Overgeared

“A wolf appeared. A wolf appeared...”

The more excited Grid talked, the quieter the surroundings became.

“...It is so unpleasant that I can’t stand it.”

Three dragons, who were looking at Grid in bewilderment, took back their weapons.?Now they were glaring at Revola. It was as if to reproach him for comparing them to shepherds.

“It feels like my status is being undermined. Stop playing with low-quality words and we’ll go back.”

It was a battle between Absolutes.?They believed that it was right to act noble.?Moreover, wasn’t Grid the great being who revived the protection of the Refractive Dragon.

In fact, the Grid they saw was much different from what they expected. The more they competed with him, the more they felt like they were becoming a mess. It often felt like the blood in their head was flowing backwards. It felt like they would go crazy or suffer internal injuries if they continued.

“If you leave now, I will regard you to be in the same group as Herut.”

Revola, who had been showing an amiable expression for some time, warned them coldly. Perhaps it was affected by his emotions, but the ice barrier he spread out had become thicker.

“Bah, do whatever you like.”

The three dragons snorted and started to melt the ice barrier with the Breaths they were holding in their hands. Revola was able to create another barrier to stop them from leaving, but he decided it was a bad idea to provoke them further. He decided to let them go for now.

“Hey... Is it because you were eating each other not too long ago? There is a lack of cooperation. You aren’t even a third-rate mercenary group. Does it make sense for you to fight among yourselves during a battle?”

Grid chattered in a tireless manner.

At this moment, the three dragons who broke through the ice wall stared at him. Their attitude was completely different from Herut’s group, which had left earlier.?They looked like they would wait outside the?lair?and attack Grid if Grid succeeded in escaping from here.

“...Goodbye.”

Grid said goodbye to them awkwardly.?There was no reason to provoke the leaving enemy.?Of course, he wouldn’t have let them go if the enemies were weak...

‘Am I strong against the weak?’

Grid was questioning it again, only to become surprised.?A strange sound entered his ears.?It was a noise that came from the green dragon, whose neck had been pierced by Grid standing on his back. It was due to his body enlarging.?He felt his life being threatened and released Polymorph.

Grid’s field of view expanded greatly. The green dragon’s health gauge, which had dropped to a minimum, changed color after being fully charged three times.?The total health of the dragon, who had regained his original form, seemed to be at least three times higher than in his polymorphed state.

“Tsk.”?Grid was startled by the eerie sensation of the strangely shaped rocks hanging from the ceiling grazing the top of his head. Then he jumped swiftly from the dragon’s neck.?The large tail wielded by the green dragon collided with his sword.?Grid couldn’t hold on and succumbed to the shock. He flew away and stood with his back to Trauka.

“Calm down.”?Revola couldn’t sit idly by as the space shook violently and rocks fell violently.?The unusually wide lair had an unusual structure.?Except for the nest where Trauka was currently sleeping, the elevation was low. This meant it couldn’t fully handle the size of a dragon.

It was for a practical reason.?If Trauka had expanded the entire lair to be like his nest, the stability of the ground would’ve been lost and it would’ve been unsafe.

[Grrrrr....]

The green dragon lowered his shoulders so as to not crush the lair. Then he barely withdrew the Breath he had stored in his mouth.?He regained his reason when he saw Grid, who dared to give him the fear of death, standing with his back to Trauka again.

It happened the moment he polymorphed to human form again...

The God Hands, which had been scattered all over the space, performed the sword dance in unison.

Then Revola intervened.?He raised his magic power and the chill around him intensified, causing a blizzard to swirl.?All the black-gold hands that were making the motion to fire sword energy froze.?At the same time, dozens of large hands made of dirt sprang out from all directions. They grabbed the frozen God Hands and buried them in the ground.

It was the joint attack by another intermediate dragon, Brown Dragon Haranbeka.?It was a state where ice and dirt were created with pure magic power and moved according to their will.?Unlike normal magic, it was fast because it didn’t go through the casting process.

“You step back.”

The green dragon protested. “You can fight more.”

“Calm down, step back, and recover. Come back and add your strength once you recover.”

The green dragon lost his stubbornness and fled?from the space.?From?Grid’s?perspective, it was as if he had missed the prey he had caught. Even so, he didn’t try to chase after the green dragon. There were still eight dragons left and their eyes were fierce.

