Overgeared

by Park Saenal

  Grid was baffled. He never imagined that there would be an item he couldn’t wear.

  ‘It’s frustrating.’

  There was only one way to increase the rating of a growth item. Use it a lot. However, Grid couldn’t wear it so he had no way to increase the rating. Grid wanted Iyarugt to become a legendary weapon, so he was now in a difficult situation.

  ‘I have to increase my demonic power?’

  Iyarugt rejected Grid because his demonic power was too low. If he increased his demonic power, Iyarugt would no longer reject Grid. But Grid was unwilling.

  ‘The higher the demonic power, the more likely I am to go to hell.’

  Demonic power rising. It meant he would become a demon sooner. The reason Grid could be sure of this was because of the notification windows he saw when he was in hell.

  [The duration of Blackening is over.]

  [Your demonic power is sealed and your species has returned to a human being.]

  [It is impossible for ordinary humans to enter hell. You are expelled from hell.]

  The system had clearly said so. It was impossible for a human to enter and stay in hell. In other words, if his demonic power was high enough to allow him entry to hell, he had already become a demon.

  ‘A demon…’

  If he played a species hostile to humans, would it be possible to progress normally in the game? It would be tough. He wouldn’t be able to keep his position as lord of Reidan, which meant the collapse of Overgeared. In the worst case scenario, Irene and Khan would leave his side. Grid wanted to avoid becoming a demon as much as possible.

  ‘For the time being, I will use Iyarugt only when Blackening is activated.’

  If he handled it briefly, he would improve his understanding of the item. If it reached 100% understanding…

  ‘At that time, I will use the Legendary Blacksmith’s Reconstruction.’

  He would change Iyarugt into a soul that obeyed him, making him the perfect master of Iyarugt. Grid’s face distorted in a wicked manner as he pledged.

  ‘I will change its name to Yakult.’

  It was a 200 won drink that Grid had drank since he was a child, and Iyarugt was hard to pronounce. It was a good choice to change the name into something easier to call.

  “Kukukuk…!”

  The demon sword Iyarugt, which had swordsmanship comparable to a great demon. It wasn’t long until his noble pride would be brutally trampled on.

  ***

  Yura joined the party from the 14th city onwards. She was level 203 when she joined. She might’ve been the former 5th ranked user and a legendary class, but wasn’t her level too low? The party members judged that Yura joining them was too premature. She would be a burden, rather than help the party.

  But she defied everyone’s predictions. The legendary class, Demon Slayer, seemed to be fatal to all demonkin. Yura showed off a transcendent combat power against the vampires.

  Tatang! Tang tang!

  A Demon Slayer’s main weapon was a magic gun. For convenience, a magic gun was a weapon that could only be produced at an alchemy facility and it depended on the user’s control ability. It required discharging a constant amount of magic power quickly and properly as a bullet.

  Every attack required a series of steps, so it wasn’t easy. If Grid was given a magic gun to use, he would fail more than 100 times. Maybe it would take him more than three minutes to shoot a bullet.

  But Yura was different. She skillfully handled the magic gun based on her masterful control from her time as a black magician, as well as her innate talent. Even magic gunmen would admire her skill.

  “Kuak!”

  “Kiyaaak!”

  The pure white pistol blended with Yura’s white skin. Every time she fired a magic bullet, the inferior vampires would shed blood.

  “What is this…?”

  The vampires made disbelieving expressions. A human woman with ebony hair tied up. She was so beautiful that she even attracted the vampires who regarded humans as food, and she didn’t have any divine power. Yet her abilities were deadly to them.

  Their bodies turned to black smoke, but still received damage. It was an attack that even neutralized the black smoke.

  “This woman…! What is your identity?”

  A vampire shouted when he saw his kin die from the bullets. The vampires reigned as a top-level predator, but they were now terrified of a human. Furthermore, a Korean woman! Peak Sword’s patriotism rose at the sight.

  “Do you know Yura!!!?”

  “…That person, it’s obvious that ‘do you know’ are the only English words he speaks.”

