““This guy!””
““Disgraceful!””
““Kuaaah!””
The relentless connection of the sword dances caused Berith to feel the greatest humiliation since his birth. He moved his long waist and roared as he was stabbed. However, it failed this time. He missed Grid’s movements. The wind turned into a storm. This was a wavelength generated by Grid’s swiftness.
It had been a long time since Grid disappeared from view. He reappeared with the sound of thunder and completed the final move of his sword dance.
“Pinnacle.” Grid cut Berith’s head.
Grid’s skin was white, and his mouth was twisted wickedly as demonic energy rose from him like a haze. Blackening—the power that Grid had accumulated over the years had become a powerful force that strengthened him. The limits of the human species didn’t bind him.
‘Amoract!’ Berith gritted his teeth when he noticed the Dark Bus’ Earrings on Grid’s ears. The great demon of conflict, Amoract—this scumbag, who claimed to be a faithful servant of Yatan, gave various powers to humans in the name of it being ‘for all demons.’ He handed out tools to the Yatan Church to gain control of the human race, and these earrings were one of them.
‘You stupid fool!’
It was definitely stupid. This situation occurred because power had been given to humans. Berith was now suffering this humiliation because some fucking human couldn’t properly keep the tools he had obtained.
‘Amoract, Amoract! Amoract!! This came from you. The hell tools that you left behind became a variable, giving birth to the current variant in front of me! If it wasn’t for you, I would never be humiliated like this!’
That’s right. Berith saw that the reason for Grid’s evolution was purely Blackening. He didn’t know about Grid’s awakening. It was misleading since Grid triggered Blackening the moment he completed the epic.
Then Grid reappeared. Immediately afterward, he executed the final moves of Pinnacle Kill.
[The effect of Braham’s Enchant Weapon has been triggered.]
[The attack power of the weapon currently equipped is increased by 60% for 5 seconds, and there is an extra 20% armor penetration power.]
Originally, the Enchant Weapon spell attached to Pagma’s Swordsmanship increased the attack power by 50% while the sword dance was maintained. Now Grid’s Swordsmanship was enhanced by the effect of the epic, and it increased the effectiveness of Enchant Weapon, making it much more lethal. Enchant Weapon surrounded the Enlightenment Sword and glowed incandescently.
Grid’s swordsmanship left behind a trail that glowed like the Milky Way. Many people were fascinated by the beautiful sight. On the other hand, it was a threatening sight to Berith.
““What the hell is that magic?!!””
Every time Grid used a sword dance, magic spells—which contained a rare mystery hard to see in humans—were invoked. It was just basic magic, so the power itself wasn’t great. Still, it completely defeated the concepts of defense and resistance from Berith’s alchemy. Berith had never experienced as much pain as he did today. His body was like a piece of meat at a butcher’s shop as he was cut and stabbed.
Blood flowed, and his health fell below 45%. At the time of Grid’s appearance, Berith had a bit more than 50% of his health left. This meant that Grid had inflicted billions of damage on his own.
There was no one who wasn’t impressed. People were overwhelmed with anticipation. They imagined the great demon, who had made players tremble in the last few months, was returning to hell, and they were prepared to welcome the return of peace.
Grid activated Blacksmith's Rage and further pushed Berith. However, Berith’s resistance was formidable. He used alchemy to surround himself with hundreds of metal thorns. The moment that Grid cut Berith, the thorns sprang up and pierced Grid’s body.
“Ugh...!”
[You have suffered 19,500 damage.]
The unavoidable reflected damaged turned Grid into a rag at once. However, Grid didn’t stop and attacked Berith again. He swung his sword as he was divided into two people. Grid received new damage from the reflected attack that occurred again. He divided into four bodies as his sword pierced Berith’s heart.
It was Belial’s Power attached to the Rune of Darkness. Grid had four fields of view, but he wasn’t confused. He contemplated every view and controlled his bodies and the bodies of the clones.
“Linked Kill Flower Pinnacle.”
“Linked Kill Flower Pinnacle.”
“Linked Kill Flower Pinnacle.”
“Linked Kill Flower Pinnacle.”
The light elemental invoked Flash while the four Grids unfolded a sword dance simultaneously.
[The effect of Braham’s Enchant Weapon has been triggered.]
Four incandescent swords struck Berith’s body a total of 28 times.
““....!”” Berith was unable to scream from the pain that was incomparable to the previous one. An endless affliction was waiting for him.
““....!?””
Dozens of Wind Cutters ripped through the metal barrier. The blossoming petals descended in the gap between the barbed wall and penetrated Berith’s wounds. A huge explosion occurred. If Grid and Berith were fighting on the ground instead of in the sky, the explosion would’ve collapsed the ground and buried the canyon.
[Critical!]
[The effect of the title ‘Death in One Shot!’ has been activated, adding 40% critical damage!]
[The target has received 8,990,600 damage.]
[The target has received 899,060 damage.]
[The target has received 899,060 damage.]
[The target has received 899,060 damage.]
[The effect of God's Command has reset the skill’s cooldown time!]
It was immediately after the development of Linked Kill Flower Pinnacle. The four Grids, who took a step back to retrieve their swords, swiftly started a sword dance again. Then soon...
“Linked Kill Flower Pinnacle.”
“Linked Kill Flower Pinnacle.”
“Linked Kill Flower Pinnacle.”
“Linked Kill Flower Pinnacle.”
