Overgeared

There was a mother and child left in a fragment of his memory.

An ordinary woman and an extraordinary child. As screams erupted everywhere and chandeliers fell and smashed, the mother and child struggled to protect each other. The helpless woman embraced her son, while her son escaped from his mother's arms and picked up a sword as large as his own body.

Perhaps it happened… in the Vatican. He helped the mother and child who were surrounded by the Yatan Servants. He was originally working with the Yatan Servants, so he ended up stabbing them in the back. He knew there would be many disadvantages, but he still stepped out.

'I did a good job.'

A boy who was now a young man—Agnus stared at the boy who had a bright smile on his face and praised his former self.

A small thrill flooded in. For the first time since he was born, he realized how happy he was to be able to praise himself and feel proud.

I—I was born and drove a woman to a miserable death.

For the first time, this garbage that is worse than filth, feels pride…

"That is where I…" Lord's stories about his adventure continued without stopping. Lord chatted as brightly as he could while trying not to notice the breathless sobs of Agnus, who had his head lowered.

***

No human being always made the right choices. All human beings had regrets and suffered. In particular, the more someone believed they were inferior to others, the more regrets they left behind. It was the same for Grid. It was even in childhood, in school, and in society. For all types of reasons and excuses, he left a variety of regrets.

Even these days, he would take a shower and scream when thinking back to that time. However, he didn't bury it. In any case, regret was established because it was in the past.

Yes, it was all over. It was enough to try not to repeat the same situations that made him feel regret again in the future.

"…So you should be strong as well," Grid, who had left when he saw Agnus' eyes turn red, leaned his back against the door and muttered.

Lord's powerful voice that came from beyond the closed door was considerate of Agnus. He was an admirable guy.

***

Lord's adventure stories, which resembled Grid's epics, ended only after Irene came. Agnus' shy expression as he bowed to Irene and greeted her respectfully made Grid smile.

"First of all, call back the expedition." It was after the two of them left. Agnus explained the overall situation to Grid and insisted. "Fragments of Asura will enter the shadows of all beings who step foot in hell. They are the eyes and ears of Baal."

"……?"

Grid's expression stiffened at once. It permeated the shadows of all beings who stepped into hell? He understood the meaning, but he didn't want to. "Asura's fragments… are you referring to the guy I killed earlier?"

"Yes. It is literally fragments. It is only a small part of him."

"I think he was pretty strong for only a small part."

He might've managed to kill the fragments in one go with the five fusion sword dance that overlapped with the full buff state and the buff of the seven malignant saints, but it was great that it endured the five fusion sword dance in the full buff state even once. Someone who was so strong was in an incomplete state?

A hypothesis had to be formulated in order to be convinced.

"Is he a hidden powerhouse of hell?"

"You understand it quickly."

He couldn't help but understand quickly. Grid had met Hayate, the strongest hidden powerhouse on the surface, and Chiyou, the strongest hidden powerhouse of the divine world. He even knew that the refractive dragon was said to be the strongest among the dragons. The refractive dragon was most likely to be an imaginary being, but in any case, it wasn't strange that someone unusual was hiding in hell

'Asura… judging from the relevant settings, I don't think he would've been a demon from the start. I will have to ask Garion about his exact identity.'

Agnus' explanation continued as Grid was thinking. "There is no guarantee that he is more powerful than Baal. It is clear that he won't be inferior when compared to Baal. Other than that, he has a convincingly powerful ability that I can't comprehend. All I know right now is separation and joining together, parasitism and stealth, skill absorption and transfer…"

"Skill absorption and transfer?"

"There was a famous, powerful existence in hell."

Marbas.

"Baal killed him and transferred the absorbed power to me. Until then, I thought it was Baal's unique power…"

Agnus told the story of what he had been through. It was immediately after the contract with Baal ended. Asura's fragment emerged from his shadow and took away his power.

"This…" Grid's face hardened.

Fragments of Asura parasitized the shadows of every member of the hell expedition. If it also had the ability to deprive the parasitized target of their skills…

"Now the puzzle is coming together," Lauel returned from the negotiations and interjected, "This is why Baal sent a wave of demonic creatures to the expedition. He intends to fully nurture the expedition members and then take away their power. It is a type of fish farm."

He had been uneasy from the beginning. It was because the waves of demonic creatures clearly stimulated the growth of the hell expedition. It was impossible to interpret it as pure favor. They could only guess that Baal was acting on a whim because he was so eccentric. Now it obviously wasn't a whim. There was a clear purpose.

'A sinister bastard.'

