Overgeared

by Park Saenal

  A fierce battle ensued. The Hero used the silver thread in cooperation with the two red tails to attack Kraugel, like a spider attacking the prey caught in his web. However, the prey didn’t get caught in the web. He avoided the binding of the silver thread and the strikes of the red tails in one motion, linking it with a counterattack.

  The Hero gritted his teeth. It was hard for him to use his footwork because the swords that emerged from Kraugel’s inventory were stabbed into the floor, blocking the path and making it difficult to use a skill. In the end, the Hero swapped weapons to Grid’s Greatsword.

  Then instead of Cray’s Power, he pulled out Yetima’s Power. The Direct Descendant’s Sword, which was activated when a greatsword was equipped, fell like a lightning bolt. The vibration of the atmosphere when the greatsword fell physically pressured Kraugel and forced him to put on the brakes.

  “Kuek…!”

  It was only a cut on the shoulder but Kraugel lost one-sixth of his health from the blow. Considering the inherent characteristic of a Sword Saint to decrease the damage of sword type weapons and the effect of Impenetrable Skin that he obtained after reaching level 300, it was a damage that couldn’t be denied.

  The battle continued. The Direct Descendant’s Sword was on cooldown so the Hero once again swapped to the Enlightenment Sword and opened Cray’s Power. Kraugel took a potion from time to time and gradually showed resistance to the black flames. The characteristic of a Sword Saint allowed him to communicate with the Enlightenment Sword and he started to read the timing of when the Enlightenment Sword would release the flames.

  “Belial’s Power. Queen of Mocking and Violation.”

  The Hero turned off his safety device once his health fell below 40%. There were suddenly two heroes.

  『 What…! 』

  『 G-Grid is able to summon clones!! 』

  『 T-T-They might be illusions but… 』

  Having clones was similar to an assassin’s skill. It was already unbelievable that the blacksmith Grid could use swordsmanship and magic. Now the assassin’s skills were added. The impact on the commentators and the crowd was great. The disturbed commentators stuttered while some distracted audience members poured their drink on the person in front of them.

  Meanwhile, Kraugel was calm. His Super Sensitivity had reached a high level and this allowed him to tell which one was the main body. It was a lie to say he wasn’t concerned about the existence of the clone but the sky who looked down on the earth from above wasn’t easily shaken.

  “I understood it at the end of my admiration.”

  Kraugel’s body started to be covered with silver energy. It was the activation of his stage three buff skill. Kraugel, who became as sharp as a sword, cut through the Hero’s clone and approached the main body. The Hero was using Linked Kill Wave Pinnacle. There was a powerful stab, filled with enough strength to destroy all life in the space it hit.

  “I have become one after understanding.”

  Kraugel’s body was solid as he used ‘Wear the Sword’ and integrated with it. The attack was unable to pierce his body. Instead, the durability of the White Tiger Sword dropped sharply.

  “Linked Kill Wave Pinnacle!”

  The Hero had God’s Command activated. He used the ultimate attack twice in a row to continuously damage Kraugel’s White Tiger Sword. Noticeable cracks appeared on the White Tiger Sword but Kraugel wasn’t nervous. He was aiming to end the battle.

  “I am a sword and there is nothing I can’t cut.”

  The last verse was over and the ‘Poem Praising the Sword’ was complete. It was a buff that when equipping a sword, 5~11 times the attack power was added to the next skill.

  “Transcend Storm Sword.”

  A storm of silver and green energy started to mangle the Hero. The Hero naturally responded with Revolve but Transcend Storm Sword was a multi-stage skill. Only the first stage was countered while the rest of the stages hit the Hero. The God Hands flew to block the Hero but they were once again blocked by the sword.

  “Kuaaaaah!”

  The Hero screamed. He was struggling to cope with this pain when poison rose from his armor. It was an option attached to Valhalla of Infinite Affection. Nevertheless, Sword Saint Kraugel was over level 300 and could use Immune to Ten Thousand Poisons as well as the passive Impenetrable Skin. Poison was useless on him.

