Overgeared

by Park Saenal

  Yoshimura declared, “Since you’re alive, I guess you succeeded in the Hell Gao raid? You, I don’t know the jackpot you received, but that joy is short-lived. I will take away everything you obtained.”

  Peak Sword yelled. “Try it! And this is Cork Island, so stop calling it Takeshima!”

  “Bah! You still can’t grasp the situation!”

  Yoshimura made a sly smile, like someone from a Japanese historical drama! He pointed fingers covered in calluses as he commanded his men.

  “Kill that damn Korean person.” (TL: The word Yoshimura uses is actually more like Joseon person, with Joseon being a name for a Korean kingdom in the past. It basically means Korean person but it was first used by the Japanese during the Japanese colonial period of Japan. It isn’t exactly derogatory, but it is a term only used by Japanese and Koreans don’t like it because of the context.)

  “Ohhh!”

  Several months ago, at the time of the contest over Cork Island. Peak Sword had caused terrible agony to the Sakura Guild. It was due to Peak Sword that they lost Cork Island, and many guild members died and lost experience. This was a perfect chance to pay back the grudge of that time.

  Peak Sword was ‘alone’ so their morale skyrocketed. Peak Sword pulled out his sword from the sheath.

  “Draw Sword, annihilate.”

  Multiple lights flashed. The eight knights of the Sakura Guild, who had been rushing at the front, vomited and collapsed.

  “Your skills haven’t gone rusty!”

  This was the dignity of the 16th rank that made level 150 knights fall into a critical state with one blow. Yoshimura truly admired it. But there wasn’t the slightest bit of tension in his expression. Only eight out of the 180 guild members were injured, so the situation didn’t change.

  On the other hand, Grid hadn’t seen Peak Sword’s swordsmanship and was amazed.

  Then he heard a strange voice.

  –Hungry.

  “…?”

  -I want to eat.

  “…”

  It was the voice of a young boy or girl. It wasn’t a hallucination. Where did this voice, filled with a strong greed, come from? Then a notification window flashed in front of Grid.

  [A memphis, the first demonic beast of hell, has hatched due to his greed for human souls.]

  [You are the first user in Satisfy to become the master of a demonic beast from hell!]

  [Title, ‘Man who has Touched Hell’ has been acquired.]

  [Health has increased by 3,000 points.]

  [Demonic power stat has opened.]

  “What?”

  “Huh?”

  Grid made a surprised noise at the notification windows and Yoshimura was surprised to hear it.

  “W-What? That guy?”

  At this point, all of his followers except for him were struggling with Peak Sword 10m ahead. Yoshimura was nervous when he suddenly heard someone else’s voice near him. Then he flinched. A long tail suddenly protruded from empty space! There was an enormous gaping mouth?

  “H-Hik?”

  Yoshimura reflexively tried to shoot his bow, but it was already too late. His body was swallowed by that huge mouth.

  [You have lost a part of your soul to the memphis.]

  [You are more likely to be affected by status conditions.]

  [There will be a 50% decline in your main stats for 3 seconds.]

  Suuk.

  Yoshimura was spat out after being swallowed, and saw the image of a cat. It was a typical Persian cat. However, it was black, had a small horn on its forehead and small devil wings on its back.

  The cat licked its paws and winked.

  “Hello!”

  The cat with a horn and wings was talking? In particular, the color of its fur was attractive. It was black all over, except for its four paws which were white as snow.

  “K-Kawaii…”

  Yoshimura was a cat lover, so he couldn’t help feeling thrilled. He wanted to bring this cat into reality and raise it at home. Then the cat revealed its canines.

  “Delicious!”

  “Y-You?”

  Yoshimura’s face turned pale. It was due to the appearance of an person behind the cat. There was no one there a little while ago, but he appeared like he always existed and naturally stabbed with a black greatsword.

  “Keok!”

  It was a surprise attack. Yoshimura’s agility was decreased by 50% so he was slow to move, while his opponent was too fast. Yoshimura lost two-thirds of his health from a single strike and fell into a confused state.