Revola opened his mouth, “I assure you, it is impossible for you to become a Dragon Slayer. Hayate was just lucky.”

The reason why Hayate was able to slaughter a dragon was because it was the Age of Oblivion.?It was a time when dragons lost their memories and preyed on each other.?There was a possibility that there was a dragon wounded by his own kin and was unluckily killed by a human while fleeing.

However, times had changed.?The dragons had regained their sanity and formed an organization.?In the modern era, killing a dragon was inherently impossible.?Unlike they betrayed their own kin like Cranbel or aimed for an isolated dragon...

Grid shrugged.?“Who knows? Maybe it is because there is a dying Old Dragon behind me right now, but I can’t really sympathize with your words.”

“It has been a while. Even if you and Nefelina cooperate, you can stop Trauka’s life in one go. Furthermore, the moment your sword aims at him, we will stab you in the back...”

“Shall I try it?”

“...We don’t want him to get hurt any further. Instead of that, how about we compete fairly? I became alert thanks to the ones who just left. Your argument isn’t as empty as it seems. It is a hierarchy where both you or I can lose our status the moment we lose our honor. We shouldn’t be cowardly any longer.”

Revola took a step forward.

“How about you and I fight head-on? If I win, you will obediently withdraw from here. On the other hand, I will leave if you win.”

“...What about the other seven?”

“It is up to them to decide. As you said, we are different beings.”

Grid squinted.?“Do you see me as the Saintess?”

Revola’s suggestion favored the dragons.?It deterred Grid from taking a hostage and offered a one-on-one match. But even if Grid won, all the enemies except for Revola would remain...

“By leaving, I don’t just mean leaving here.”

Revola’s blue eyes sank in a calm manner.

“The moment I lose, I will abandon my duty. I will never appear before you as an enemy again. I will turn my back on the will of the Foreign God.”

It meant betting everything.?There was a buzz among the dragons while Grid was inwardly surprised.

“If I can’t stop one of you here... It would mean I don’t deserve it in the first place.”

The question of whether Revola was serious or not was unnecessary.

[I, Ice Dragon Revola, will challenge Only One God Grid for qualifications and honor.]

Revola triggered Dragon Words.?From a dragon’s perspective, it was a covenant that must be kept.

“Grid, you don’t have to agree. Even if you defeat this dragon, you will have to fight the rest of the dragons.”?Nefelina sensed Revola’s energy changing in an instant and advised.?“The reason why dragons don’t use Dragon Words when cooperating with each other is because it isn’t honorable. Even if they use Dragon Words in a favorable situation, it will only reduce their own value. It will just be to their advantage if you fight one-on-one.”

Dragons were noble beings.?There was no mistake in Nefelina’s words.

It happened as Grid worried over it for a moment...

[Ice Dragon Revola has asked for an honorable confrontation with him, who took the Old Dragon without a heart as a hostage.]

The system message popped up.?Grid had forgotten because it was quiet for a while, but the?30th epic was still going on.

‘I know how Baal feels.’

Grid let out a laugh and stepped forward.

‘Three times.’

According to the results of his experiment with the green dragon a moment ago, a polymorphed low-grade dragon would die if hit by the six fusion sword dance three times.?If he gave them more than 10 seconds to recover, three blows weren’t enough.

‘An intermediate dragon will be four blows.’

Grid checked his status. As the cooldown time of some skills was reset, he also summoned all the God Hands to his side.?“I will accept the challenge.”

“Grid!” Nefelina shouted in a startled manner but Grid just smiled in a reassuring manner.

“Huhu...”

Revola also laughed.

The cold air spread over a wide area to prevent Grid’s escape was now concentrated around him. The distance between the two people quickly became closer.?Grid’s sword and a bright blue spear collided.?Since Grid currently had a balanced distribution of stats, Revola was ahead of Grid in terms of strength. It was only when they used Dragon Words that a dragon’s stats truly showed their true value.?Coincidentally, Ultimate Martial Art wasn’t triggered.

As the number of times the two of them exchanged blows increased, Grid was gradually pushed back.?Revola’s eyes were telling him something as it glided across the ice, dazzling and putting pressure?on Grid.

If we fight on fair terms, there is no way a dragon can be defeated.

The trajectory of the spear that scattered cold air spread like a spider web and a blizzard swirled around them. Revola was accelerating while moving like a ghost, while Grid’s movement was slowing down. Originally, it was a chill that froze the other person from the inside out, but the effect appeared slowly because Grid resisted the abnormal status.