  Four bars, three bars, two bars, one bar. The effect of Transcend Storm Sword lasted 1.5 seconds but the Hero’s health gauge fell by a huge amount. Then once it fell to 10%, it was restored to 30% thanks to Tiramet’s Power.

  “What is this…?”

  “Is this real…?”

  The people predicted the Hero’s victory. It was because every time the clone’s health gauge fell by one bar, the Hero’s clones increased. At this moment, Kraugel looked like someone who opened the Pandora’s Box that shouldn’t be opened, not a challenger about to win. The moment that Transcend Storm Sword ended, a smile appeared on the Hero’s face.

  The four clones around Kraugel activated the skill attached to Valhalla, Moving Fortress. They used the wide area skill Impregnable, which would release half of all damage that the Hero suffered in the last 5 minutes in a radius of 50 metres. A total of five skills overlapped, resulting in a huge explosion. Pine trees disappeared instantly, cliffs flew away and no traces of Kraugel could be found.

  The hundreds of cameras shooting in real time shook like crazy, making the 100,000 spectators and billions of viewers feel nauseous.

  “Crazy…”

  The first person to recover his spirit was Grid in the waiting room. He was impressed with the creativity of the Hero who linked Queen’s Distortion and Impregnable. He felt the thrill of learning how to use skills and items in ways he would’ve never thought of.

  At the same time.

  “Kraugel?”

  He hurried to find his competitor. Then he saw the appearance of Kraugel rising high into the sky. Wings of light stretched from his back. Sometimes they flashed white and sometimes black.

  “This is…”

  Kraugel muttered with a distorted expression. It was remarkable when considering his personality, which avoided expressing emotions. Anger. It was anger toward himself.

  “Ruson’s Power!”

  The Hero on the ground perceived the risk. He entered the ‘hunger’ state due to Kraugel’s blood and his movement speed greatly increased. Then he used Fly to reach Kraugel. He approached while moving to the left and right in unnatural trajectories at a speed that couldn’t be followed with the naked eye. It was brilliant and intimidating.

  -Linked Kill.

  -Transcended Link.

  -Pinnacle Kill.

  -Wave.

  -Pinnacle.

  The voice of the Hero, which was recorded using the Alarm spell, rang from all directions. Kraugel had to be confused by the illusion that he was surrounded by dozens of heroes. It would be a big mess if he couldn’t keep up with the Hero who was constantly changing positions.

  Nevertheless, Kraugel wasn’t confused. The Hero couldn’t deceive his senses.

  “Falling Sword.”

  37 swords emerged from Kraugel’s inventory. The swords spread out like a fan and poured down like rain towards the Hero. The Hero’s judgment was quick. He immediately used Freely Move to avoid all 37 swords and approached Kraugel. Of course, he was completing his footwork at the same time.

  “Grab the Adam’s Apple.”

  “…Cough!”

  Kraugel’s action was faster than the sword dance. The cracked White Tiger Sword pierced the heart of the Hero, who was caught in a tight grip. The Hero entered the immortal state while the winged Kraugel opened the distance. Six seconds later. Kraugel recovered all four swords he had directed against the God Hands and aimed them at the Hero. The Hero was unable to withstand the bombardment and died.

  That was the moment when Kraugel won. The Grid of one year ago was defeated by today’s Kraugel.

  “Waaahhhhhhhh!”
/>
  There was thunderous applause. The 100,000 spectators filling Beijing Olympic Stadium stood up to give a standing ovation. Not a single person was sitting and it was an unprecedented spectacular sight.

  “You’ve suffered.” Grid in the waiting room also stood up and clapped. The awe and praise he gave Kraugel were sincere. There wasn’t a single bit of pretenses. “I knew you would win.”

  Duguen! Duguen! Duguen! Grid’s heart seemed like it was about to burst. He wanted to run to the stage right now and apply for a duel with Kraugel.

  “…Even so, I have to endure it.”

  Grid watched his trembling and sweating hands and eagerly hoped for the demon king’s subjugation to start. In this day, Korea’s Eat Spicy Jokbal won a gold medal in the escape the labyrinth event while Carrie of Australia and Richter of Canada won gold medals in block building and tree cutting respectively.