  “Master!”

  The Sakura Guild noticed the crisis of their master and belatedly shifted their gaze. They were able to see it. A flying cat demon. Then a black-haired man in red armor and a gold tail was cutting down their guild master.

  “T-This is ridiculous…!”

  Was it so easy to kill someone that was ranked 98th on the unified rankings? It was hard just going against Peak Sword. How could they deal with that monster as well? The Sakura Guild lost their willpower and retreated.

  Grid and Peak Sword didn’t chase after them. Meanwhile, the cat with an enlarged belly walked around Grid and rejoiced.

  “My master is a killer ~~ my master is a killer ~~ killer~~ nyang!”

  The cat singing the eerie song innocently was the first demonic beast of hell, memphis. It was the worst pet that stole some of the stats from the souls he ate and temporarily gave them to his master.

  Grid faced an unfamiliar notification window after killing Yoshimura.

  [Your demonic power has increased by one.]

  [Demonic Power]

  You can communicate with demonic beasts. The higher the number, the more likely you are to enter hell.

  * Stat points can’t be distributed to this stat.

  “I want to go to heaven.”

  The word ‘hell’ wasn’t very good.

  Chapter 169

  Chapter 169

  Hell? He never wanted to go there.

  ‘Won’t there be more guys like Hell Gao in hell?’

  The demons were too strong. He also didn’t want to fight them again, because the dropped items were too bad.

  ‘No, it was a misunderstanding that the dropped items were bad.’

  Grid watched the grinning memphis who was licking his fur with a red tongue.

  ‘An amazing pet dropped. Hell Gao was the most powerful boss I’ve faced. I might’ve only obtained two fire stones, but I was able to get a tremendous treasure in return for raiding him.’

  [Memphis]

  The most powerful species among the thousands of demonic beasts inhabiting hell.

  As an adult, their fighting abilities are superior to the higher-ranked demonkin, so they are the favorite of the 33 great demons.

  But they are a species in danger of extinction, due to their lack of breeding ability.

  Their natural habitat is hell.

  ‘I managed to obtain such a precious pet and I ignored it.’

  Grid reprimanded himself and brought up the status window of his pet.

  Name: Not Set

  Level: 1 (0/200)

  Affinity: 0/100

  Health: 5,000/5,000

  Physical Attack Power: 60 Magic Attack Power: 30

  Defense: 50 Magic Resistance: 80

  Attribute: Dark

  Status: Narcissistic

  (As soon as I was born, I ate a human soul with my own strength! I am the best demonic beast of hell! Nyang!)

  -Current Skills List-

  [Fluidization]

  When attacked, the body can become fluid like a slime to minimize damage. However, the damage from some attribute magic might become even greater.

  [Soul Ingestion Lv. 1]

  Has the ability to take away half of the target’s highest stats and transfer it to your master.

  Skill Cooldown Time: Your own decision.

  [Scratch Lv. 1]

  Your paws will attack and poison the target.

  Skill Cooldown T
ime: Whenever you like.

  ‘He gained zero experience points from defeating Yoshimura, so is it impossible to gain experience from PK? Anyway, his abilities at level 1 are terrific. The skill called Soul Ingestion is a complete scam.

  The fact that the skill cooldown time depended on the memphis was quite annoying, but he would take it step by step. Grid laughed with joy.

  “Master, do you like me? Nyang!”

  The memphis was great. Grid made a pleasant expression as he looked at the cat.

  ‘Sehee likes cute things like this. I’m worried because she has no hobby other than studying… Should I buy her a capsule?’

  The memphis’ eyes in the shape of a ‘ㅅ’ looked sweet and cute even to Grid. He thought about buying his little sister a capsule, because he wanted to show her the memphis. Grid quickly nodded.

  “Yes, I like you.”

  “Of course you do! I am elegant, beautiful, and powerful. I am the best demonic beast of hell! Nyang!”

  Pisik.

  The memphis’ big and round eyes narrowed. Then he sniffed and spoke words that stabbed at Grid’s heart.

