Overgeared

"Hmm."

Braham smiled as he was left alone. The black magic that worked upon detecting the presence of an intruder—it was great when seeing it himself. It was perfect without a single margin of error. Since it was perfect, it was solid and fast. It worked under the set conditions, so it was normal to not be able to respond to it.

Even so, he reacted. He even succeeded in breaking it down in a breathtaking manner. He was the only one in the group who did so. This proved his unrivaled ability among the most powerful people.

He was quite pleased. His great pride had grown even more.

'In particular, I am far superior than that retired swordsman.'

Braham was in the realm of achieving magic with his willpower. The act of looking back on his memory naturally gave rise to the Memorize magic. The sights he glimpsed a short time ago came to mind as vividly as a photograph. Braham looked closely at Grid, the gods, the apostles, and the tower members in the picture.

It was the moment when they entered hell and the black magic was triggered. Grid responded immediately. He was faster than Braham in terms of reaction speed alone. However, he failed to activate Duke of Wisdom, so he just pulled Lauel and Nefelina to his side. Almost immediately afterward, Mercedes, Piaro, and Zik responded. It was with the same timing as Braham. However, it took some time to activate Keen Insight, while Piaro was close to an outsider when it came to magic.

Zik was the only one who responded properly. The rune was immediately rotated to complete a word. It was a word he didn't understand… Zik demonstrated a miracle and intervened in the magic coordinates applied to himself. He reversed the trap. Even when he was a mere incarnation, he was praised as a grandmaster by reaching the peak in most fields. Now that he retrieved his true body and harnessed the power of a half-god, he was so excellent that he made Braham alert every time.

'…The tower members?'

Most of them were like the apostles. They were very quick. Their response was as fast as the unit that divided one second into dozens of segments, but they couldn't find a way to respond to the magic. No… that was just what he thought.

'Those ignorant people.'

A chill went down Braham's spine. He noticed that faint cracks were carved on the images of the tower members contained in Memorize. There were signs of the magic itself being hit.

Abellio wielded his brush, the giant brothers used artifacts, Jessica used magic, Ken used his fists, Jurene gathered his magic power, and Betty tried to stop the black magic by cutting off the flow of magic power. That retired swordsman just cut it with a sword.

This meant that they attempted physical destruction, unlike Braham, who understood the principles of black magic and reversed them in order to invalidate them. As a result, they failed, but it made a difference. The black magic applied to them wasn't fully intact because part of the techniques were destroyed. At the very least, they wouldn't have fallen to a 'dangerous' place.

'They aren't just Sir Hayate's associates.'

Braham admired it in his heart, only to become startled. He was surprised at himself, who acknowledged the skills of others. It was a bit… unpleasant. It was to the point where he welcomed the uninvited visitors who just arrived.

"The insight of Sir Goron is amazing. It was said that only the son of the exile would remain and it came true."

"He got Beriache's wisdom and studied the magic of human beings. Magic of this magnitude would've been easy to read."

"Hahaha! Braham! The son of Beriache! Your mother might've been an exile but she was one of the three evils of the beginning. Why did you, her child, study the magic of human beings? Don't you know shame?"

"The son of an exile can't feel shame. He doesn't have the roots."

They were three demons. They were those who had the title of henchmen, but weren't Baal's familiars. In the very distant past, they were the ones who helped when Beriache was expelled from hell. They all had a mighty aura. Gamigin was better than all of them, but they were powerhouses, especially when considering that this place was hell.

'They will be able to use frenzied demonic energy at their current level.'

The longer the fight, the more powerful the demonic energy. It was a type of technique practiced by a small number of high ranking demonkin. It had the disadvantage of only being able to be activated in hell, but it wasn't a disadvantage at the moment since this place was hell.

"Seeing you trembling brings back memories. Your mother looked exactly like this when she was banished from hell."

"It was a pleasure to watch the virtuous being that all the demons of hell looked up to become miserable in real time. Even now, so much time has passed, but a sense of pleasure still wells up when I think back on that time."

"……"

A scene from the past flashed in Braham's mind as he stood with his head lowered. It was an image of his mother being cast out to the surface by sneering demons. This was just his imagination. The reality would've been much more miserable.

'Ahh, Mother.'

Braham felt his fate.

Did Grid lead me here or did you send them to me? Did you arrange for me to get revenge for you and eventually transcend you?

"…That guy."

It was just like when they isolated Beriache in the distant past.

The demons who laughed around Braham slowly frowned. They belatedly realized why Braham's shoulders were shaking while his head was lowered. It wasn't due to fear. He was laughing…

It wasn't an illusion. Braham's face as he raised his head confirmed it. The eyes of the smiling man whose chin was raised arrogantly were glowing red like his mother's.

"You were just one of the thousands of soldiers that surrounded my mother. Now only the three of you are meeting me? The long years that have passed have made you senile."

Braham's magic power, which had sharpened like a knife, gradually turned dark purple.

The frenzied demonic energy—the technique that Beriache's son, Braham, could use 'naturally' was already triggered. The quality of the secret technique was different.

"……!"

"……!"

Baal's henchmen—they had already slaughtered dozens of rankers. They clearly imprinted their overwhelming power onto the human beings observing the conditions of hell from the surface. They were more powerful than any of the great demons who fought in the Great Human and Demon War.

