Overgeared

The reason Baal's henchmen were arrogant was because they were living history.

The time when hell was a paradise for the dead—Baal's henchmen went through all sorts of battles. In the war against Beriache, they overcame countless obstacles and helped Baal. They might've never dared to confront Beriache directly, but it meant they contributed a little bit to her end.

They had to be proud of themselves. Most of the things they went through afterwards were treated as trivial. It was different from having dementia. Beriache's power was such a nightmare that it made it easy for them to treat the powerful presences and events they encountered later as relatively trivial.

The 'fear' they felt at this moment was very extraordinary.

'Piaro, the apostle of the Overgeared God.'

'God-level. He is an opponent that is hard to deal with.'

Of course, not all gods were powerful. Just as there were demons who were hunted by humans, there were also gods who weren't omnipotent. However, they knew that most gods could perform miracles. Based on people's faith, they often wielded a power beyond their strength. This was the case with Piaro today.

Piaro's basic skills such as controlling the flames and his slow reaction were as weak as reported. It was just that the moment he succeeded in controlling the flames, he exerted a great deal of destructive power. It was an overwhelming power that was at odds with his lack of strength. Therefore, they judged him to be god-level.

'An all-out battle is impossible, but… this doesn't mean there is no way.'

The henchmen exchanged looks. It was in a barely noticeable manner. Like old men who had followed Baal at a reasonable distance and lived for thousands of years, their judgment of the situation was very quick. They understood that Piaro's miracle was to borrow the power of 'nature.' Their top priority was to kill and eliminate the bastard who belatedly appeared and created the wind and rain. Then they plotted an operation to extinguish all the nearby flames.

They weren't worried about Piaro's interference. There might be a storm of wind and rain, but they were able to resist it to some extent as long as it had 'attributes.' Everything would be easier once they broke through the storm and killed that bastard…

The henchmen decided the direction without a conversation and scattered. Some moved on the ground, while another one soared into the sky and rode on the back of the ghost horse.

Hihing!

The wild ghost horse shuddered. It shook its head up and down in order to shake off the demon that had dared to climb onto its back. At this time, the henchman used flames.

The wheat field that shouldn't exist in hell—he induced the blue flames of the ghost horse to pour down toward the golden land that was beneficial to Piaro. He predicted that the wind and rain that Piaro controlled would move to extinguish the flames. It was to create a path for his colleagues to easily move by limiting the path of the wind and rain.

'The speed of controlling the flames is very slow. He has no choice but to move the wind and rain…'

The thoughts of this henchman stopped. It was because the weapon that flew like a thunderbolt pierced both eyes and penetrated through his brain. It was a weapon with a terribly bizarre form. It was a shape that greatly resembled a trident and it looked good to scrape at the target and lift them. It was a pitchfork. However, the demons didn't know farming equipment.

'Human beings have such cruel weapons?'

Wielding a weapon that looked like it could scrape off skin and flesh, and pull out every organ inside the body? The henchman who remembered the rumors that the surface was infested with humans worse than demons twisted his body violently. The leverage moved the pitchfork stuck in his skull, but he didn't care. He just had to live and it would be possible to reattach the skull and regenerate the spilled brain matter.

Yes, it was enough to run away.

"…What?"

The henchman was stunned as he kicked the horse's back and jumped even further. It was because Piaro was above his head. It was a location that completely blocked his movement path.

'He is faster than me?'

Wasn't his physical ability far inferior to them?

This… there was something wrong. His brain was broken, so maybe he was mistaken about something. Despite his suspicions, the henchman swung his scythe. Then he realized he wasn't mistaken. It was because he distinctly felt the aura that the target released.

"This…"

Slash!

"Swords… manship?"

Piaro had never abandoned his past. Just as he ended his bad relationship with Asmophel in some form, he also saved the hard-earned swordsmanship without abandoning it. It was sublimated by his farming technique. The farming equipment he wielded were weapons for overturning and preparing the land, growing crops, and cutting down the enemy.

It encompassed life and death. The techniques and symbolism contained in it was enormous. The Matchless Heart Technique added to its power.

The henchmen, who got a hole in his throat due to the hand plow that came down smoothly underneath the scythe, coughed up foamy blood.

"You made the worst move!"

The henchman, who previously dug underneath the ground and targeted Piaro, rose up with a shout. He soared from the ground. The landscape of the huge wheat field behind their backs was changing. It lost its golden color after being covered with the aura of death and scattered as ashes.

During the time when Piaro was aiming for the henchman in the sky, the henchman on the ground removed the wheat fields that would benefit him. They were indeed old men who went through all sorts of hardships. They immediately responded to the changing situation in real time and found the best move.

"This is no longer your territory!"

The word 'sanctuary' rather than territory filled his throat but he barely suppressed it. The henchmen noticed that the miracle that Piaro was performing was greater than the miracles of the gods, but they didn't dare express it. They were wary that their 'recognition' might be misunderstood as faith.

The attacks of two henchmen pushed Piaro. They did their best from the beginning in order to provide an opportunity for their seriously injured colleague to recover. They had no intention of winning. They decided it was enough to buy time and they had sufficient ability to do this. It was because they were the protagonists who made hell what it was like today.

Hihing!