However, the joints of Grid’s armor and the bottom of his feet were frozen, so he naturally became dull.?It was a physical condition that was hard to resist.?Revola shook off Grid’s sword by drawing a horizontal line with his spear. Then he spun around and stretched out his left hand.?It was a hand that contained a Breath. It hit Grid’s chest and exploded at one point.

Grid received some pretty heavy damage, but he didn’t really care.

[Ultimate Martial Art is activated.]

Clang!

Regardless of whether it was late or early, the opponent who exchanged blows with Grid was bound to lose his weapon in the end.?This wasn’t something that could be coped with just by knowing it in advance.?Revola was also aware of it. The moment the spear was broken, he didn’t panic and immediately tried to create a new spear.?However, it didn’t go his way.

‘It is natural.’

It was because Revola was stunned.?Fortunately, it was only for a short time.?Revola had experienced it in advance, so he put an ice armor around his body with only his will. Then Grid used his skill.

“Item Combination.”

The God Hands, who held hands and were bound together, formed a complete unity.?It was thanks to the effect of the skill

That’s right.?The target of the Item Combination that Grid designated was the God Hands.?The 310 God Hands were pre-bound with 155 each, so they were judged to be two items. Additionally, Defying the Natural Order and Twilight had already been combined from the beginning.

A huge hand rose high enough to reach the ceiling and grabbed Revola’s entire body.

Revola managed to escape from the stun but he wasn’t able to easily shake off the hand.?The hundreds of God Hands, which had inherited some of their master’s stats, had become completely one. Naturally, it transcended even the power of its master.

The five fusion sword dance spread out like a storm and shattered the ice armor.?Then the six fusion sword dance was immediately linked and broke down even the Absolute Defense, devastating Revola’s body.

“...Cough!”

“......”

Grid looked at the bloodied Revola and took back his sword.

Originally, he intended to end Revola’s life by linking the six fusion sword dance, but the defense of Blue Dragon?Revola?was stronger than expected. He was tricky because he created new ice armor to take the attacks.

It seemed like he would be barely able to kill him by hitting him with a four fusion sword dance and five fusion sword dance in succession.?However, Grid wasn’t confident about completely hitting Revola with all the sword dances because the giant God Hand, which was binding Revola, was hardening due to the cold air.?In an uncertain situation, it was naturally best to save his skills.

It was just that Revola and the dragons couldn’t figure out Grid’s intentions.

“...Why did you take back your sword?”?Revola escaped by exploding the frozen God Hand and asked with gasping breaths. Perhaps he felt humiliated but his eyes were ugly.

Grid used the fire of Red Phoenix to melt the chill that clung to his sword, reducing its cutting power. Then he answered, “In any way, I won. You don’t mean to refute this, do you?”

Grid felt no particular joy.?The opponent was an intermediate dragon.?For Grid, who had developed with the assumption that the Gods of the Beginnings, the Old Dragons, and Chiyou were his enemies, this was an opponent that had to be defeated unconditionally.

‘It is just that 1 vs 12 is hard.’

This difference was felt by Revola more than anyone else.

“...Are you saying you don’t have the intention of killing me? I am indebted to you. I will keep my promise.”

Revola stared at Grid in silence for a long time before stepping back cleanly.?The cold air that disturbed Grid’s vision and slowed down the God Hands disappeared without a trace.

***

Every step he took left a trace of blood.?Revola was seriously wounded after being cut by Grid’s sword.?But neither his eyes nor his posture was disturbed.?He would be lying if he said he wasn’t resentful, but the pride in having fulfilled the covenant was what sustained him.

“The problem is that you led us.”

It was immediately after exiting Trauka’s lair.

Revola’s expression stiffened.?The three companions who left earlier were waiting for him.?The surrounding area was also full of blood. Someone’s flesh covered with green scales were strewn like garbage everywhere...

“You foolish loser, hand over your hierarchy to us.”

A revolt against a higher rank—it was something that was hard to witness in the Age of Oblivion.?Since dragons didn’t trust each other, it was structurally difficult for the lower species to cooperate and challenge higher species.?Now that the Age of Oblivion ended, this was what happened.

“...The world has become so much better.”

The smiling Revola released his Polymorph.

[I will prove that it was a defeat without any shame.]