Grid frowned while recalling old memories. It was the memory of when he encountered Baal's body in hell. The Absolute of hell didn't have much interest in Grid at that time. He was just preoccupied with mocking and trampling on the demon, Andras, who was loyal to him. He laughed at the demon who showed loyalty and respect to him when demons should betray grace, trample on respect, undermine trust, and ridicule those who depended on them. He cruelly and viciously trampled on the loyalist who believed in him and served him.

Yes. That cruelty was his nature.

"The expedition is in danger."

The nervous Grid got up from his seat.

Lauel stopped him from departing to hell right away and raised a question, "By the way, is it possible to take away the skills of a player who isn't a demon? Agnus, the skills you had taken away from you were the skills you developed as Baal's Contractor. You still have the skills you learned separate from your contractor status, right?"

"Not necessarily. Out of the skills I had stolen, two were skills that had nothing to do with Baal's Contractor." It was one rune power and one passive skill unique to a necromancer. "The same will apply to your companions."

The exact effect of the Skill Absorption used by Asura was to 'recover the power of the demon' and 'take away up to two skills at random.' Agnus was convinced and Lauel had no reason to deny his conviction.

"It is better to hurry. Baal will move forward with the plan the moment he finds out that you and I have met."

The most basic role of Asura's fragments was surveillance. Baal would've been aware of the meeting between Grid, Agnus, and Rose from the time they met and would've roughly guessed what would happen next. It was because that abominable existence was subtle and clever, unlike his appearance.

"What is the probability that one of Asura's fragment will parasitize Grid?"

"None. He can't stand divinity. He can't cling to Grid and the people around him, so Grid should hurry…?"

Agnus abruptly stopped talking. It was because the divinity surrounding Grid's body suddenly shook greatly. The feeling of a burning flame caught Agnus and Lauel's attention.

"What?"

"This…"

Grid rushed to the window. A dark sky appeared outside the window. It was a sky that swallowed up not only the starlight, but also the moonlight. It looked like it had been painted with black paint.

"We're too late." Agnus frowned.

"Ah." Lauel sighed.

The growing darkness was swallowing the city's lights. It was dark all over the place. Only the area with the Overgeared World retained its light.

It was an occupation.

The moment Grid and Lauel realized it, six types of lights shone throughout the city.

There was silver for Mercedes' sword energy, gold for Sariel's divinity, purple for Braham's magic power, the dark blue color created by Zik's runes intersecting, the green from Piaro's Natural State, and the five colors that indicated Nefelina's attributes.

The apostles of Grid resisted the darkness that engulfed the lights and illuminated their surroundings. They were a lighthouse to guide the frightened people.

Grid was a bit relieved as he sensed the soldiers and knights who gathered around the apostles and started to lead the people. His orange divinity soared above the spires and suddenly swelled up like the sun. It flashed from the highest point of the Overgeared Castle and lifted the darkness. It reached the small light from the apostles. In the end, the combined light formed a path. At the end of the path was the Overgeared World.

It was a wonderful sight. The people were reminded that this was a nation established by Grid and felt relieved. Their fears were dispelled. They followed the path of light to the Overgeared World. Then, as if to laugh at them—

"……!"

A red moon appeared in the center of the black sky. It seemed to wriggle strangely before slowly opening its eyelid. A huge eye that had a panoramic view of Reinhardt with one glance. Tens of millions of people felt like they made eye contact with it. The same was true of Grid and the apostles.

Lauel murmured, "The hell moon…"

The world message confirmed it.

[The hell moon has awakened.]

Tens of thousands more eyes emerged around the huge pupil that was moving back and forth. The entire surface of the moon was made of eyes. They were compound eyes. There were countless pupils within the tens of thousands of pupils. Some were spinning around, some moved up and down and some moved diagonally as they took in every inch of Reinhardt.

People got goosebumps. It felt like the hell moon they saw during the Great Human and Demon War had evolved even further.

Agnus also showed an expression of surprise. "What are all those eyes?"

There was no one who didn't know the hell moon. They had experienced the Great Human and Demon War and learned.

A moon with countless eyes—each eye embedded in the moon observed the ground and it was also a weapon that fired rays to annihilate the target. Therefore, it was an object of fear. The old hell moon alone made people felt the fear that they couldn't handle it.

Meanwhile, the moon that rose at this moment had hundreds of thousands more eyes. The sight of the eyes reminiscent of a dragonfly's compound eyes moving back and forth to search for prey was unrealistically horrifying. It was an apocalyptic sight that was beyond the disasters that humanity had ever imagined.

