan and one of them had wings spread behind him. Seeing the blood dripping from his eyes and nose and the way he was staggering, it seemed he would die soon.

A memory flashed through Grid’s mind. In order for an angel to exert power in the human world, the number must be set to three to form a Trinity. The angels here were Haegak and the dying follower. Then the last one...

Pillars of light fell from the sky. The pillar that struck both Mercedes and Haegak at the same time completely healed Mercedes’ wounds while turning Haegak’s body into rags. Haegak held his broken collarbone with both hands while his gaze followed the being who was descending along with the pillar of light.

Sariel—one of the seven angels who led the angel army. Haegak had overlooked Sariel. He had to overlook Sariel because originally, archangels were heavenly beings that couldn’t be touched. An archangel was unknown to Haegak, so he couldn’t be alert.

The price was great. Sariel’s glowing spear pierced Haegak’s chest. The combat strength of the Trinity was powerful enough to overwhelm everyone on the field.

[The Triad ‘Haegak’ has been killed!]

[Your level has risen by 2.]

[Your knight Kasim’s level has risen by 1.]

[Your messenger Piaro’s level has risen by 1.]

[Your messenger Braham’s level has risen by 1.]

[Your messenger Zikfrector’s level has risen by 2.]

[Your messenger Mercedes’ level has risen by 4.]

[Your messenger Sariel’s level has risen by 10.]

[The Artificial Wing Fragment has been acquired.]

[The Martial God’s Secret Technique Box (Legendary) has been acquired.]

[The Martial God’s Secret Technique Box (Unique) has been acquired.]

“......”

The experience rewards varied depending on the active part one played. Grid’s dull gaze turned toward Piaro and Braham.

Piaro quickly explained, “I wanted to give Mercedes a chance to develop.”

Braham was dignified. “What do you want me to do against an angel?”

“......”

Grid was seriously worried if Braham could be active in the holy war to rescue Hexetia. Of course, it could be a pointless anxiety. The moment Braham recovered the power of a vampire, he would beat an angel to death without magic.