Overgeared

Baal had a very convenient ability.

It was the ability to divide his ego into dozens or hundreds of fragments to create and operate clones. It was possible for him to climb up to the surface without many restrictions, kill humans, and bring them to hell.

The targets had always been similar—humans who would become angels after dying. Simply put, they were talents coveted by the archangels. If Baal didn’t have this ability, hell would’ve been a world of only the weak, just as Yatan intended at first.

Thump!

A pillar of gray fell over Baal’s head. A fragment that had ascended to the surface had died. Baal recovered the experience and memory of the life that lasted shorter than a day and returned as a handful of light.

“This is good.”

Originally, Baal used to feel unpleasant whenever he absorbed the memories of his ego fragments. It couldn’t be pleasant to watch the disgrace of the fragments who didn’t realize they were only an insignificant part of him. However, it was different this time.

A deep smile spread across Baal’s face.

“It is better than expected.”

Asura’s hand—even though he was unable to withstand the power of Sword Saint Kraugel’s ‘sword’ and his ego died in vain, which caused him to fail to secure the soul of Sabaek, there was still a result. He clearly confirmed that Asura’s hand resisted the law of the Sword Saint. His expectations weren’t just expectations and had become reality.

‘Learning means... It is proof that it has an ego.’

The Evil God—a truly evil being, unlike Yatan, had started to conceive life. The moment he longed after for many years was just around the corner.

“Excuse me... are you okay?” Rose—a figure who had become a great demon as a player—asked cautiously while watching Baal from the side. It was a few months ago. She had been scouted by Baal, the 1st ranked Great Demon.

Baal—he had been beaten a few times by Grid, but he was still a strong final boss candidate. In the first place, wasn’t it a setting that he had infinite lives? There was no chance that Baal would be defeated, even if Grid invaded hell with two billion players.

Becoming his subordinate? In terms of fairy tales, it was like becoming one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon King.

Rose couldn’t resist the sweet offer. She betrayed Amoract, who had turned her into a great demon, and went straight to Baal’s side. She dreamed of a brilliant future. A future where she became the supreme existence of hell. It was a future where she had a reputation as the best player along with Grid.

She was truly thrilled when she saw Baal’s ability to create dozens of clones and sent them to the surface. She became convinced that the future she dreamed of would surely become a reality. But now—

Less than an hour later, her faith started to waver. It was right after she watched one of Baal’s clones die with a magic crystal ball. He was instantly overpowered by Kraugel and Old Sword Demon, who weren’t even Grid. Of course, she knew the clones were weak when compared to the main body. However, ‘achievements’ were the biggest nutrients for players.

Baal’s clone, who looked just like Baal, was killed in an attempt to kill them, so Kraugel and Old Sword Demon must’ve received huge rewards.

This damn Baal. You are raising my competitors instead of me...

She seriously suspected that something in his brain was severely damaged when Yura shot him in the head.

‘Did I grab a rotten rope?’

The reason Rose betrayed Amoract was because she decided there was no hope for Amoract.

Amoract—an idiot who was so focused on watching Baal’s movements that she couldn’t do anything to oppose him. It was highly commendable that she wasn’t hostile to Grid, but that was it. It felt like Amoract was protecting her body so much that there was little potential for development.

Rose’s ambitions were too grand to entrust her future to Amoract. Thus, Rose sided with Baal. This was even though she found it troubling that Baal’s personality was so aggressive and cruel that he was considered an enemy of humanity as a whole, let alone the players. Rose was afraid that she would be branded as an enemy of humanity.

However, she was already a great demon. It was too late to be conscious of public opinion. She also judged that public opinion would easily change if she achieved her dream someday and gained strong power. Didn’t Grid actually show it? Grid was now treated as a hero, but he was once considered a psychopath due to his high level of brutality.

That’s right—Rose’s role model was none other than Grid...

“Am I okay? What do you mean?”

Baal, who was smiling after confirming the completeness of Asura, turned his head to her.

A great demon of human origin—maybe it was because of her unusual birth? Baal often didn’t understand her. How could a low ranking great demon look worried and ask if he was okay? He was a bit puzzled because it was his first time experiencing it.

“Ah, that... a fragment of your ego was just killed by a few humans, right? I wondered if it would damage your reputation.”

She saw him smiling after experiencing such a thing and was worried about his mental state, so she asked if he was okay...

“It’s fine. It might’ve been different previously, but the value of my fragments has become very low now,” Baal explained to Rose, who couldn’t speak honestly and trailed off.

It started with Grid. After that, his ego fragments were hunted by too many humans, including Agnus. As a result, Baal’s ego fragments were engraved in the world as having very low value. At first, Baal’s reputation and status were slightly damaged every time his fragments made mistakes and failed. It wasn’t like that any longer.

Ironically, Baal was able to operate his ego fragments without any pressure thanks to Grid. It was nice that he didn’t have to be conscious of the mistakes or failures of his fragments.

“...Really? So the humans who killed your fragments won’t gain much fame either, right?”

“Who knows? That is none of my business.”

“Aish.”

“......?”

“N-Nothing. I was admiring it! Hehe! My way of exclaiming is a bit unusual, right?”