The ghost horse was startled by the swirling magic power and fled far away. Of course, it didn't forget to kick the demon bastard who previously rode it. The still seriously injured henchman screamed and was thrown to the ground. The problem arose from there. The henchmen's plan to find a way out by working with the colleague who was about to recover went wrong.

"That crazy horse bastard…!"

The color on the faces of the growling henchmen soon changed. It was because they saw the plan that underpinned the operation was on the verge of being implemented.

One of the four henchmen—the one who had been hiding his traces since earlier had arrived in front of Lauel. The wind and rain would stop once Lauel died. Piaro would weaken again and the escape route would open.

Everyone watching murmured to themselves as they grasped the intentions of the demons.

The demon's fist aimed at Lauel's face. There was the loud sound of skin bursting. Flesh flew.

Lauel's head wasn't split apart. It was the aftermath of the heart and chest of the henchman who attacked Lauel being torn apart.

"……?!"

The demons were shocked by the unexpected situation. The 'Iron Wire of Bitter Grief' was held in Lauel's undamaged hands. It was an item based on the Thorn of Deep Grievance. It inflicted damage proportional to the health of the target. The disadvantage was that it had a near zero chance of activating against named targets, but for those who weren't named, it was an almost deadly weapon.

Was it because there were so many of them? The fortunate thing was that Baal's henchmen weren't judged as being named.

[The number of uses of 'Cloth Armor Full of the Love of the Overgeared God' has been exhausted.]

Additionally, Lauel was armed with Grid's items. It was armor to protect his weak body. The number of uses might be limited, but it had the ability to absorb a certain amount of damage. There was such a thing as equipment regions and there were a total of five pieces of armor that Lauel could wear. He could somehow endure at least five attacks. How easy could it be to assassinate Grid's closet subordinate?

"You…!"

After a moment of hesitation, the henchman attacked Lauel again, but it was too late. Piaro arrived after killing the other henchmen and decapitated this opponent, killing him.

"Huhut, it reminds me of the past. It is the days when I swept through the battlefield with you," Lauel, who gained a large amount of experience for the first time in ages, exclaimed with excitement.

He was ecstatic after seeing that he gained 12 levels at once and covered half his face with one hand. His eyes were filled with a brilliant light and the black flame dragon flashed.

Piaro didn't bother to block his actions. He was considerate to those who would be cheering on the surface.

Then Asura's fragments poured from the shadows of the dead henchmen. Four fragments absorbed the power of the henchmen. They wriggled and merged into one before staring at Piaro.

"I have to be prepared to die this time."

"I can do that, but it shouldn't be you."

***

"……"

Abellio had been in a daze in the elevator.

Grid's loyal follower and lover—Mercedes, whom he only heard about in stories, was very pretty. There were no frills when it came to her appearance and etiquette, so he naturally became fond of her. He painted her a picture with the feeling that she was his grandchild's friend…

Then the whole thing was analyzed and destroyed. It was shocking because it was something he had never experienced even with a dragon. He was distressed because it felt like the skills he had honed over hundreds of years were denied.

"Cough, cough." Abellio, who received a big shock to his heart, coughed up blood. The white beard that came down all the way to his abdomen was stained red here and there.

There were demons targeting him. It was an army led by the 16th Great Demon. Thousands of demons surrounded Abellio.

"Demons… in terms of aura alone, you are more vicious than a dragon."

Abellio created a trickle of water from the brush he wielded lightly in the air and held it in his hand. He used the water to wipe his beard. The blood that was wiped away soaked the ground. At the same time, hundreds of the demons that were surrounding him were wiped out. They were twisted to death as if they had been squeezed by something.

It was the aftermath of Abellio using his beard as the canvas and depicting the blood on his beard as the battlefield. From the time his hands squeezed the battlefield, death was inevitable unless they were above a certain status.

"This old man is a monster…"

The 16th Great Demon felt pure admiration. Abellio was a monster even in the eyes of a demon. The great demon quickly realized that the rumors of humans fighting dragons weren't false rumors.

However, he wasn't particularly disturbed. There were small fragments of Asura even in the shadows of the demons. He had never appeared in public in order to hide his existence, but it was different now. The death of hundreds of demons was no different from summoning hundreds of Asuras… then why was this happening?

As the shadows of the dead demons remained silent and motionless, Abellio gave his opinion to the bewildered great demon, "The acting of hiding itself usually means you are weak. I think the fragments of Asura, hidden in the shadows, have a very low status."

"You… I will be sure to kill you here."

Maybe this old man was the most dangerous one.

The great demon made a quick judgment and immediately rushed at Abellio. However, Abellio's brush was already drawing Hayate. It wasn't as strong as the real thing, but this was a portrait of the Dragon Slayer.

The Dragon Killing Sword that scattered light made a thunderous sound. It was a picture of when he fought that dying dragon in the past. He sliced the great demon's club like it was a radish and dug into the nape of the great demon's neck. The shocked great demon backed away. Abellio predicted this and completed his second picture in time.

It was the portrait of the Overgeared God performing the Kill sword dance. A large hole was created in the chest of the great demon, who couldn't withstand the attacks of Grid and Hayate. The absurd miracle was being carefully recorded in the epic.