This was why people lamented when they saw Braham confronting them. It wasn't difficult for people to guess Braham's defeat. Many people already closed their eyes after knowing that his beautiful face in the sky would soon be terribly ruined. Thus, it came as a bigger shock.

The sight of the purple flames rising from Braham's fingers and spreading like a storm as it swept through the battlefield, and the surprised faces of the demons who retreated—the development pattern was completely different from what people expected.

The news spread in an instant. Those who tried to turn away from the sky slowly started to raise their heads.

***

"Are they completely encamped?"

"Gulp. Do we have enough food?"

The expedition team from the Overgeared Guild was evacuated to the crystal castle. They moved immediately after the incident happened. They believed in the judgment of Yura and Jishuka. Thanks to this, they avoided the crisis of being isolated in the field, but the situation wasn't good.

A demonic army was besieging the crystal castle.

The sight of them hunting their own demonic creatures and cooking barbecue was far from common sense, but unfortunately, the smell of grilled meat was appetizing. A hunger that couldn't be satisfied with jerky tormented the expedition. It was a curse. It had no influence on legends like Yura, Jishuka, and Faker, but it was enough to cause pain to non-legendary players.

"This… isn't it a skill that high level chefs have?"

Hunger was classified as an abnormal condition. Vantner was frowning at the debuff linked to decreased stats and lack of motivation, so he noticed one step late. It was the moment when Lauel's warning that they would lose their skills and the words of those who died proved to be a definite truth. Their fear grew as the number of enemies increased in real time.

In the midst of the tension, someone raised their hand and asked a question, "This castle… the enemies can't attack it, right? It is safe, right? Yes?"

It was a very cautious attitude. This person had to be careful.

Rose—she was a great demon, so she felt very uncomfortable in this position…

She thought that sitting on a thorny cushion would be better than this. It was absurd no matter how she thought about it. Baal caused the incident when she was visiting the castle to meet Grid's succubi. She was unexpectedly isolated in the castle where just making eye contact with the Overgeared Guild members made her feel numb.

Why did she have to be here…? She had already asked herself this dozens of times, but she had to interpret it as simply bad luck.

"It is safe. That is correct. The problem is that we can't stay here like this. If we are going to stay still like this, why not just log out?"

In games, time was gold. There was no point in simply surviving. It was obviously a loss to sit here for a long time. Even at this moment, their competitors and enemies would be growing and eating at each other.

"Hmm…"

Rose was inwardly relieved. She was worried about what would happen if no one answered her question, but at least this person was kind enough to get along with her, even if he was bald. It would be better to hang out with good-looking men like Faker and Regas, but what was the current situation? It was fortunate that she was less embarrassed.

"Why do I feel dirty all of a sudden?"

It happened the moment Vantner was wondering about this…

The castle shook. The outside of the window was tinged with a colorful light that disturbed the eyes of the group. It was the aftermath of a magic bombardment.

"Ah, it is safe, right?" Rose asked again with a pale face.

Croak, croak, croak croak croak…

The cries of frogs were heard in the distance.

Chepardea and Baal's familiars had joined.

***

Chepardea stopped the magic bombardment and spoke, "It is Dantalion's legacy. It is natural that it is hard to attack. You don't have to attack it. Croak."

Dantalion was the wisest demon in hell. There were many demons who gained knowledge comparable to him, but Dantalion was the only one who made use of that knowledge. It meant he was a coward. He was despised by many demons despite being a great demon.

From the beginning, Chepardea had no intention of attacking the last bastion that the coward had made to keep himself safe. It was okay to isolate them. Human lives were so short that they would quickly become nervous. Eventually, they wouldn't be able to endure it and would walk out on their own.

Chepardea urged the demons to be patient and the demons nodded obediently. It was originally rare for demons to cooperate, but this was an exception. They were clearly aware of the fragments of Asura that seeped into their shadows.

Baal made it public. The moment they realized that the fragments of Asura could act either as a bomb leashing them or a blessing to give them more power, the demons chose to be loyal to Baal. In the first place, Baal was the peak of the three evils of the beginning. He was the ruler of hell after Yatan. He just needed to step forward to become the focal point and there would be few reasons why the demons wouldn't follow him.

'There were many demons who rapidly became stronger thanks to the fragments of Asura. They easily killed the intruders scattered all over the place.'

Chepardea's round snout curled up as he thought. It was the scene of a large frog with his tongue hanging out and laughing. However, the demons remained silent and didn't ridicule him. There were few complaints. It was quite enjoyable imagining the trembling of their prey locked up in the castle.

Additionally, the Demon Slayer was among the prey trapped in the castle. A being born to exterminate demons—as a demon, the act of fighting, winning, and eating her would go against providence. It was an opportunity to be judged as killing the enemy and their status would greatly rise.

It happened as the gloomy laughter of the demons was gradually spreading…

"I came to the right place."

It was Zik who reversed the coordinates of the trap. The all-rounded talent who could compete to be the strongest among the apostles of the Overgeared God entered the scene.

Runes that combined to form words that meant destruction, massacre, and annihilation swirled, raged and sparked a bloody breeze. He knew he had to first secure the only base in hell.