Overgeared

"Wow. I thought it was falling."

"Is the location found?"

"I didn't detect any movement… surely it isn't the refractive dragon, right?"

The impact to the tilted tower led to a variety of reactions from the tower members. A tower disguised with 83 types of invisibility techniques was attacked. It was a big incident that had never happened before.

The tower members assumed the worst thing they could think of. The failure to grasp the source of the attack was considered a particularly great risk.

The refractive dragon—due to its unseen nature, they thought of a silver dragon, also known as the 'transparent dragon.' This was just an assumption. The silver dragon was unable to reproduce, so its obsession with life was at a level that made other dragons click their tongues. It was extremely unlikely that it would attack the tower when it never left its lair.

"There is infinite sword energy. Sir Hayate has isolated the intruder."

"That's why I didn't feel it."

The tower members raced up the spiral staircase. Their expressions relaxed when they found the dawn-colored light outside the window. They were relieved to confirm that their worst assumption of the emergence of the refractive dragon came to nothing. Of course, their running didn't slow down. It was a clear reality that a dragon had attacked. They had to shake off the dragon and run away at all costs.

"……!"

The faces of the tower members stiffened again when they reached the top of the tower. Beyond the infinite sword energy that was just lifted—

"Kueeek!" They witnessed Biban coughing up a large amount of blood.

"This is ridiculous…!"

"Sir Biban!"

It was true that Biban's emotions were unstable. During the time when Biban first climbed the tower, Radwolf, who saw him, openly asked if he was a child with a mental disability. However, the tower members readily accepted Biban as a colleague. They acknowledged his beliefs and strengths, even though there were major flaws in his character and senses.

That's right. The reason why Biban was the last seat of the tower wasn't because of his lack of skills. If the tower's seats had been placed in order of skill, Biban would be fourth or third. Such a Biban—

"Kueeek!" He was coughing up blood.

13 seconds ago, the tower members recognized the attack. During this short period of time, a strong person representing the tower was seriously injured.

The 2nd Seat, Fronzaltz, stepped forward with Ken and gave an order, "Everyone except for the 6th Seat, board the magic machines in preparation for a surprise attack."

It was a decision to put the safety of the tower members first before identifying the enemy. The tower members weren't weakened just because they boarded a magic machine. They couldn't use their own skills, but the power of the magic machine itself was very high.

The bracelet wrapped around Fronzaltz's thick wrist turned blue and the temperature of the area dropped sharply. It was the aftermath of the giant's magic engineering, God's Circle, freezing the magic power.

On the day when the giants were destroyed, the God's Circle, which was used by the Fronzaltz and Radwolf brothers to escape, was greatly damaged. Since then, it hadn't been properly repaired for over a thousand years and many functions had been lost. Nevertheless, it could still be asserted that it was a 'supreme artifact.' It was comparable to the Overgeared God's Greed.

The atmosphere screamed.

In the midst of the earthquake-like vibrations, the magic power processed into transparent ice took the shape of a guandao. Naturally, it was held in Fronzaltz's hands. The ground where Fronzaltz was standing turned into ice.

"You dare." It happened at the moment when the furious Fronzaltz's large body slid forward…

"Are you okay?!" At the direction where Biban was facing—Grid popped out of the place where Biban's sword energy had remained as a remnant and blocked people's view. It was the moment when the identity of the intruder was revealed.

"……?!"

Fronzaltz hurriedly inserted the guandao into the ground and stopped accelerating. His mouth was slightly open, unlike someone who always valued his dignity due to being in charge of the order of the tower. The other tower members also had flustered expressions.

"What is this? This fuss was caused by the Pioneer?"

Fronzaltz had frozen while freezing the magic power of the entire area. The 6th Seat, Ken, questioned it on his behalf.

Hayate approached them and nodded. "Correct."

"Wow, this is crazy."

Ken reacted strongly. The dubious tower members were also astonished. The Pioneer was the best human being of the current age. Grid was even someone who became a god. None of the tower members doubted his skills. Yet seriously injuring Biban in a matter of seconds? It meant he completely overwhelmed the other person. It was hard to believe.

In the first place, Biban was a Sword Saint. He could communicate with and control all the swords in the world.

Invincible to the Sword—it was a level that didn't allow wounds to his body. However, they saw blood dripping from the swords held in both of Grid's hands and it was presumed to be Biban's blood.

'Don't tell me that Biban…?'

Did he go beyond the level of being careless and deliberately conceding to Grid or deliberately showed Grid his weaknesses? Biban was an eccentric person. He was so eccentric that they easily doubted him. Biban informed the tower members of the truth, "It was a fair fight. I just lost in terms of skills."

"Biban…" Grid's heart was moved as he supported Biban. In fact, the two of them only exchanged one blow. Biban was highly resistant to swordsmanship and his wound wasn't very deep compared to the blood spilled. At the very least, it wasn't to the point of death. He could keep fighting.However, he neatly admitted his defeat. It was close to a warning to the tower members not to doubt Grid's skills.

Grid had no choice but to be moved. Sword Saint Biban—if he was defeated in a 'pure sword battle,' there was likely to be a decline in status. Even so, he took risks only for Grid.

'Although there is no way for status to fall in a spar.'

In any case, Biban was really watching him like he was cute and lovely. Grid read Biban's favor and had a pleasant smile on his face.

'I didn't know he would use Granny Betty's skill. I am a bit angry, but… I can't look like a rude old man.'

