Overgeared

An ordinary person wouldn't know about Keen Insight. Even though Mercedes' blue eyes sometimes shone transparently, they just thought it was beautiful rather than giving a special meaning to it. They thought of it as an optical illusion that changed depending on the angle of light. This was why they didn't understand it.

A forest of sword energy in a narrow and long tunnel—shadow soldiers soared from the shaded space of the forest. A metal cloth that fluttered in a dizzying manner and narrowed the field of view and space. A noble sword dance that was as invisible as a demon's dance and the arrows that were shot silently.

They couldn't understand Mercedes' ability to avoid and counterattack all the techniques that symbolized the legends of humanity.

It was natural. Her evasive movement was like a flowing stream. She didn't use Shunpo, so it wasn't fast. Hayate's movements when fighting the dragon a little while ago were perceived as flashing lights, while her movements could be vaguely read in people's eyes.

Nevertheless, not a single attack reached her body. It was an incomprehensible realm. It seemed like she was something beyond a legend. People dared to question if she had become a protagonist of a myth like Grid or Braham, or had reached the realm of the Absolutes.

Surprisingly, it was the same for the demons.

""What type of trick is this…?""

The red moon that was projected not only to the sky of hell, but also the sky of the surface—its body that was covered with countless eyes was sleeping here underground. If the river of reincarnation was a place associated with the essence of hell, then this was a place that contained the secrets of the corrupted hell. It meant that it was more important than the river of reincarnation for Baal.

It was the reason why the old demons were placed as gatekeepers. They had been living since close to the beginning and they were very powerful. It was to the extent that they gained Baal's trust, so they were asked to guard this place. In return, fragments of souls had been transplanted to them.

As the years passed, they became stronger and those who could be their enemies were rare. However, there was only one human being active. She was an existence who made the weight of the years accumulated by the seven demons become worthless. A woman with no wrinkles on her face read and blocked the thousands of years of experience and wisdom contained in each movement of the old monsters. She looked like a monster even in the eyes of these old monsters.

""It is a human, right…? Recite the genealogy of your bloodline.""

""I'm curious about the depth of the lineage.""

She wasn't an ordinary human. There was no way her lineage could've originated from the surface. She was most likely related to hell or heaven.

Mercedes asked the speculating demons, "Do demons know about genealogy?"

It was an attitude of dealing with an unfounded, miscellaneous thing. It wasn't particularly demeaning, but that made them even more upset.

""The fact that Baal is the son of God Yatan… it must be common sense that even humans know about… why do you think there would be no genealogy?""

""Are you an idiot who lacks common sense…? It is understandable. You were born with the talent to go against the heavens in this human body… you can't handle it…""

Was it because they were demons who had lived for a long time? They seemed particularly obsessed with bloodlines. She wondered if they were the ancestors of a great family of hell.

Mercedes couldn't understand it. "Baal betrayed Yatan. I don't know why demons who serve such an immoral being as their master are obsessed with lineage. You are the same immoral being, so you shouldn't care about lineage."

"Immoral…? Breaking the right path? The right path is a concept that only applies to human beings…""

"You are talking about lineage without knowing about following the right path?"

Braham, Huroi, Pon, Vantner, etcetera—there were many people who spoke very harsh words next to Grid. There were also many people with a very strong ego like Lauel, Damian, and Regas. It was difficult to develop the habit of being considerate when conversing with others.

Mercedes was also affected. In the beginning, she had been the number one knight of the Saharan Empire. The first time she met Grid, she had quickly given him an order to get down on his knees. She didn't bother to consider the other person's feelings before speaking. Of course, she was kind to those she liked, but she was indifferent and cold toward her enemies.

The wrinkles on the faces of the old demons twitched ferociously.

""You are from hell.""

"……?"

Just like that? Mercedes cocked her head as the demons came to an absurd conclusion. She had a confused expression on her face when her hair became disturbed like a gentle wave and there was the roar of an explosion.

A demon, who was silently shooting a bow from the back, attempted to openly snipe her. An arrow with an immensely powerful air wave was fired at an unprecedented speed and reached the middle of Mercedes' forehead. However, it only skimmed against the skin.

Mercedes triggered Keen Insight and dodged. The arrow flew into a wall and caused the tunnel to shake. Then the forest of green sword energy rushed like a tsunami.

From a third person perspective, the scene was chaos itself. All types of energies and techniques intertwined. The ground rose up and down as explosions occurred and the ceiling collapsed. It was clear that Mercedes' vision would be as dizzying as riding a roller coaster.