He showed the same strides as he did before.
“”...A legend.””
Berith gazed at the four rushing swords and realized. The human in front of him hadn’t evolved by borrowing the power of the demonkin.
***
『 Wow... Wooow... 』
The broadcasters all over the world had already forgotten about their job for a few minutes. Rather then commentating on the battlefield for the viewers, they repeated their exclamations. It was the attitude of a viewer. The PDs had dark expressions because they thought the viewers would criticize them, but there were few viewers who criticized the media. After all, the viewers were just as mesmerized as the broadcasters. The viewers were fully engaged in Grid’s battle and weren’t even aware that the broadcasters were silent. If the broadcasters had made comments, then the viewers would feel it was noisy and mute them.
-The game chat window?
After two consecutive explosions, Berith fell to the ground and the battle entered a temporary lull. Then this line appeared in the chat window of a broadcasting station. This was the signal.
-Crazy.
-God Grid!
-I don’t like Grid but this time I have to admit it...
The viewers belatedly recovered their minds and started to bombard the chat window. Even the world’s best streaming sites failed to cope with the flood of text that appeared, and a lag occurred. Thousands of broadcast stations fell into chaos at once.
On the screen...
“Pant... Pant... Pant...” Color returned to the skin of the roughly breathing Grid as the white appearance faded. Blackening was over. Grid recovered his clones, looking exhausted. The white horse with the strange name Overgeared Corn was licking Grid with its tongue.
The viewers weren’t particularly anxious. They couldn’t even imagine Grid collapsing. There were still the dukes by Grid’s side, and people believed that Grid would raid Berith at this rate.
““...”” Berith, who had been trapped on the ground, slowly rose up. The existence that had always been regarded as absolute, who had brought despair for countless people, looked completely shabby. His health gauge was still around 40%, but he was shabby.
On the other hand, there were four dukes, the continent’s best spearman Kirinus, Kraugel, and Zibal. The battle would be over soon. It wouldn’t be long before the great demon died. The moment that people’s beliefs deepened.
““...I can’t use this body anymore,”” Berith murmured meaningfully. Yes, it was definitely Berith’s voice. Yet Berith’s mouth was shut.
“...?” The viewers and Grid naturally wondered about it. Then they noticed in hindsight. The owner of this voice they were hearing was ‘that.’
“...!” The viewers were stunned, and Grid was on alert. The sickly horse—the guy who was always carrying Berith on his back from the moment Berith first appeared was opening his mouth.
““This was my favourite piece of clothing.””
It made sense. Berith opened his snout widely. The mouth stretched like it was rubber and became over two meters wide, swallowing the existence that had been known as ‘Berith.’ The flesh was crushed, and the bones were broken. Inside Berith’s mouth, the Berith clone was chewed up and swallowed.
“Keeok,” Berith burped. White blood ran down the long snout. Berith’s skeleton started to twist at a bizarre angle. His shoulders and pelvis spread out to the left and right, with small muscles forming all over the body. Three fingers protruded from the horse’s front hooves, and his hind legs became thick enough for bipedal walking.
Soon, he was more than four meters tall. A large shadow engulfed Grid. The horse looked down at Grid.
““You can take pride in the fact that you made me use my original body. I heard that all the legends of the present age are unfinished.””
It was the trigger of the third phase. Contrary to his previous appearance, Berith’s true appearance of a human body with a horse’s head gave off an enormous pressure.
-...Looks really strong.
The hopeful viewers once again felt troubled. Berith proved it—the fact that a person was powerful when they were wearing the right clothes. The alchemy, that was previously carried out through the steps of ‘collecting materials’ and ‘reconstructing materials’, was completed without any precursors and launched at Grid. The metal spear had already arrived in front of Grid’s nose.
The speed of Berith’s alchemy was comparable to what Grid had shown in his Blackening State. Grid was trying to evade it using the dragon’s wings, only to stop. It was because dozens of swords flew around him and protected him.
““...Hah,”” Berith snorted. A human whose gender was ambiguous was standing next to Grid. Berith knew the identity of this person. It was the Sword Saint. Berith was alert to the weight of this name, but the Sword Saint was only one person.
““You aren’t my opponent...”” Berith shrugged as he spoke, only for his eyes to widen.
Since when...? When had the dozens of swords surrounding Grid become embedded in Berith’s body? The baffled Berith was ignored by Kraugel. His eyes, as deep as a galaxy that couldn’t be measured, were only looking at Grid.
“Leave it to us and take a break.”
As Kraugel spoke, Piaro, Kirinus, and three dukes stepped beside him. Only one person was different. Only Rachel was still standing far away, staring blankly at Piaro.
“I will protect Your Majesty, even if Your Majesty is stronger than me,” Piaro declared.
“Yes.” Grid nodded with a pleased smile and punched Kraugel. “Please.”
The other person was Kraugel. Unlike Grid, Kraugel was smart, so he wouldn’t need a long explanation. He would know that the ‘Summon Hell’ phase remained and would be aware that he had to consume Berith’s health as much as possible before the Overgeared members with Yura and Ruby arrived. More than anything else...
“Yes, he is also precious to me.” Kraugel was also willing to defend Piaro.
Kraugel’s and Grid’s fists met.
“Heart Sword.”
Then the imperfect swordsmanship of ‘the highest realm’ was embodied by Kraugel in his current capacity as a Sword Saint. Berith’s shoulder flew away.