Overgeared

There was an auditory hallucination in his mind. Just like glass shattering, it was the aftermath of the incident.

"Oof…!" Grid's complexion turned blue as he retched. His heart was in tatters. It was torn apart. It was a pain proportional to the greatness of the happiness he felt a while ago.

[Overgeared God. A great person who overshadows the years. Perhaps I have a strange feeling toward you.]

Ifrit's voice hovered in his ears. It was vivid. She was the one whom Grid had just shared warmth with. The memory was too clear to be remembered vaguely.

[However, don't worry. It was a mania temporarily suffered due to the influence of being exposed to Baal's power.]

She mistook an unfamiliar liking for a disease. It was proof that she had lived close to eternity and had been alone all her life.

[Continue in the future…]

She stopped the word 'together' in embarrassment. The faint smile in her eyes that even she might not be aware of.

[It is strange that my heart feels itchy every time you speak. As expected, mania seems to fit. I am going to leave before it gets worse.]

She didn't distinguish between liking and mania even until the last minute. No, dragons easily understood the concepts they learned once and didn't forget them.

She knew, but denied it.

'You were afraid.'

She was afraid she would have lingering feelings.

[100 years is too short. I don't know when it will be, so you don't have to wait.]

She ran away while denying her newly found feelings, fearing that she would want to avoid the death she had already been prepared for. She didn't make any promises because she knew it was impossible to meet again.

'What is the image of me that will be remembered by her?'

Grid looked back on it.

"Today, you received a lot of help from me, so you are grateful."

He was condescending. It seemed natural for Ifrit to like him and he revealed a faint greed. He thought ifrit would some day repay him for this grace and that he would enjoy the rights. It was the worst.

Disgust rose.

'I should've said thank you.'

Grid felt dizzy. Didn't he receive a lot of help? He just didn't admit it. He was intoxicated by his own performance and pretended to be a benefactor. His only performance was a crude reproduction of Ifrit's horn. He just temporarily seized the disappearing life.

"Grid…" The tower members were agitated. They were flustered by the sight of Grid sobbing while holding his breath.

"Hah… Cough…" Biban, who was famous for being tactless, also just coughed.

The death of a dragon—not a single person dared to condemn Grid for grieving when hearing news that humans should be happy about. It was because they had all witnessed it—Grid's fist, which was touching Ifrit's horn, and Grid's face, which was smiling while he was communicating with Ifrit. It was hard to understand from the standpoint of the tower members, who regarded dragons as a threat to humanity, but Ifrit must be Grid's friend. Some people wouldn't be convinced. The time that the two of them spent together was as short as a split second. However, sometimes a split second shone more than eternity.

The tower members, who had lived for so many years, knew it best.

"Cry as much as you want." Betty's small hand patted Grid's butt. Perhaps she wanted to pat his back, but the position was poor due to her short stature.

Grid confessed to the tower members, who were silently guarding his side, "The gods who were expelled to the east said it. This was just Ifrit's dying flash."

He didn't listen carefully. Not only did he distrust the three masters, but Ifrit was so healthy.

…These were just lowly excuses. He should've asked Ifrit at least once.

Are you okay? In fact, isn't it very hard?

However, he didn't ask. It meant he wasn't very interested. Grid was only obsessed with Ifrit's strength. He wasn't very interested in the existence called Ifrit. He didn't ask about the past. Rather, he discussed the future at will. He talked about building a relationship together. He didn't know it was impossible and he didn't even consider Ifrit's position.

"I'm going to turn it back."

Grid pulled out an old book.

[Dantalion's Damaged Book]

It was a relic of the sage of hell, a book that could perform a single miracle.

[Time Regression]

[It can only be used once.

The time can be returned from at least 5 seconds ago up to 3 minutes. The exact time can't be specified and all the knowledge of Dantalion destroyed during the use will disappear. At this time, the 'all skills level up' effect of Dantalion's Damaged Book will be removed.]

It was really 'what if'. It was something he had kept to use if he lost a precious person.

'Please.'

Let good luck follow.

As Grid was eagerly opening the book—

"Forget it." Radwolf caught his wrist. The giant's dark eyes looked straight at Grid. "You are deeply emotional right now. Think about it carefully. Do you have to revive Ifrit? Is her existence so precious that you have to make such a great sacrifice?"

As expected of a giant. Radwolf accurately saw through Dantalion's book.

"Guilt is a necessary emotion for humans. It is your conscience that helps you avoid repeating your sins and mistakes. However, it is also an emotion that you shouldn't be buried in. Now, take a deep breath. Take a step back and contemplate it. Why are you trying to revive Ifrit? Is it really because she is precious, or is it a momentary sense of guilt?"