Even so, Mercedes didn't lose her balance. Even in the midst of the chaos that twisted left and right and reversed up and down, her movements were neat and tidy. She sharply operated the sword with the breath of Matchless Heart Technique and raised a huge shield like a wall to block the attacks of the demons.

It was a shield filled with Grid's care. The diagonal lines at the top of the shield weren't just for decoration, but were for the purpose of obtaining visibility. It was used by Mercedes to observe the enemy beyond the shield. The diagonal lines in the middle of the shield were intended to give an opportunity for a reversal.

Mercedes's sword protruded through the diagonal gap and pierced the abdomen of the demon who had been narrowing the distance.

That alone wasn't enough. Mercedes was a legendary knight who grew stronger every time she wrote a chivalric code. She was also an apostle of the Overgeared God who became stronger every time she armed herself with an item created by Grid. It was just that the profession of knight itself was inherently limited.

Her offense and defense balance was perfect, but there was nothing special about it. Mercedes could further increase her offensive and defensive capabilities according to the situation by using Keen Insight. However, it was difficult for her to show a distinct strength against an opponent in a higher basic weight class than her. In the first place, having a good balance only acted as a strength when overwhelming a weaker opponent. In order to defeat an enemy stronger than herself, she had to abandon her balance and deal a finishing blow.

However, Mercedes didn't have that. All her stats were equal and there was none that was extraordinary. This was why she couldn't win against the old demons. She could just hold on in a stable manner. This was both her strength and her weakness.

If only there were the other apostles or Grid by her side at this time. No, if there were the elite members of the Overgeared Guild present, then the battle would've changed greatly. They would've taken down the demons one by one while she read and stopped the offensive of the demons.

There was just little she could do alone. She couldn't move forward.

'It is hard in this state.'

Mercedes' mission was to find a way to destroy the hell moon. She was the only one who could analyze the principles that it used to project hell to the sky of the surface and come up with a solution. Now she was on the verge of stumbling right before the threshold. She would be able to get some clues if she went in a bit further, but she was overwhelmed by the lack of strength. In the end, it meant she lacked skills.

She felt a tremendous gap between her ideals and reality. Why did she openly reveal her killing intent toward Martial God Zeratul? She wanted to punish Zeratul for daring to insult Grid. Yet the reality of this moment was telling her how arrogant she was at the time.

She definitely realized it. She had the power to observe abnormalities in herself. In other words, she didn't have the ability to cut down Grid's enemies.

The level of the enemies rose abruptly. It felt like Grid's extraordinary growth rate, which overshadowed the years, raised the level of the world. The reason why Baal suddenly opened up the Asura Road must be because he was conscious of Grid. She also needed to make drastic changes to adapt to the accelerated world flow…

[Your apostle 'Mercedes' has created a new chivalric code.]

Nothing changed as the wounds on Mercedes' body increased. However, a change occurred when Mercedes' sword failed to increase the wounds on the demons' body. It was a dramatic and continuous change.

First of all, Mercedes' sword energy that formed her silver wings, changed. The feathers dispersed and became blade fragments. They rotated like a wheel and wrapped around Mercedes' body or sword. If they wrapped around her body, they exerted the power to reflect the enemy's attack. If they wrapped around her sword, they exerted the power to destroy the enemy's defenses.

The silver wings used to assist Mercedes with acceleration and agility had achieved an aggressive evolution. Mercedes' swordsmanship also changed. A sword trajectory wasn't followed by the shield, but another sword trajectory. Every time she wielded her sword, the shield that used to pressure the enemy or guard her side was now being used as a foothold. It was appropriate to say that it was being used as a topographic feature.

The position of the shield was constantly changing dynamically and it added anomalies to her swordsmanship. The shield itself was so large and strong that it had the role of blocking the enemy's movement.

""……""

The expressions of the demons changed. They had been quite surprised by the performance of Keen Insight, but slowly regained their composure after confirming there would be no change to the final result of them winning. Now shock slowly appeared on their calm faces.

It was evidence that Mercedes had achieved a dramatic rise. She was different from before.

First of all, her mindset had changed. It was different from the awareness that she had to break through these gatekeeper demons. It wasn't due to the mission she was doing now. The reason she had to cut them to death was because they were beings who might be a threat to her master one day in the future…

"A dramatic victory."

Defeat the enemy and win the battle—the declaration that contained Mercedes' new mindset was embodied as a substantial force. The sword started to emit a brilliance as it rapidly became huge. Then it devastated the forest of sword energy. It stretched out, disturbed the demons' camp, and slammed deep into the tunnel. The entire underground area was shaken.

Mercedes' transparent eyes as she descended from the collapsed ceiling gradually turned red. It was the aftermath of the red thing lurking in the darkness.