  “But I don’t like Master.”

  “Eh? Why?”

  “You are ugly! I don’t like you!”

  “…”

  “Take a look twice~ can’t~ unsee~ it~~ nyang!”

  Recently, Grid hadn’t been hearing that he was ugly. He had built up confidence, so there wasn’t anyone who became sick or tried to run away when he smiled at them. Therefore, he was shocked to hear that he was ugly from a cat.

  Then the memphis tried to comfort him. “Don’t worry! I won’t abandon you because you’re ugly! You can be ugly! Master just needs to entertain me!”

  “…”

  The cat should honor and serve his master, yet he was asking for his master to entertain him?

  ‘This damn cat, does he not know the meaning of the words Master?’

  Grid’s expression distorted while Peak Sword laughed at the sight.

  “It looks like a cat, but its nature is different from a cat. Won’t you be struggling in the future?”

  “Well… I can tolerate some things if I have this pet.”

  The first way to build affinity with a pet was to name it. Grid worried about what he should call the memphis.

  ‘If it was a dog, not a cat with wings, the name Dog would be perfect…’

  Was there a name he could give to this prideful cat? Grid thought of an appropriate name.

  “Slave.”

  “Nyang?”

  “Your name is slave.”

  “Kyaak!”

  Padak padak!

  The memphis flapped his wings hard around Grid and bristled.

  “Master’s naming sense sucks! How can a noble beast of hell be a slave? Master is crazy! Nyang!”

  Grid was surprised to see that the memphis had even extended his claws.

  ‘This cat doesn’t know the meaning of the word master, but it knows the meaning of slave?’

  If affinity entered into the negatives then the pet could escape. Grid wanted to prevent the worst so he quickly changed the name.

  “You heard wrong. It isn’t slave, it is Noe, Noe.” (TL: Slave in Korean is pronounced like Noye)

  “Noe?” The memphis was confused. “What does Noe mean? Nyang?”

  Grid replied roughly. “A slave is a slave… Noe means you are not a slave…. That is what it means.”

  “Oh…! Ohhhh!”

  The memphis’ wild eyes became lanterns again. As a demonic beast of hell, he had a lot of knowledge after being born, but he was still just a kitten. He felt like there was something wonderful and cool about Grid’s words. And then…

  “Good! I am Noe! Nyang!”

  He felt better and rubbed his cheeks against Grid. Grid laughed at the poor little guy.

  “Okay! With this, your name is Noe!”

  [Do you want to set the memphis’ name to ‘Noe’?]

  ‘Yes.’

  [The memphis’ name has been set to Noe.]

  [Affinity with Noe has risen by 5.]

  The memphis raised a paw to his engorged belly and shouted.

  “You are Master and I am Noe!”

  “Correct.”

  Grid made a serious expression and raised his thumb. Memphis. No, Noe was satisfied! He laughed. Peak Sword saw this and clicked his tongue.

  ‘Giving that name to a demonic beast…’

  Grid truly wasn’t an ordinary person. After that, they left the dungeon and headed for Cork Castle.

  “Ohh! The return of the heroes!”

  “You cut down Yoshimura?”

  The guild members praised Grid and Peak Sword, who had defeated Hell Gao and the Sakura Guild. They tried to question Grid, but were stopped by Peak Sword.

  ‘He didn’t register in the rankings, so he probably doesn’t want the public to know that he is Pagma’s Descendant.’

  Peak Sword had keen insight as the head of an organization, so he didn’t spill Grid’s identity. He highlighted that they succeeded in the Hell Gao raid because of the fire stones weakness.

  During the night.

  Grid enjoyed a banquet and built up a friendship with Peak Sword and the Silver Knights Guild. Some guild members caused a fuss after they became drunk, but fortunately it ended without anything serious happening.

  The next day. In the early morning, Peak Sword carefully asked Grid who was preparing to leave.

  “You aren’t participating in the National Competition this year?”

  Grid nodded. “A strange woman put down my name on the list of participants, but I have no intention of participating. I don’t want to expose my identity, and there isn’t much merit to participating.”

