Overgeared

Garam had been terribly persistent. He had controlled hundreds of Treasures until he drew his last breath and refused to die without taking someone down with him. The Treasures were assembled in a spear-like formation, and they had been bombarding the old dragons and the clone to keep them from helping Grid. Now, they turned their attention to the rankers on the ground.

“That bastard.”

Garam hadn’t changed. He had remained the same since the day Grid had met him until he finally died. Grid was impressed with Garam’s consistency despite how much the world had changed over the years.

Grid’s first instinct was to get up, but his body didn’t listen to him. However, there was no need for him to worry. The clone and the old dragons were now free to act, and they shot down most of the Treasures. No matter how powerful the Treasures used to be, their master was now gone, so their power dimmed. They couldn’t withstand the bombardment of spells from the clone and the old dragons and were eventually destroyed.

The only ones still attacking the rankers with ferocity were the Treasures taken from the seven immortals, but...

“Nyang!”

...Noe and Randy stepped in and managed to stop them.

In the process, most of Noe’s Treasures were also destroyed. Still, this wasn’t something to feel sorry about. Noe now had the Treasures of the seven immortals.

‘It’s finally over...’

It was only after everything calmed down that Grid felt relieved. He double checked the notification window announcing Garam’s death and sat down.

‘If reality changes to become like the game, will there be pain correction in the real world as well?’

After checking his physical condition, Grid suddenly became afraid. He thought that if he met a strong opponent in real life and suffered a wound like today, he would die from sheer shock.

‘I don’t think there would be any concept of defense or HP.’

Even a sword brandished by a poorly skilled individual could kill people in real life. No, scratch that. Humans could die if they got punched wrong.

Would Grid have the courage to fight in real life? He gulped the moment he finally realized this very important problem.

”Waaaaahhhhh!”

The rankers on the ground cheered and rushed toward him. The fact that they were safe and that Grid had won made them very emotional.

“Wait...!”

Grid’s face turned white.

He was currently on top of the Refractive Dragon, and he wasn’t sure how the dragon would react to people. If the Refractive Dragon went on a rampage, many people would die without even knowing why...

‘I don’t even know how he will react upon seeing me.’

Grid had gambled when he got on top of the Refractive Dragon’s head. He didn’t know whether the dragon would accept him, and even if he did, Grid wasn’t sure if the Dragon Knight effect would activate. Grid hadn’t been sure of anything, but he still used Shunpo to get on the Refractive Dragon’s head because it would have been difficult to defeat Garam without the Dragon Knight effect. He had to try, even if he risked offending the Refractive Dragon and getting eaten in the process.

Dragon Knight did activate, but...

Grrrrr...

Grid couldn’t tell what would happen now.

After Garam dissipated, the Refractive Dragon tilted his head in confusion. Now he let out a ragged breath, as if in response to the commotion.

For those who couldn’t see the Refractive Dragon, they only heard an echoing roar that seemed to come from the sky.

‘Are the heavens angry because a god died?’

The clear sky roared as if a thunderstorm was approaching... Could this be the harbinger of some ominous event? The people who misunderstood the noise made by the Refractive Dragon breathing flinched for a moment.

The three masters, who had been silent throughout the battle, were now complaining. They all sighed and seemed upset, but they didn’t seem to have any major regrets.

[Garam has always made irrational decisions because of his immaturity. We anticipated that the Hwan Kingdom would fall when we found out Hanul had picked Garam as his successor.]

They didn’t seem to be lying. It looked like they had expected this outcome.

[Kill us. We will not resist. That would be useless.]

The three masters laid down their weapons and closed their eyes. They had been born as a result of Hanul’s will. They had been stirring up the wind, rain, and thunder just for Hanul and devoted their lives to gaining faith for Hanul by helping humanity, punishing them, or making miracles happen.

From the moment Hanul died, they no longer had any purpose in life. If King Sobyeol had been chosen as the successor instead of Garam, this would’ve been different... Once the three masters realized that Hanul’s real intentions weren’t to restore the Hwan Kingdom, but to get revenge on Grid, they thought that everything they had achieved was in vain.

Roaaaaar!

The Refractive Dragon roared and flapped his wings as he looked around. As a result, Grid fell from the dragon’s head and barely regained his balance in the air.

“......”

The Refractive Dragon was already gone. He surely realized that the light that had just been extinguished wasn’t Rebecca and set off to find her again.

‘He is leaving without having any regrets.’

Grid had no choice but to admit this. The Refractive Dragon was just doing his duty as a vaccine. Garam was right. Bunhelier was gone. The Refractive Dragon was just a beast guided by instincts.

This meant that Bunhelier now remained only in Grid’s memories.

There was a bitter taste on Grid’s tongue. He swallowed before staring intently at the three masters, who were frozen in place. They could have gotten rid of Grid at any moment now since he was defenseless without the Refractive Dragon around. But they didn’t. It seemed that they genuinely wanted to die. They were just empty shells with no will to live anymore.

And Grid had the power to extinguish their souls.

The three masters saw Grid not doing anything and asked, [Do you need time to recover your strength?]

“Of course,” Grid lied. “If Annihilation energy was infinite, wouldn’t I be invincible?”

[Indeed...]