Biban made every effort to maintain his composure. In fact, he realized the generational difference through Betty, who became very close to Grid. He didn't think that old people would do things without thinking. He realized why young people often disparaged the older generation as old people.

On the other hand, he used it as learning from a negative example. He was the youngest among the tower members. At the very least, he shouldn't seem like an old man. He had such a sense of mission. Thus, he endured it. Grid's usage of the blacksmith's technique to combine four swords into two and the usage of the power of amplification when it was a 'swordsmanship' discussion was somewhat crude. However, he couldn't be angry because the 'standard of a swordsmanship duel' that this generation thought of was different from the past.

'It is okay. I overcame the generational gap with this one painful experience, so I gained a lot.'

The only person Grid could empathize with in a tower full of old people…

He became such an existence to Grid…

Biban's mouth twisted as he controlled his mind. It was a smile that was greatly dampened by his severe pain.

'It isn't a difficult situation to admit that I lost.'

The sight of Grid's left sword moving horizontally to naturally block his sword clearly appeared in Biban's mind. It was the best breakthrough option that could be done at the time. Grid's heavy sword was a great threat to repel the sword. It wasn't elaborate or sophisticated, but it was fierce. The cold sound of the metal cutting through the air toward the top of his head was very unpleasant. He had no choice but to cut it before he was cut. The problem was that he collapsed first despite his actions. It was a wonderful match…

"Huhu… Cough! Cough cough!"

"……"

Biban's smiling appearance as he coughed up blood reaffirmed it to the tower members. The win was fair and Biban lost. His expression, which showed no regrets, was the proof.

"Biban! Biban!"

The view of Grid's back as he helped Biban seemed to overlap with the moment when he interacted with Ifrit. The tower members were convinced.

Grid isn't just the hope of the world, but the hope of all of us.

***

"I think there is a lot of mental fatigue from cleaning up."

"Isn't he tired because of his injuries?"

"Who knows. His wounds will soon heal."

This was Fronzaltz's opinion as he left Biban lying down in the infirmary.

Snore.

The sound of Biban snoring rang all the way out to the hallway. Grid greatly appreciated Biban's sturdy body. He was feeling relieved when Fronzaltz gave him advice, "He came back to life after gaining the precious white peach from you. He is a friend who won't die in order to repay your grace. Don't worry and use him as a sandbag whenever you need to."

"Haha…"

The 2nd Seat, Fronzaltz—he existed on behalf of the sky above the sky, Hayate. He corrected the discipline of the tower members and was in charge of the operations of the tower.

Grid thought he would be in a position similar to Lauel if he had to compare. This was a mistake. His momentum as he held the guandao made of transparent ice in his hand transcended Biban. Combined with the giant's massive body, he showed an unstoppable momentum.

'I'm sure he got the 2nd Seat due to force.'

The Tower of Wisdom was an armed organization. It was inappropriate to select the acting head of the tower simply based on experience or his ability with internal matters. Grid's gaze fell on Fronzaltz' thick wrist. He cared about the old bracelet that he previously considered to be insignificant. It was hard to predict that it would be something special. It was full of scratches and rusty parts could be seen everywhere. He thought it would just be an object filled with memories.

However, now he knew. The bracelet was actually a tremendous artifact. Dozens of different types of metals and gemstones that couldn't be mixed were mixed. It was the power of ancient magic and engineering.

"This is the treasure of the wise giants, which has been studied and completed over generations. I named it God's Circle because it was perfect," Fronzaltz explained while taking the lead in walking.

Due to his large height, he opened the distance with one stride. Grid's steps became busy.

"This can be used to change the nature of magic power to your liking. It means the possibilities are endless. This is why my brother and I were able to survive the day of destruction. It is just that the shock caused most of the functionality to be lost. Now it can only freeze magic power…"

The day the giants perished—the brothers, Fronzaltz and Radwolf, didn't explain in detail what happened on that day. Filewolf didn't know at all. It was speculated that he suffered from partial amnesia or died before the day of destruction.

"It isn't something that I can repair right now," Grid spoke with regret.

Unfortunately, he was close to a layman when it came to magic engineering. Trauka was currently in hibernation. He could go to Talima and learn right away, but it wasn't efficient. The acquisition itself took time. This was the limitation of the transfer system. Everything that Grid wanted to learn was through quests. If he received a Talima-related quest one day, he was more likely to get the magic engineering technique as compensation.

"In the future, I will master the magic engineering skill and make sure to repair it."

"Haha, thank you for your heart, but it is impossible. The dwarves' skills are closer to a degenerated version of the giant's magic engineering. They don't admire ancient techniques for no reason."

"Is this a problem that you and Radwolf can solve yourselves?"

"It is hard for us. It was the achievement of our ancestors who studied and completed this technique. Our generation has already lost the related techniques."

"So there is really no way…"

"Yes. There is no way unless a crazy dragon cooperates or a dead ancestor comes back to life. It is impossible."

'Ancestor? Ah, don't tell me…'

The magic machine that he left behind in Reinhardt—Grid thought of Filewolf, who would be speeding up the production of the 'hell elevator' with Sticks right now. Then he asked just in case, "Maybe, do you know… Filewolf?"

"Of course. How can I not know the greatest scientist and prophet in the history of the giants? I've actually seen him in person. I don't know if he was senile because of old age, but… Um…? How do you know his name?"

"……"

The 4th Great Demon, Gamigin—was she actually the greatest ally of humanity?