  From the United States and China’s viewpoint, the medals situation was very messy. The 4th National Competition only had the PvP and demon king subjugation events remaining. The first ranked country was still unconfirmed. It was too much of a variable when a minimum of five gold medals could emerge in the demon king’s subjugation. The PvP gold medal was also important.

  “The PvP medal is obviously mine.”

  “…”

  Zibal, who had the hidden card of his magic machine, was as strong as usual. However, Haster was mute. The zipper across his mouth was closed all day. He had realized that the confrontation he had a long time ago with Kraugel was fake.

  ‘In the first place, I wasn’t worth dealing with?’

  However, he couldn’t deny it. The only one who mattered to Kraugel was Grid. Haster hadn’t reached them yet. The world that he had been seeing was too narrow. Everything was ruined and Haster withdrew from PvP. It would be embarrassing and humiliating to expose himself to the world in his current state.

  On the other hand, Zibal’s nose rose even higher. “Did he resign because he was scared? Well, it couldn’t be helped since he knew my real strength.”

  If he knew this would happen, he would’ve hidden his magic machine during the selection test.

  “This year’s PvP is going to be boring.”

  Zibal felt regret.

  Chapter 945

  The communities around the world were boiling.

  -The way he used his skills made it hard for the Hero to react.

  —Wow ㅋㅋ While fighting, it seemed that the distance between the Hero and the God Hands gradually increased ㅋㅋㅋ It is due to Control Sword.

  -Is Control Sword really controlled by Kraugel?

  -What? Are you nuts? Of course it is.

  -Wow! He moved to the left and did something to block the Hero’s view.

  -Every time he uses the sheath, his body is so elastic. ㅡㅡ;

  It was immediately after the Breaking the Hero event. The topic that revitalized the communities was naturally Kraugel and the Breaking the Hero event. People repeatedly watched Kraugel’s combat video and tried to analyze his methods and intentions. They tried to learn by sharing opinions with each other.

  In the meantime, a new dispute arose.

  -Grid didn’t participate in the National Competition because he was afraid of Kraugel.

  There were people who called Grid’s absence from the National Competition as a ‘cowardly’ means of defending his title. It was reasonable to interpret it like this. Grid’s level increase in the rankings in the past year had been small. This was the basis for the idea that this year’s Grid was similar to last year’s Grid. It encouraged the idea that Kraugel, who defeated the Hero, was stronger.

  -Grid can’t help it. He has to rule over his country while doing blacksmithing work. The amount of time he has to grow is small.

  “I think your rage will burst if you look at the Internet?”

  Shin Youngwoo slowly looked up from his phone from where he was sitting in a spacious waiting room. The person who knocked and entered was the S.A Group’s team leader, Yoon Nahee, who shook a lunch bag.

  “Do you want to eat?”

  “Of course.”

  Yoon Nahee felt different from the time he met her at the S.A Group’s headquarters. There was a smile on her face instead of a business-like expression and she wore blue jeans and a white t-shirt instead of her office attire. She seemed to be enjoying her trip to China. She was a considerable beauty. The problem was that Grid had adapted to the beauty of Yura, Jishuka, Sehee and Yerim. Youngwoo only vaguely felt that his vision had grown too big.

  “Aren’t you frustrated by the people’s reactions?”

  “What?”

  “Despite Youngwoo-ssi showing something new every year, people continue to disparage you. In many cases, they distort the truth.”

  There were many strange people on the Internet. People who were anonymous sometimes showed a psychopathic temperament. They spoke nonsense just to relieve their stress. However, from a certain point in time, Youngwoo had stopped worrying about the Internet’s response.

  “It is like that. On the Internet, there are people who call Lim Cheolho a stone head.”

  “Stone head? The chairman is a stone head?”

  Lim Cheolho was the founder of a virtual reality world. He wasn’t recognized as just the world’s best scientist but the best scientist ever. Of course, even Lim Cheolho knew it wasn’t perfect. He was only exceptional in his own field. He had many ordinary parts. Even so, it was unexpected for him to be called stupid. This was quite fresh and funny.