Fortunately, the three masters believed him. They had witnessed the power of the Annihilation energy from the sidelines, so what Grid told them made sense.

[If so, get plenty of rest before killing us.]

The three masters walked away for hundreds of meters and scattered in different directions. Even though they were far away, it looked like they were guarding Grid since Grid was in the center of their formation.

A black-haired man and a long-haired man, both incredibly beautiful and androgynous-looking, approached and said, “They really do as they please. I can’t understand the gods at all.”

They were Raiders and Nevartan, who had polymorphed into humans.

Grid made eye contact with them and said, “Don’t humans and you two also do as we please? Only personalities and ideologies differentiate us. In the grand scheme of things, I think we are all the same. I believe we can all live together and enjoy life to the fullest.”

Nevartan didn’t think the same. “Hmph, I don’t agree. Regardless of personality or ideology, us old dragons have never deviated greatly from the will of the foreign god.”

Raiders scolded him. “I don’t think that’s appropriate for you to say since you went crazy and caused all sorts of incidents in the past.”

Nevartan blushed and said things like, ‘I forgot my purpose when the Refractive Dragon got sealed, blah blah blah,’ but Raiders ignored him.

Raiders stared at Grid with his characteristically cold and indifferent golden eyes.

“Since we told you what our situation is, I would like to ask you a question. Now that we’ve lost communication with the foreign god, I don’t know what we should do.”

Ever since the resurrection of the Refractive Dragon, Raiders had regained his memories and had been communicating with Morpheus. He accepted Morpheus’ information and knowledge as truthful. Every time Morpheus told him to do something, Raiders thought that the foreign god’s instructions were the only correct ones.

But things had changed. Morpheus was silent. Beings that had never been mentioned appeared and went on a rampage. Raiders felt lost, not knowing what to do next.

In any case, the Refractive Dragon was still chasing Rebecca. It was difficult for the old dragons to keep up with the Goddess because of their abilities. And it was impossible for them to communicate with the Refractive Dragon.

Raiders couldn’t figure out what the next course of action should be.

Grid shrugged. “You don’t need to worry. Just take a break.”

“A break...?”

“Sleep for a hundred years. You will regain your strength when you wake up.”

“And then?”

“Once you open your eyes, eat something. Call Idan and tell him to prepare a lot of dishes.”

“What next?”

“Who knows? Why don’t you go on a food tour?”

“......?”

“Live as freely as you want, just like in the days when the Refractive Dragon was sealed. As I said before, isn’t it the world’s providence that humans, gods, and dragons ultimately live according to their own wishes?”

“There is no way that the providence of the world can apply to me, since I’m an apostle of the foreign god...”

“Is there a difference? After all, what the foreign god wants is for this world to keep existing. If you live freely and see something that threatens the peace of this world, something like the cultivators, then step in and help. It’s that simple. You can live according to providence while also acting as an apostle of the foreign god.”

“I agree,” Nevartan said. “Taking a break is the right call. If I wake up in a hundred years and there is still no contact from the foreign god, then I can just do whatever I want.”

Raiders was intrigued. “Nevartan, do you have any hobbies?”

“Do I need to have a hobby?” Nevartan answered casually before suddenly glaring at Grid. “Grid, even though you are great, my daughter is still young.”

“Huh?”

“At the very least, keep in mind that you can’t marry her before I wake up.”

“Who is marrying whom? Are you crazy?”

“You know that my madness has been cured a long time ago.”

“Is keeping an eye on your child your hobby...?” Grid asked, agitated.

The old dragons ignored Grid’s response because they were embarrassed and frustrated. They exchanged a few more words before dispersing in the direction of their respective lairs.

The rankers watching this were amazed.

[You have received the Blessing of the Gourmet Dragon, Raiders.]

[You have received the Blessing of the Insane Dragon, Nevartan.]

Strength boiled in rankers’ bodies. Buffs they never imagined before now stacked. They were brave, but they wondered if they were really capable of destroying all the remaining Full Moon Fortresses.

“Grid... Grid blessed us...!!”

The rankers suddenly came to their senses and started chanting Grid’s name. They mistakenly thought that Grid’s influence was behind the blessings received from the old dragons.

The special status of Dragon Knight was quite misleading.

“Haha...”

Grid laughed awkwardly. He felt very proud. The old dragons had blessed the players probably because they planned to leave the rest to the humans while they were taking a break.

In other words, the dragons of the world believed that humans were strong enough.

‘The world has changed so much.’

Grid was happy.

Seeing that Grid didn’t look so injured anymore, the three masters asked, [Not yet?]

Grid shook his head. “I still have to wait for a while longer. Hey, why don’t you stay with Piaro while I rest?”

[...The farmer? Why should we?]

“I think your abilities will be of great help to Piaro’s farming.”

[Why should we help him farm?]

“You don’t have anything to do anyway, right?”

[We can just... follow you around.]

“Please don’t. Piaro is my closest confidant, so you will still be close to me.”

[Even if that is the case, why should we...]

Grid wanted to put an end to this conversation. “Then what, are you just going to waste time doing nothing? Even the old dragons are trying to do something. Are you going to just sit around?”

In any case, he would get forcefully logged out soon.

[Excuse me... Excuse me, Grid?]

Grid asked the clone to take care of the rest and logged out.