Overgeared

[Cough...! Kuaaaack!]

The blackened Grid was swept away by the storm of the six fusion sword dance and let out a sharp scream. Due to the help of the red chunk of flesh, his torn body was being repaired in real time. Thanks to this, he could at least let out a scream.

He didn't feel thankful at all. It was because this terrible pain was being repeated. He would've been happier to die immediately.

'It is terrible.'

Grid's heart sank even further. The red chunk of flesh was forcibly holding onto the souls of the dead and wielding the souls to its heart's content. It used the souls as constant eyes, while producing weapons like the blackened Grid, and ultimately, using it as a tool to produce faith.

In many ways, it was a villain. Grid wanted to explode it right away and kill it. Putting his personal feelings aside, he felt an obligation to get rid of it.

'But...'

The situation wasn't favorable. That was a 'world.' It was to the extent where it made the captured souls the inhabitants of the world to produce faith. This meant Grid wasn't confident about handling it alone. He couldn't attack recklessly even if he glimpsed some odds of winning. It created weapons like the blackened Grid from its cut off flesh. He didn't know what type of monsters would appear after the blackened Grid.

It was a situation where the six fusion sword dance was consumed to defeat the blackened Grid alone. Then what if more monsters popped out? Just imagining it was terrifying...

"We have to step back first. I alone can't offer much help to Your Majesty," Mercedes insisted. Her closed lips and long eyelashes trembled slightly. She looked like she was trying to hide her anger.

"All I can do is distinguish between the types of souls that it shoots out, but even that doesn't mean much..."

Even a non-threatening soul caused damage to accumulate every time it touched the body. Mercedes had experienced it for herself. She still vividly remembered the sensation of the resentment of the souls gradually encroaching on her. It was an emptiness that she didn't want to go through twice.

The premise of waging a long-term battle against this red chunk of flesh was to not allow a single soul to shoot at them. It was impossible for Grid who was operating 100 God Hands. It was because the number of souls held in the flesh was immeasurable. Even if only some of them were fired at the same time, they contained the principle of 'always hitting the target.'

It wasn't just Grid and the apostles. The tower members and Overgeared Guild members needed to gather together to have any hope of resisting it. Grid would be freed when there were more shields to receive the souls instead.

"Um... Does this thing have a weakness?"

"The soul that becomes the core is the weakness."

It was a place where a soul like the blackened Grid was born. The red chunk of flesh naturally had a soul. It was the root of the chunk of flesh that set it apart from the souls forcibly captured. However, it was difficult to track it even with Keen Insight because it changed the location in real time and erased its traces by repeatedly fusing with other souls.

[The blackened Grid has been defeated.]

[The five fusion sword dance performed by others will inspire you...]

[The possibility of creating a sword dance has opened up.]

[Your level has risen.]

[Your level has ri....]

......

...

At the same time, the blackened Grid died. It wasn't annihilation. The body was erased, but the dark soul remained. He was absorbed into the chunk of flesh again. It was unfortunate seeing him trying to resist. Then the fragments of flesh that made up the body and weapons of the blackened Grid fell to the ground. The way they moved and were drawn to each other in a wriggling motion resembled the regeneration process of slimes.

""That...?""

The demon who believed he had received the soul of a Sword Saint—he had a bewildered expression on his face ever since Grid broke in. He had stiffened without being able to shut his mouth when he saw Grid using the six fusion sword dance.

Now he suddenly came to his senses. He pointed at the pieces of flesh that started to unite as one.

""Sword Saint...! It is the Sword Saint!""

Since when could anyone be called a Sword Saint? Grid thought that Biban and Kraugel would be very offended. It was the same for Muller, who would be underground...

'...No, is it true that Muller is dead?'

Grid suddenly had doubts. At this point, he wondered if it was right to believe that Muller was alive. According to Chreshler, the reason that Muller wanted death was because he wanted 'rest.' However, death wasn't rest. Hell was degraded by Baal and the reincarnation of souls was blocked.

Did Muller not know about this? It was impossible. It would make no sense if the person who saved a myth predator that civilians didn't know about wouldn't know what was lurking after death. Muller must've realized it at some point—the fact that being dead was worse than being alive.

Should he ascend to heaven with no memory and become a soldier of the gods, or fall to hell while retaining his memories and suffer for eternity? Would he have accepted death easily if he knew these were the only options available after death?

'Many of Muller's records were lost, but in the end, Muller wasn't forgotten.'

It was true that in the distant past, Muller had prepared for death. The evidence was that a large number of records related to him were erased. Nevertheless, Muller wasn't forgotten. This was evidence that at some point, Muller had rejected death. Of course, this was just speculation.

However, Grid could be sure that the owner of the new body that the flesh was creating wasn't Muller. It was because Muller wasn't cheap enough to make an appearance in the world through this type of process.

""S-Sword Saint...! Muller?!""

The demon's thoughts were different. He kept making a fuss. Contrary to his serious appearance, he was quite a thoughtless guy.

There was a flash of light in Grid's eyes as he was clicking his tongue. It felt like lightning speed. At first glance, it resembled Mercedes' Keen Insight, but it was completely different. It was far from mysterious and very daunting. It was Overgeared God's Observation.