“......”

She was truly hard to understand. Well, she was worth looking forward to. He made her a subordinate, but thought about killing her because she knew surprisingly little about Amoract. Now he thought it would be good to keep her around for a while.

Fortunately, her magic crystal balls contained something unique. The dozens of crystal balls—they were the ‘eyes’ of the fragments sent to the surface.

Rose made them by connecting it to her magic power. Originally, Baal wasn’t interested in them. After all, he could retrieve his experiences and memories through the fragments that returned to him. He didn’t have to look into the crystal balls.

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However, he naturally became interested when he saw the characters in the crystal ball. He watched the situation in real time with Rose.

“B-Biban...!”

The contemplative Rose’s heart suddenly sank.

Sword Saint Biban—he was one of the members of the Tower of Wisdom who accompanied Grid when he invaded hell. He killed Valefor, the 6th ranked Great Demon, with his excellent skills. Recently, there was even the world message that he had become the Sword God.

Sword God—it was a being that must transcend the Sword Saint. There was a high probability that he was an Absolute. However, the voice of the fragment that flowed from the crystal ball was calm even with Biban in front of him. Rather, he treated Biban as a subordinate with an arrogant tone. Far from being intimidated, he didn’t even seem to be vigilant.

Rose felt very small hope.

“The head... is Asura’s head really amazing? Is that why he is so confident despite meeting Biban?”

“It is incomparable to the hands.”

Baal was usually kind to his subordinates. No, it wasn’t just that. He took care of them very well. It was just like a parent. Sometimes he was like a friend. Not only did he gain their loyalty, but he also built up tremendous affinity. It was to the point where he meant the world to the other being. There were countless demons who would die for Baal without hesitation.

‘What is with this way of speaking?’

Rose was also at the stage of developing a subtle liking toward Baal. He was almost always gentle and benevolent. Additionally, he had demonically handsome looks, so it was enough to capture Rose’s heart. She was entangled in a web she could never be detached from.

One day, she too would be betrayed and ridiculed by Baal at the most critical moment, dying a miserable death. It was just like all beings who were involved with Baal.

“But that isn’t enough to instill confidence in the fragment.”

“...Huh?”

Rose had been staring at Baal with an expression of ecstasy, only to suddenly come to her senses and ask again. They were words that she couldn’t understand.

Baal added an explanation, “An ego fragment is literally just a fragment. It is a very small part of myself that embodied some of my personality, memories, and abilities. He can’t accurately identify the hierarchy of the opponents in front of him and respond appropriately.”

“To put it simply... you’re saying the ego fragment can’t figure out his opponent right now, right?”

“It is nice that you have a bright mind.”

Baal laughed while nodding. He was praising Rose. However, Rose wasn’t happy at all. She glared at Baal, who was watching the situation with a nonchalant expression.

‘Another fragment died meaninglessly and became an experience pack. How can he laugh at the current situation?’

She resented Baal’s lack of thoroughness.

An evil being with great strength and thoroughness—was there really no perfect being that could give despair to all players, except for her?

Rose had been lamenting to herself. Then her complexion gradually brightened. The other magic crystal balls also started to convey the situation of those that the fragments met. She was happy because most of them seemed to have a high chance of winning, except for Biban.

In particular, the situation of Talima was overwhelming. As many as four fragments surrounded one dwarf. It was unlucky that Jishuka arrived at the scene just before the completion of the barrier to block teleportation magic, but the situation wasn’t bad.

‘It is 4 against 2, but there is no chance. Baal will win no matter what.’

In fact, if she thought about it calmly, the fragment that was defeated by Kraugel and Old Sword Demon were simply unlucky. Kraugel was second only to Grid. Additionally, thinking back to the last sight in the eyes of the dying fragment, there was a ‘mark’ on the back of the hand of Kraugel and Old Sword Demon. This meant that the guy called Sabaek had secretly buffed the two of them. It also wasn’t known what tricks Hwang Gildong might’ve pulled.

In the first place, it didn’t make sense for one fragment to dream of winning against a group of four cooperating legends or transcendents. However, the situation in Talima was completely different. Jishuka was one level below Kraugel’s and the target of the hunt was only a dwarf who was good at blacksmithing. It was safe to say that the four fragments had no chance of being defeated.

‘It is too bad, Jishuka. You are the heroine along with Yura, but you will lose big this time. I just hope you don’t get dumped by Grid.’

Rose was smiling happily when a different look appeared in her eyes.

The bow that Jishuka took out—it was shaped like a dragon’s head with its mouth open and it was very large and threatening.

“Grid, this guy... has he succeeded in mass producing dragon weapons?”

Baal’s sigh drove in the wedge.

“Eh?”

It was the moment when Rose was suddenly overwhelmed with great anxiety...

Two of the four magic crystal balls relaying the situation in Talima exploded. It was faster than the magic crystal ball showing Sword God Biban.

“You must not be arrogant toward today’s humans,” Baal advised Rose, who had a bewildered expression on her face.

Rose’s face turned red.

Seeing this reaction, she couldn’t grasp a subject, just like his ego fragment...

It sounded like Baal was implying this.