  “He doesn’t even know how to use it correctly.”

  The party clicked their tongue at Peak Sword’s tendencies. Yura just focused on the battle. The passive skill that was fatal to all demonkin, ‘Purification’ was refined into the magic bullets and then she shot them with ‘Demonkin Contempt.’

  Tatang! Tang tang!

  The biggest advantage of a magic gun was the speed of the bullets. It was almost impossible to cope with the bullets, unlike arrows. The disadvantage was the slow firing speed.

  Unlike the guns of modern society, the magic guns had to undergo the magic refinement process, making the shooting speed very slow. This was a fundamental problem that couldn’t be overcome, even with Yura’s skill.

  Click!

  Yura shot at the head of a bullet and was reloading her magic power.

  “Damn human!”

  The surviving vampires rushed over and wielded their sharp nails at Yura.

  “This!”

  Vantner, the only tanker of the party, was protecting Zednos. It was because Zednos used a wide area spell and attracted the aggro. He couldn’t help Yura. Someone ran over as Vantner looked shocked.

  “Yura!”

  The person desperately called out Yura’s name. Was it Grid? No. Grid was struggling with Iyarugt while hunting alone. In the first place, he wasn’t paying attention to Yura. The person rushing to help Yura was Peak Sword. Yura was the proud daughter of South Korea, so he couldn’t tolerate her being hurt.

  “I’m coming! Yura!”

  Peak Sword shouted. In fact, Yura didn’t need his help. A legendary class. In addition, it was a combat focused legendary class.

  Supak!

  Yura put away her magic gun and pulled out a sword. She used the skill ‘Brilliance Sword’ and swung at the vampires. The vampires tasted the pain of burning flesh. Peak Sword couldn’t help admiring it.

  “You can even use swordsmanship…!”

  That’s right. A Demon Slayer’s main weapon actually wasn’t a magic gun. A Demon Slayer possessed the Weapons Mastery skill and could use all types of weapons. It was just that the active skills specialized in the gun and one-handed swordsmanship.

  “You’re really running wild against the small fry!”

  The intermediate vampires witnessed the junior ones being beaten up by Yura and rushed over. Panic appeared on Yura’s face. The junior vampires were in the mid-200s, while the intermediate vampires were at least level 280. The level difference between them was so large that Yura couldn’t do any damage at all.

  “Where are you looking?”

  Jishuka’s voice was heard as Yura looked around for a way to escape the vampires. Jishuka was talking to the vampires.

  “Your opponent is me!”

  Pepepeng!

  The arrows revolved like a drill and pierced the hearts of the vampires. Jishuka connected fire arrows with the dancing arrows, causing them to explode.

  “I didn’t help you. I was just maintaining my experience.”

  Yura smiled at the words.

  ‘I’m happy.’

  Due to her innate talent and beauty, Yura was always alone. People of the same sex were jealous or wanted to borrow money from her, so she never opened up her heart to make friends. But the Overgeared members were different.

  They were all people with the same talent as Yura. They didn’t give Yura
special treatment or try to keep her in check. Yura was able to realize again. It was much more rewarding being with someone, rather than being alone.

  ‘It is really good that I joined Overgeared.’

  The reason why Yura joined Overgeared was because of Grid. She wanted to quickly regain her ranking by joining Overgeared. There was also her personal liking. Grid was different from ordinary men. He was indifferent to her. Every once in a while, he showed annoyance.

  This aspect was attractive to Yura. Was she masochistic? No (perhaps). Yura just felt comfortable with the man who didn’t put pressure on her. The main point was that Grid’s help in the National Competition was very attractive. It was the first time she had a crush on someone, so Yura wanted to be near Grid.

  However, now she liked the Overgeared Guild itself.

  “It’s up to here!”

  Chaaeng!

  It was around two days after Grid’s party started killing the vampires in the 10th city. The boss appeared in the middle of the city, as windows of a building were shattered. Just like the 14th, 15th, 12th and 11th cities, the boss was a True Blood Baron.

