Overgeared

“......”

Grid’s group entered the temple and was already busy. Noe used his Treasures and spells to prepare for an enemy attack while Grid used his God Hands to build a barrier to seal off the entrance. He was trying to stop Asura’s pursuit, if only for a moment. Marie Rose stared at him as he took out a potion and drank it.

“My dear husband, don’t do that again.”

Marie Rose’s gaze rested on Grid’s ankle. It looked awful. The Treasures that Asura had sent toward him had shattered his Achilles tendon. If Marie Rose hadn’t used blood magic to help Grid, his entire leg would’ve been torn off.

“What?”

“What...?” Marie Rose’s facial expression became unusually cold as she repeated what Grid had said back to him. Since she was always so relaxed, the impression she gave off completely changed when all she did was just narrow her eyebrows slightly.

Nevertheless, Grid didn’t raise an eyebrow. It seemed like he really didn’t know what he did wrong. Marie Rose sighed.

“Don’t neglect yourself to protect me. Do you think I can’t take care of myself?”

Just now, Grid had thrown himself toward Marie Rose before entering the temple. In the process, he left himself exposed and got seriously wounded by Asura.

“Um...”

Grid recalled the situation in detail. Certainly, there was no reason for him to do something like that. He hadn’t taken Marie Rose’s skills into account. If Grid had escaped toward the entrance of the temple by himself, Marie Rose would’ve followed him in no time. She could definitely do that given her quickness and agility.

“I’m sorry. That was my fault. But I didn’t do it because I didn’t trust you. I just acted instinctively. Don’t get me wrong.”

“You acted instinctively...?”

Marie Rose’s expression became a bit serious. She wondered if Asura had performed some kind of trickery to make Grid move without thinking.

Grid let out a laugh.

“I was afraid the woman I love would get hurt. Even though I clearly know what you’re capable of, I acted without realizing it because I was worried.”

“What does that... You are foolish.”

Marie Rose’s expression was still cold. However, her eyes were trembling slightly. She was confused. She was the strongest among the Absolutes. Grid was worried about her even though she could match Chiyou for a while if they fought? She couldn’t understand Grid’s feelings at all. What she didn’t understand even more was her own heart.

For some reason, she was happy.

“In any case, don’t do that again. I can survive even if the whole world is destroyed. My dear husband, you should take care of yourself.”

Marie Rose buried her incomprehensible joy deep in her heart. She had no intention of getting in Grid’s way. This wasn’t just a matter of pride. She was confident in her abilities. Grid knew this too.

Grid nodded obediently. “Yes, I will try not to worry too much.”

This was perhaps the first time he let go of his stubbornness to protect others. This meant he trusted Marie Rose. It was fun. His heart became as light as a feather, and he also felt lighter on his feet. It felt like he was being released from all of his restraints.

“I feel like I can do anything.”

When Grid spoke, the God Hands flew and struck several pillars supporting the temple. The impact was huge.

This place was probably Hanul’s temple. It was enormous, so the pillars supporting the temple’s structure were also huge. However, they were helpless against the winds of time. The temple had been submerged in the lake for a long time and became weak. Stone fragments and dust flew as the area shook vociferously.

Their surroundings had turned cloudy in no time. The demon cultivators hiding and watching Grid’s group panicked. Of course, they didn’t give in to anxiety. Demon cultivators were able to overcome adversities that humans couldn’t even imagine. They had been born as beasts and had become Absolute-level cultivators.

They hid themselves along the path of the tilting pillars, but it was all in vain. Grid’s sensitivity after temporarily laying down all responsibilities went beyond the limits of an Absolute. Even Grid himself was astonished.

His consciousness, emotions, and senses that had been distracted because he worried so much about everything that needed to be protected were now free from that burden. Grid realized his true potential.

“You added an Invisible spell to the Earth Escape Arts. Was this Mumud’s doing? I almost didn’t realize you were hiding.”

A chill went down the spines of the demon cultivators. Grid had whispered this from a distance. He suddenly appeared behind them, trembling slightly. The demon cultivators were familiar with the emotion behind this trembling—it was joy. This was the same emotion that Asura had expressed when he slaughtered their people.

[You are also an evil killer...!]

A few months before, the demon cultivators had entered a strange world. Unlike their human counterparts, they acted cautiously. They didn’t harm any mortals and secretly blended in while focusing on studying this world’s civilization, history, and mythology.

They didn’t do this because they were good-natured. This was a survival strategy. They were afraid that they would be found by the human cultivators if they were too conspicuous. The number of demon cultivators that had come to this world was very small. They couldn’t possibly compete with the human cultivators.

As a result, they held their breaths until they discovered that Asgard existed, a place where lunatics who believed themselves to be gods resided. The demon cultivators had tried to contact them and succeeded. They had a friendly conversation before forming an agreement with some of the gods. Mumud, an angel, had contributed greatly to this.

Angels had wings on their backs like bird cultivators. Were they from the demon race after all? Mumud was very sympathetic to the demon cultivators. He showed great interest in the Full Moon Fortress.