[Once you check the target item, your understanding of the item will increase greatly. You can confirm the stats value and options and copy them.

However, in order to copy the item, you must use an item that you have created yourself as the material.

Additionally, the difference in rating of the target item and the item used as the material must be within one grade and the item used as the material can't be recovered.]

Etc, etc.

At first glance, it was Pagma's Eyes with just a name change. However, the effect was strengthened a bit. The cooldown time was drastically reduced and the applications had become more extensive. The name of a god was included in the skill name, so evolution was inevitable.

[You have failed to contemplate the target.]

'As expected, it didn't work.'

He was inspired by the fact that the fragments of flesh had formed weapons. He tried to see if he could contemplate the chunk of flesh itself, but it failed like he was trying to eat for free. It happened the moment Grid was feeling regret...

[You have succeeded in contemplating the target.]

It was when the flesh had fully taken a human form. The information of the armor and sword that this person was equipped with was dug out in detail using Overgeared God's Observation.

'Elder's Falchion' and 'Elder's Armor'—they were legendary items with very high performances. They were somewhat inferior to what Grid made himself, but they were much better than the items that were dropped by bosses. Grid didn't feel much excitement about the performance itself. However, the problem was in their item information. They were described as the sword and armor used by a Sword Saint Killer.

'A Sword Saint Killer?'

Was a Sword Saint actually a punching bag? The only special ones were Muller, said to be the strongest Sword Saint; his teacher, Biban; and Kraugel, a genius who Grid admired. In fact, a Sword Saint wasn't much different from normal legends.

Elder rushed toward the thinking Grid. He greatly tilted his upper body and the sword that was launched was extremely fast.

Blood oozed from Grid's eyes. It was the feeling of being cut at the same time that he read the sword with the artificial senses. Grid would've suffered a serious injury if he hadn't read the information of Elder's sword in advance. It was the information that it 'increased in length' in the event of an attack.

Elder's face was pierced. He believed in the function of the weapon and showed a loophole where his upper body was tilted when the distance wasn't enough. This meant he allowed Grid's Kill sword dance that was used when Grid moved forward with Shunpo. The narrowed distance turned Elder's elongated sword into a weakness. It didn't advance enough and only the lower part of the sword barely touched the corner of Grid's eye.

'Immortality.'

Elder didn't die even though his face was partially damaged. It was a respite obtained by immortality. It was evidence of a legend from a long time ago. The red chunk of flesh quickly healed his wounds.

Elder staggered while bleeding and his movement of recovering the sword itself acted as a threatening swordsmanship. It grazed Grid's side, but it was somewhat lacking in power. It wasn't enough to penetrate the dragon armor.

Grid's large hand covered Elder's face. Elder was slammed into the ground on his back. Grid looked up as he completely suppressed Elder with his knee. Then he stared at the red chunk of flesh. Some of the 100 God Hands were restraining Elder's limbs. Exactly five seconds later, the struggling Elder was beheaded.

A simple legend couldn't go against the Overgeared God at all. The legends of the distant past were being forgotten in the era where the standards were rapidly rising.

""Uh..? Uhh?""

The demon, who read Elder's sword energy and believed him to be a Sword Saint, was now completely dumbfounded. Grid's overwhelming force was unrealistic for him. It was like this when he thought of the myth of the Overgeared God that he vaguely heard.

'Is this the level of someone who became a god just a few years ago?'

The sight of the 100 black-gold hands using swordsmanship just a little while ago was replayed in the demon's mind. Unknowingly, he felt awe toward Grid and his feelings were recorded in the Overgeared God's 20th epic.

"Let's retreat. We'll have to join our other colleagues," Grid looked away from the chunk of flesh and urged Mercedes while barely enduring it. In his heart, he wanted to wage an all-out battle with the chunk of flesh right away. It was a situation where the hell moon that was being projected to the surface could only be eliminated by destroying the chunk of flesh. He naturally had to fight it and get rid of it.

Grid's wish was to get rid of it as soon as possible to make Irene and the people, who were still suffering at this moment, feel comfortable. Yet as stated before, there was only a small possibility of winning on his own. It was also a problem that he already consumed one of the six fusion sword dances. He needed to proceed a bit more calmly...

"Yes." Mercedes nodded. She witnessed Grid, who was cold with anger for the first time in ages, and her heart pounded in a manner that didn't match the situation.

'Are they both crazy?'

The demon read the pink airflow with his keen senses and clicked his tongue. Meanwhile, the red chunk of flesh took back Elder's soul and was once again taking on the form of another human being. Thousands of souls were being scattered like a torrential rain, as if the chunk of flesh was yelling that it wouldn't let them go. It was blocked by the God Hands using the Revolve sword dance.

Every time the cooldown ended, they joined together and raised a barrier. They even used Tai Chi as a last resort when their barrier was pierced and it was often useful due to the nature of the soul. The souls with an aggressive nature were subdued by the softness. A soul was a spiritual concept, not a physical one. Meanwhile, the God Hands themselves resembled Grid and were surrounded by divinity. They could interfere with any concept.

'Will I get an offer to appear in a martial arts movie like this?'

Grid went beyond the level of implementing Satisfy's techniques in reality and started to implement the techniques of reality in Satisfy. There was no controversy over him. It was because many players had already shown such changes.