  “Daring to make a mess in my city! It can’t be forgiven!”

  Kuooooh!

  Bloody magic power spread in all directions. The surge of magic power was enormous. It was much stronger than a normal dungeon boss. But it was nothing compared to Elfin Stone. Grid’s party had experience raiding Elfin Stone, so the baron vampires were no threat.

  “Blackening.”

  Grid revealed his power from the beginning. The red sword and dark power coming from him made him look like a grim reaper.

  “K-Keok! Why are humans so strong…?”

  The boss of the 10th city scattered into black smoke. The vampire ring he dropped was distributed among the Overgeared members.

  “Okay.”

  His understanding of Iyarugt was approaching 20%. It was very slow, but it was at least going up. Grid once again vowed to rename him Yakult and started searching for the pavranium.

  Then he encountered Braham’s soul in the cave with the pavranium. It was a reunion after around one and a half years of Satisfy time.

  [Pagma’s Descendant! We finally meet!]

  ‘Eh?’

  It was an unexpected reunion. It was because Braham’s soul didn’t appear in the 11~15th cities. To be honest, Grid had almost forgotten about Braham’s existence.

  ‘Will he be angry?’

  Grid was stealing the pavranium instead of performing the quest, so Braham would obviously be angry. Grid greeted him awkwardly.

  “I-It has been a while.”

  But Braham’s response was surprising.

  [Please help me!]

  Not only was Braham not angry, he was actually begging. It was different from the personality that Grid knew. The class quest left abandoned was about to undergo an upheaval.

  Chapter 306

  Chapter 306

  Braham Eshwald.

  One of the nine direct descendants of Shizo Beriache. He was one of the cleverest in the clan, and one day he had a deep question.

  ‘God Yatan gave us the Curse of Idleness because of our strength and ambition, but why?’

  God Yatan had a destructive desire. He wished to bring destruction to all the beings blessed by the goddess of light, Rebecca. Absolute strength and cruelty was necessary to accomplish this desire, and the right species was the vampires.

  Vampires were powerful and could achieve God Yatan’s wish. So why seal their power with the Curse of Idleness? He couldn’t understand it.

  Furthermore.

  ‘Why wasn’t any prohibition placed on the great demons?’

  It stunk. Braham smelled something nasty and started to explore deeper into the gods. Then after 483 years, he discovered a fact. God Yatan’s destructive instinct only activated in a certain cycle.

  ‘Once human desires reaches the peak, chaos will come to the world.’

  In other words, it happened when Goddess Rebecca could no longer control the world. Only then would God Yatan’s destructive instincts be exercised.

  ‘God Yatan will emerge to destroy the world, then Goddess Rebecca will once again create a new world.’

  Yatan and Rebecca. The two opposing gods on the surface were actually cooperating with each other.

  “Kukuk… We’re just playthings in the hands of the gods.”

  Even now, the creatures of Yatan and Rebecca were hating and slaughtering each other. It was originally designed like this. Yatan and Rebecca were actually in a relationship to maintain the balance of this world?

  Braham felt a great sense of betrayal. His infinite reverence for Yatan vanished. He suddenly realized the reason why Shizo Beriache, originally one of the great demons, was expelled from hell into the human world.

  ‘Mother was like me.’

  The clever Beriache would’ve known about the reality of Yatan. She questioned him and was cursed with the Curse of Idleness, as well as being expelled from hell.

  ‘What about the other great demons?’

  Did they know the truth, or were they just obedient puppets?

  ‘No matter what.’

  There was only one thing Braham wanted.

  ‘I will overcome the Curse of Idleness.’

  Shizo Beriache was a great demon of predation. The vampires who inherited her blood also had the same tendencies. Among them, Braham wanted to eat knowledge. However, due to the Curse of Idleness, he slept most of the day and it was almost impossible.

  ‘There is deep meaning in the great god’s curse.’

  He must’ve cursed us to restrain our appetites. But what was the reality?

  ‘There is no god in the first place.’