  “In fact, he is called a stone, not a stone head…”

  “Stone… Pffft!” Yoon Nahee burst out laughing. She grabbed her belly and laughed loudly. The atmosphere of the two people was cheerful as they ate. Team Leader Yoon Nahee had watched Grid for a long time and knew Youngwoo very well. Youngwoo was also familiar with her. They got closer this year while preparing for the Demon King project.

  “Have you been watching the last four days? Many rankers this year have passed level 330 and their skill levels have risen. Can you fight against them alone?”

  “Um…”

  Youngwoo thought about it while enjoying the overflowing juices of the Beijing duck. Certainly, the level of the players had increased sharply. In particular, the difference in growth between normal classes and hidden classes had reduced. Unlike the hidden classes, who got good skills from the beginning, the normal classes got more skills and characteristics as they raised their level. This narrowed the gap between classes.

  The gap was closing. The words that Lim Cheolho said a long time ago were becoming a reality.

  “At first, I thought it would be easy. Now I am feeling a lot of tension.” Youngwoo replied honestly as he ate the fried rice. He looked at the growth of the other players during this year’s National Competition and was forced to acknowledge their skills.

  “However.”

  “…?”

  “Nevertheless, I don’t think I will lose.”

  The gap was closing? There was no need to worry about that. Not all hidden classes were the same and few people could persistently try without giving up. Look around now. People gave up on quitting smoking, drinking or on their diets every day.

  Youngwoo’s face was red as he spoke confidently and drank the jjampong soup. The soup that Youngwoo drank was Malatang, not jjampong. They were distinctively different foods. He started sweating as he spoke in a quivering voice.

  “…W-Water. Hiccup!”

  ‘He is like the chairman.’

  They were confident because they were the best in their fields, but they had a bad side in everyday life. It was a personality that she couldn’t hate. Yoon Nahee smiled and handed him a bottle of water.

  “400 against 1. I’m looking forward to it.”

  400 rankers from 125 countries against the lone Grid. The fact that the result was hard to predict was frightening.

  ***

  Grid’s absence. This was the only reason why this year’s PvP participation ra
te was so high.

  ‘At least we won’t die in one blow. I am also world-class if I can show my skills.’

  467 people had these thoughts and participated in PvP. Only 64 of them were selected to appear on stage. The 403 people eliminated in the preliminary round felt a big shock. The US players, excluding Kraugel, the Overgeared members like Pon, Seuron of Argentina, Bubat of Turkey, Damian of Japan, Goshar of India, Everton of New Zealand etc. They directly experienced the skills of those they had been watching from afar and realized there were insurmountable walls that could never be overcome.

  “This is strange. Wasn’t everyone below Grid and Kraugel supposed to be equal?”

  “There is a class division everywhere we go.”

  “Shit! I can’t admit it! I’m not weak! It is ridiculous!”

  “…It is a shock. Experiencing it directly is completely different from just watching.”

  The difference wasn’t always the same. Goshar of India was a person who had been eliminated from the PvP qualifiers every year. His career was poor compared to the high evaluations that other rankers and experts gave him. Thus, he knew it was a bubble. Then what was this?

  “Yohohoho! I am a giant!”

  The magic that Goshar summoned while laughing oddly was on a different level. He was almost a slaughterer in the preliminaries.

  “…”

  In fact, Goshar was strong. His opponent in the round of 64 was trapped in a sand castle and Goshar summed a golem to kill him. He was ranked first among the earth magicians for a reason. The players who were eliminated from the preliminaries felt cheated. Goshar had deliberately been pretending to be weak for the last three years.

  Of course, this was a big mistake. The reason why Goshar was eliminated from the preliminaries every year was because he met a stronger opponent early on. Yes, his luck was bad. However, this year’s Goshar had a good feeling. His luck was very good during the preliminaries. His opponent for the round of 64 was weak and his next opponent for the round of 32 was Bubat.

  “Yohoho.”

  The round of 64 finished. Goshar laughed as he went on stage for the round of 32 and faced his opponent Bubat. Bubat had been devastated by the Chinese rookie called Zhang Zheng in PvP last year. Goshar wasn’t afraid of the person who had already lost the promise of victory.