"……"

Grid couldn't answer hastily. This fact bothered him even more. He was sorry about Ifrit's death and felt guilty that he failed to show Ifrit his good side, but he still hesitated to use Dantalion's book. He weighed the value of Ifrit against his other precious people. The weight was naturally tilted toward others rather than Ifrit. This fact further deepened Grid's guilt.

Just then—

"It is meaningless to revive ifrit." Hayate stepped in. He was different from Radwolf. He pointed out a more essential part that only a dragon slayer could know. "If she is revived, she will just repeat the same fate. Eventually, she will go to Trauka. A fire dragon is that type of existence. There is no way to reverse her decision."

"Maybe I can persuade her."

"It is meaningless. Based on what I saw, she is a candle just before the flame is extinguished. Even if her fate changes, it is just to the degree of delaying death for a few days." Hayate's expression suddenly darkened. "In the first place, the biggest problem is that Trauka will notice the time reversal. He will attack in reverse in order to get rid of the past or future of being raided by Ifrit."

"……!"

A chill went down Grid's spine. It was a proper measure of an old dragon's transcendence. How sensitive were his senses that he would even notice the reversal of time?

Grid was dubious, but he accepted it. Hadn't he witnessed Ifrit's strength that was beyond his expectations and imagination? It would be strange if even such an overwhelming being was unaware of a magic made by a great demon.

"She—Ifrit knew that she was going to die soon."

"The reason we rushed out urgently was because we discovered that Ifrit had accumulated a large amount of Breath. Breath is the concept of releasing magic power in large quantities. A dragon starts the Breath by circulating the magic power of the heart once. Yet there were at least nine branches of magic power in Ifrit's heart. It wouldn't be strange if her heart exploded immediately. From the beginning, she was determined to go to Trauka."

"…Is it revenge?"

The dragons who fled to the East Continent were said to be defeated and injured in a struggle over territory. In fact, Ifrit had lost most of her power when her horn was cut off. It was Trauka who made her like that.

"It could be revenge or it could be for the future of her child. Maybe it is just the result of being obsessed with the lair. We can't know exactly. Dragons are so different from us."

"Child…? Does Ifrit have children?"

"Yes, it is written in history. Considering the time when Ifrit gave birth, this is around the time when her child will become an adult… I'm honestly not sure. The survival rate of fire dragons is particularly low among the dragons."

"Is it because of Trauka?"

"That's right. He has been accumulating strength since the beginning by preying on his own blood."

It was a real son of a bitch.

Grid, whose expression had stiffened throughout the conversation with the tower members, barely managed to swallow the swear words that were about to pop out. Grid respected the tower members. No matter how angry, he wanted to refrain from using curse words in front of the tower members.

In the first place, he was too agitated right now. He was greatly rattled by Ifrit's sudden death. It was necessary to calm down.

"Aiming at Trauka during the gap when he is seriously injured… of course, it isn't possible."

"It is just an act of suicide."

"……"

The dying Ifrit handled the three masters alone. It was impossible to deal with Trauka even if all the tower members and Grid joined forces. Grid had to engrave this in his heart. Dragons, especially the old dragons, should never be antagonized. This was a law that hadn't changed since Satisfy started until now.

"Calm down first. Putting aside your grief, the situation isn't bad. Thanks to Ifrit's sacrifice, Trauka will have to hibernate for many years."

"Ifrit was extinguished without leaving her body behind. If Trauka had eaten Ifrit's body, not only would he have recovered from the wounds immediately, but he would've become stronger."

Just like Raiders had the gourmet cycle once every 100 years, the old dragons tend to operate within a certain pattern. Among them, Trauka was committed to hunting the fire dragons. Natural disasters would occur every time this happened, but now it wouldn't happen for hundreds of years. As a result, Ifrit helped humans.

"Fortunately, Talima is also safe. It is probably thanks to a dragon's habit of making the lair as strong as possible. The explosion that shook the entire continent didn't destroy Trauka's lair."

Grid was relieved. He had been worried that Talima would perish and the reputation of the dwarves would be cut off. His mind gradually calmed and started to spin in a positive direction.

'Additionally, the epic didn't happen. That is great luck.'

If his epic story with Ifrit was released to the world, he would have to worry about becoming Trauka's target straight away. Maybe it was the help of the system? Did it know Grid would be in a big crisis after writing an epic, thus the system suppressed it?

'Putting aside the will of the S.A Group, the system might be on my side…'

Grid had meaningless thoughts as he moved to the Tower of Wisdom with the tower members. It was time to get the rewards from Betty. Grid dreamed about the future while feeling Ifrit's warmth engraved in his heart.

***

At the same time, at the headquarters of the S.A Group…

The server management team was disturbed.

It was because the character 'ㅠ' appeared on the panel indicating Morpheus' condition.

"Team Leader-nim, is it crying?"

"……"