  Yatan. In other words, the omnipotent entity they thought of as a god didn’t exist. He was a passive machine that existed just for the providence of the world. There was no reason to serve it or endure the current trials.

  ‘Yatan, I will overcome the curse you laid on us and will be faithful to my instincts.’

  He would accumulate knowledge and become a perfect existence! On that day, Braham pledged to explore all the disciplines and magic of the world. Over hundreds of years, he built up his knowledge and devoted himself to magic research by using all types of species as his test subjects. Among them were his clan members.

  And this was the beginning of the worst situation.

  ***

  “Braham! I’ll kill you!”

  A vampire was crying while hugging his lover’s dead body. It was Elfin Stone, the 9th child of Shizo Beriache.

  “Leah, you dare do to her…! Leah!!!”

  Elfin Stone was enraged that his lover was the victim of the research. Braham asked him, “Brother, do you fail to understand my inquiring mind even until the end? Don’t you wonder about the source of my inquisitiveness?”

  “I don’t understand! How can I understand your strange behavior when studying magic, to the point of even sacrificing your clan members? You’re just crazy!”

  “…You’re saying this as well?”

  He blamed the Curse of Idleness. They didn’t question anything. They found everything annoying and only coped with the things in front of them.

  “There is no value for our clan.”

  Braham confirmed it.

  “Brethren, listen to me. You’re worse than the humans you treat as livestock. You have no right to grab at my ankles.”

  “Stop talking such sophistry!”

  Elfin Stone used Blood Field and summoned Iyarugt to attack Braham. But he wasn’t his match from the beginning. Braham was a duke while Elfin Stone was just an earl, so the difference was clear.

  “Dammit…! Dammit! Brahammmm!”

  “Disgusting.”

  The sight of the screaming and bleeding Elfin was sad and funny. Even as Elfin Stone was about to be killed by the enemy, he couldn’t endure the drowsiness and his eyes were closing.

  “Braham.”

  A woman appeared in fro
nt of the laughing Braham. Shizo Beriache.

  “Mother…”

  Braham was shaken. Beriache had been sleeping for hundreds of years after being directly cursed by Yatan, so why was she awake at this time?

  ‘She should’ve woken up in 50 years.’

  Braham was confused when he suddenly felt something strange from Beriache.

  ‘I can’t feel her vitality.’

  Beriache was dying. Why? She should have eternal life.

  ‘That girl…!’

  Braham belatedly noticed the girl standing next to Beriache. It was a black-haired girl who looked exactly like Beriache.

  “Is this my 10th sibling?”

  Braham’s expression distorted. The magic power coming from the girl was far beyond Beriache’s power.

  “Mother! You gave birth to a being beyond yourself!”

  “…You broke the taboo that the clan members shouldn’t be harmed, no matter what.”

  “Mother, that…”

  Braham tried to explain, but closed his mouth. He knew that his actions of sacrificing his clan members for his greed wouldn’t be forgiven. Beriache looked at him with hatred.

  “I have loved you more than anyone.”

  “…”

  Tears appeared in Braham’s eyes. It was because Beriache, who should be enjoying eternal life, now had wrinkles on her neck. All of this was due to that girl! Braham struck at at his new sibling. And he failed to hit the girl, Marie Rose.

  “Excuse me for doing this from the beginning.”

  “…!”

  The power of Marie Rose was absolute. Despite being a newborn, she defeated Braham who was the strongest of the clan.

  Paduduk!

  “Ack…!”

  Braham groaned angrily as he grabbed his injured wrist. Beriache’s hate-filled gaze didn’t leave him. She was merciless.

  “I have warned all of you that our clan has a craving for predation, so an unimaginable situation will occur if we hurt each other. You have killed many clan members while I was sleeping, and now you want to harm your sibling in front of me? I will punish you to set an example!”

  “…!”

  Braham’s expression twisted. Marie Rose’s little fangs bit his neck and all the blood in his system was sucked out, causing unimaginable pain. On this day, Braham lost his eternal life. He was banished from the clan.