After a long discussion, some of the gods and demon cultivators made a contract. In return for Asgard giving sovereignty to the demon cultivators, who would help build the Full Moon Fortress and expand their power through the fortress, the demon cultivators would worship the gods of Asgard.

Gods didn’t exist. But immortals who reached the highest realm presided over parts of the universe...

From the perspective of the cultivators who knew the principles of the world, worshiping a god was ridiculous. Idolatry was something that only bugs—mortals—did. However, the demon cultivators were at a crossroad between establishing a foundation for their lives or surviving in a small number which would eventually decline. They had no choice from the moment they fell into this unknown world without any warning. Thus, they made a contract using magic, and the construction for the Full Moon Fortress began...

Then, things went awry. Asura changed halfway through. When all of the formation mechanisms of the Full Moon Fortress had been completed, suddenly, Asura started slaughtering the demon cultivators while laughing joyfully. It was pure madness.

He wasn’t qualified to call himself a god, even a false one. The demon cultivators saw a similar temperament to Asura’s in Grid.

Grid didn’t deny it. “It might seem that way.”

There was no hint of displeasure in how he carried himself. He had let go of all responsibilities, even if only for a moment. He was faithful only to his feelings. He needed to kill his enemies as cruelly as possible so that, even in death, they would never think of setting foot in this place again. He showed infinite cruelty to them.

This was how Grid’s nature had been since the days he used to be called the Butcher… No, since the days he was burning to get revenge on the classmates who bullied him.

“If you feel that way, be as afraid as possible. Do that while regretting coming here and reflecting on yourselves for daring to hope to live in this world.”

Contrary to his ruthless remarks, Grid showed leniency in his hand movements. He didn’t try to overwhelm the demon cultivators. Instead, he slowly attacked them with single sword dances, spells, and mystical arts. He did that to experience the abilities of the demon cultivators and learn as much as possible. He wanted to prepare as much as he could before fighting Asura, who had absorbed their power.

‘The transformation is the most threatening part, but... It is surprisingly easy to deal with. Since they are classified as beasts, I can use hunting nets to counter it.’

‘I can respond to sonic attacks with earplug-based artifacts.’

‘I will memorize the movements of their martial arts and use the God Hands to block them.’

Grid was learning how to fight the demon cultivators in real time. At some point, he took out the furnace and anvil and swung his hammer. He treated the Absolute-level cultivators who had escaped Asura’s massacre as if they were children. He used the sword he held in his right hand and hundreds of God Hands to pressure them while he crafted items with his left hand.

The items he crafted were as such: nets, earplugs, harpoons, traps, cages, and so on. They were deadly items for most of the demon cultivators. Strictly speaking, they were tools suitable for hunting beasts. They would work properly against Asura, who had absorbed the power of those who used to be beasts.

‘I don’t know why Asura didn’t come after me.’

Because he didn’t, Grid was able to add some more weapons to his arsenal...

“You are more insane than Asura!”

The anger of the demon cultivators rose high enough to pierce the sky. They could no longer sit still and watch Grid’s antics. Thus, they revealed their full power. Some grew long snouts or had pointed beaks pop out. Some had snub noses, like wild boars, while others had their fur stand up like thorns. Another demon cultivator had fish-like scales all over his body. This was different from the transformation techniques they had shown several times along the way.

Half-human, half-beast—they weren’t fully human or beast, but a mixture of both. They were very powerful. Their physical capabilities increased drastically when they turned into beasts. Once they did that, they could use mystical arts as skillfully as if they were human. This was a unique ultimate skill of demon cultivators that highlighted their strengths.

Startled, Grid was about to stop hammering. However, Marie Rose stood silently beside him and held up a finger.

“Keep doing what you are doing.”

The blood shed by the demon cultivators got sucked into her finger. It turned redder and redder until thousands of mystical characters spun around Marie Rose’s darkened finger.

“What...”

The demon cultivators seemed confused. The mystical characters that swirled above Marie Rose’s finger contained all the tricks they had used in their fight against Grid.

“...A god?”

The cultivators studied the principles of the universe. Therefore, they didn’t believe in a god. The more they studied the universe, the less evidence they found that gods existed.

But a cultivator could become an immortal. Once an immortal reached the ultimate realm, they would preside over a part of the universe. The gods revered by the people were ultimately just cultivators.

However, at this moment, the demon cultivators witnessed the power of Marie Rose and realized that gods existed. If a being who could perfectly embody the power of their target just through a few drops of blood wasn’t a god, then what was she?

[Your wife, Marie Rose, has obtained divinity.]

Marie Rose was unimpressed after sensing the faint birth of divinity. “I don’t really care about that,” she muttered

An illusion of blood-red beasts engulfed the demon cultivators. Invincible—there was no other way to describe Grid and Marie Rose.

“Let’s go.”

After a few minutes, Grid safely completed the item thanks to Marie Rose and hurried. There was only one last thing to do before destroying the last Full Moon Fortress.

The Full Moon Fortress left here was the last Full Moon Fortress. According to Grid’s calculations, all the Full Moon Fortress on the surface should’ve been destroyed by now.