  “Yes. But I hope that you change your mind next year. As a man, fighting for the honor of your country isn’t a bad experience… I will participate next year, so let’s join together.”

  “I will think about it then. As a reservist, I am already in the arduous position of striving for the security of our country.”

  Grid went out to the terrace. He savored the smell of salt on the wind and told Peak Sword.

  “Please let me know if Hell Gao responds normally during the next cycle. I need one more fire stone.”

  “I understand. But as I said yesterday, Hell Gao probably won’t appear for a while. He’s likely to be replaced by other high ranking demonkin.”

  “I guess I’ll have to look forward to it. Then I’m going now.”

  Grid immediately used Fly. Then he flew away from the island and disappeared into the horizon. Peak Sword watched Grid and thought.

  ‘The greatsword with fraudulent attack power, the golden blades, the invisibility cloak and now the boots with Fly magic attached to them… Amazing. This game truly is about items.’

  To be honest, he was really envious.

  ‘I want to obtain items like that soon.’

  Then Grid’s voice entered his ears.

  –If you have a request to produce an item, please contact me. I will add you to the schedule. Of course, it’s a paid service.

  “Ohh…!”

  He could request the production of an item from a legendary blacksmith! Peak Sword shook with joy.

  –Thank you Grid!

  The two people rapidly became closer after sharing secrets.

  ***

  “Grid!”

  Toban was waiting at Khan’s smithy as Grid returned after six days. Grid’s face, which had been happy since obtaining Noe, stiffened as soon as he saw Toban.

  “Good work! Did you obtain the fire stones?”

  Grid looked at Toban’s expectant expression and pulled out two fire stones.

  “…I am lacking one.”

  “Kuk…!”

  Toban had already predicted this situation since Grid said ‘Believe in me.’ However, he couldn’t help feeling disappointed as it was proven true. Grid apologized to the frustrated Toban.

  “I’m sorry. I did my best, but
Hell Gao was too strong. It was impossible to focus on mining.”

  Toban panicked. “Why are you apologizing? Is it something you should be apologizing for? I’m just grateful that you tried.”

  To think he would apologize. Grid really had changed. He felt like a completely different Grid compared to the one Toban first met.

  ‘Can people mature while playing the game?’

  Anyone could become strong if they levelled up. That was all. The level up system wasn’t one designed for people to grow internally. So how could Grid change in this way?

  Toban thought it was a miracle. “In the past four months, Vantner had put his stat points in stamina and he can now play the role of tanker. Even if I don’t have the Fire Shield, there’s a chance we can succeed in the Phoenix Raid with him. So don’t worry about it.”

  “Then I’m glad. I will keep these fire stones for the Fire Shield production.”

  “Yes, thank you. By the way, why did you ignore Jishuka’s whisper?”

  “Jishuka?” Grid was confused. “Jishuka never whispered me?”

  “On the day you left for Cork Island, Jishuka kept whispering to you, but there was no response.”

  Grid looked through his memories and nodded.

  “Ah, I was busy with flying that day and ignored some whispers. It might’ve included Jishuka’s whispers. But why was she trying to contact me?”

  “She wanted to ask for your home address…”

  “My home?”

  “She came to South Korea and wanted to meet you.”

  “Hrmm…”

  Grid thought about it and was sad to miss the opportunity. The guild members who came to South Korea because of this National Competition was Jishuka, Pon and Regas, so it was a chance to meet all of them.

  ‘I definitely want to meet them… If I don’t meet them this time, I might not get another chance?’

  Wouldn’t he regret it someday if he missed the chance to appreciate Jishuka’s fantastic body, who made hundreds of millions of won for taking pictures for a few hours? Grid checked the time.

  “It will be the second day of events in reality. What events is Jishuka participating in?”

  “Target processing and the siege. And it seems like the last one is treasure hunting.”

  “The second day… It is the day with target processing and siege.”

  The National Competition was everywhere when he turned on the TV, so Grid couldn’t help memorizing the schedule.