"Shit." Grid involuntarily cursed. It was because the countless eyes gradually turned red. There would soon be a downpour of light. It would make no distinction between men and women and the elderly and children. It would easily destroy the civilization that had been built up. There would be holes in the bodies of tens of millions of people. The corpses would pile up as high as a river and the blood would form a river.

Grid fell into a panic. He failed to find the best response in the face of a sudden crisis. It was right that he should've thrown himself out to save the people in front of him right away.

It was only two seconds after the hell moon appeared. Rays of light started to pour down. It poured down on all sides without a single gap.

Grid used Shunpo. He emptied his head and used all the skills he possessed to extinguish even one more ray. He immediately realized that it was an attempt with little results. The number of rays and the range was so large that even the skills that could be used within his range of view couldn't handle it.

Just then, the ground rose from all sides. Arches instantly formed and piled up to form a dome. It was a roof large enough to cover the entire city called Reinhardt. It was an umbrella that blocked the pouring rays.

-Hurry.

The voice of Garion, god of the earth, spread throughout the city. It was relaxed, not impatient. It was a gentle and warm voice. The people were encouraged by her attitude and started rushing again.

"Good." Grid stopped the rampage of skills and gave Garion, who would be watching him, a thumbs up. Reason had been regained from the very beginning. In the first place, he didn't lose it. He was just agitated for a moment and missed the timing while looking for the best method.

Moments later, the bombardment of rays stopped and the dome was lifted. The black sky and hell moon once again became the backdrop of the city.

Grid first examined the people. Thanks to the leadership of the apostles, tens of thousands of people had completed entering the Overgeared World. However, it was only a small fraction of the population. There was no more room for people to evacuate due to the limited area of the Overgeared World.

'If the bombardment stops again, I have to stop it with the apostles.'

No matter Garion's strength, it would be difficult for her to use the same large-scale power again in a row. It was the same with the hell moon. It was discovered during the Great Human and Demon War that there was a limit to the number of its bombardments.

Grid thought this and glared at the hell moon. He raised his spirit with the intention of taking on the countless eyes alone. He recalled Hayate, who once captured the attention of the dragons, and took on the responsibility as if imitating Hayate.

-Great. You are already an Absolute just based on your attitude.

Grid's eyes widened. The pressure from the voice that was suddenly heard was terrifying. For a moment, his legs were weak and he almost collapsed. In fact, many people fainted.

[The 1st Great Demon of hell, 'Baal,' has appeared.]

[All willpower has been lost.]

[The resistance of all attributes except the divine attribute is fixed at 0%.]

[Demonic energy resistance is fixed at -200%.]

[Critical hit resistance, weakness resistance, and evasion correction effects are fixed at 0.]

[The buffs in effect are released and all buffs are disabled. The same is applied to items.]

[The passive skills in effect are released and all passive skills are stopped. The same is applied to items.]

[You can't set a target when using skills or magic. Targeting skills and magic are changed to non-targeted skills and magic.]

[The skills that receive the absolute hit correction will lose the correction effect.]

The Absolute of hell—Baal's presence wasn't something that humanity could afford. Even the apostles were pale, while Grid's fingers trembled slightly. His body that moved in the opposite direction of what he was thinking and his slowed movements were unfamiliar.

Out of all the status abnormalities that Baal caused, even Grid couldn't resist the 'fear.' Even the chief gods under the three gods couldn't fully handle Baal's status.

—This was even though it wasn't hell. No, maybe this was an absolute verdict unrelated to status. It was sufficient considering Baal's share of the worldview.

-A while ago, I set a new rule in hell.

Under the hell moon, Baal opened his mouth while his appearance was half-covered with a veil of shadows that moved like wildfire. At first glance, the corners of his mouth were curled up like he was amused.

-Admission is free, but you must pass the test to exit.

-It is simple. Fight the demons standing in the way and win. You humans have an appreciation for the arts, so you will be able to enjoy it together. Aren't we both drawn to this primal and instinctive game?

-Then let's start the game.

Baal disappeared into the shadows at the same time as his unilateral declaration. This allowed those freed from the debuffs to breathe while Grid was briefly mesmerized. It was due to the strange sight that unfolded in the sky.

[The Asura Road has been opened.]

The numerous eyes of the hell moon started to project the landscape of hell. The images of people struggling in the even more horrific hell were broadcasted onto the sky like it was a screen. It was a sight that could be seen anywhere on the continent…

Will you sit still or come down to hell and rescue them?

Baal forced humanity to choose.

The full-fledged prelude to the hell episode was opened with Baal's first attack.