[You have suffered catastrophic damage!]

[A legend doesn’t die easily. You can resist all attacks for 5 seconds with a minimum of health.]

“U-Ugh!”

In the collapsed wreckage of the castle, Yura’s head was dizzy as she barely escaped from the pile of rocks. Why was Grid in a place like this? Why did he attack her? Furthermore, she was driven to death with ‘one blow’? She had never imagined this situation. It was difficult to make a reasonable judgment due to the confusion that surged in like a tsunami. Her willpower was scattered. She didn’t know what she was doing, what situation she was in, and what she had to do.

‘No.’ Yura gritted her teeth and regained her composure. Grid didn’t have a reason to visit hell at the present time. The opponent who attacked her couldn’t be Grid.

That’s right.

‘This person isn’t Grid.’

Her confusion was settled. Yura moved through the remnants of the castle. Then she confronted the mysterious person who had driven her to death in a single blow.

“Grid...” Yura’s eyes widened as she confirmed the name of the mysterious person. The name ‘Grid’ was present on top of the person who looked like Grid. However, the golden shining name made him clearly different from Grid. He had the symbol of a named NPC.

“What is this?”

Why did a named NPC version of Grid exist, and why was he located in hell? In the midst of her growing confusion, Yura made several hypotheses.

‘Is it Yatan black magic?’ Were they trying to assassinate her for betraying the church? ‘Perhaps there is a demonkin that can copy people’s appearances...’

In any case, he was an enemy. Yura drank a potion and aimed her gun at Grid’s head.

“Question,” the demonkin who borrowed Grid’s appearance spoke in a voice that also resembled Grid’s, “Are you human? Are you the same kind of creature as Grid?”

“...!” The demonkin’s question was enough to increase Yura’s confusion. ‘Do you know Grid?’

Then demonkin’s questions continued. “Surprise. It is the first time I’ve seen a human here.”

“...”

“Question. Can Grid come here?”

He knew about Grid and was obsessed with Grid? Yura heard the question and asked, “Are you looking for someone called Grid?”

“Answer. That’s right.”

“What is your relationship with him?”

“Answer. There is no relationship.”

“Then why are you looking for him?”

“Answer. I have to kill him.”

“Why?”

“Answer. I was born for the sake of killing Grid.”

“You... Who are you?”

“Subtle. Grid?”

“...” Yura’s hair started rising. She felt an extreme fear despite the man in front of her having the same appearance, voice, and name as Grid. However, she wasn’t afraid of him because he was strong. This was a more primitive type of fear. The man cocked his head. “Question. Does our conversation mean anything?”

“...” Yura stepped back. This wasn’t an unidentified monster whose ego was incomplete but a bomb that she couldn’t deal with. So, she turned around and ran away.

“Pagma’s Swordsmanship, Flower.” Dozens of energy blades reminiscent of a flower blooming appeared.

“...!!” Yura’s vision flashed red. Once again, the blow dealt her a serious injury. Fortunately, her health was still in the unit of 10s. She escaped from the ruins without looking back. However, the man in the hall didn’t chase after her. Instead, he returned his rusted sword to its sheath and muttered, “Difficult. Need to find a new home...”

Who was he? He had never thought about it. He only knew that he had to kill Grid.

***

“I will make it so that the gangster can’t piss anymore! Funny, how funny! How are the other rankers so incompetent that they are pushed by that fool?”

There was a small city with a population of 30,000 at the eastern end of the Gauss Kingdom—Penan. It was a city that Merchant King Kir had bought for a large sum of 20 million gold. He had paid 10 billion won in cash, but he hadn’t thought it was a waste of money.

If he developed the city as planned, he would be able to withdraw his investment in seven years of game time and turn it into a surplus. Yet it was all wasted now because of Grid. The first large-scale project that would’ve been a stepping stone for profit had failed due to Grid’s interference. This morning, he lost more money than what his city was worth.

Kir resented Grid’s ‘ignorance’ more than his ‘evil.’

“Stupid bastard! Doesn’t he know that joining hands with me will result in a huge profit for him? Why did he have to make me so tired by becoming my enemy?”

It was always like this. Low intelligence caused disgust to form inside him. In short, Grid was a lump of cancer. Reminded of Grid, Kir was feeling resentful and irritated when he received good news.

“Earl Taru has promised to support with his troops.”

“Okay. It is natural.” Originally, Penan had been one of Earl Taru’s countless cities. The amount of money Kir had given Earl Taru in the process of purchasing Penan was significant. “How much money did I give him? He can’t refuse my request if he has a conscience.”

Kir was in a dangerous condition because he had lost many troops and three knights to Grid. His top priority was securing as many troops as possible. He had to expand his business quickly to recover the lost money, but this required force. As soon as he resurrected, he had contacted Immortal in order to secure some military strength.

“I didn’t think we would meet this way.” The door opened and a white-haired man appeared. The man who shook hands with Kir was Veradin.

Merchant King Kir smiled brightly and grabbed Veradin’s hand with both hands. “Thank you for accepting the invitation.”

“I am the one who should be thankful.” 

Immortal had lost their place due to the Overgeared Kingdom’s killing order. It was hard to find a safe place to go since they were always chased by players. Then they received an invitation from Merchant King Kir. It was a proposal to stay in Kir’s city.

Veradin faced Kir and smiled. “Were you hit by Grid?”

“...What?” Kir hadn’t said anything about what he’d gone through and why he had called Immortal. So why did Grid’s name pop up randomly?

Veradin shrugged at the confused Kir. “Aren’t you famous for always putting your best interests first? If you were in a normal situation, you wouldn’t go against Grid by inviting us.”

Yes, Kir wouldn’t do anything against Grid unless he was an idiot. That’s why Veradin guessed that Kir had already been hit by Grid. Kir sighed deeply. “Well... I didn’t intend to hide it. Your guess is right. I was hit by that damn Grid and have a debt to repay.”

Veradin’s eyes shone. “Interesting. Why don’t you tell me more?”

“The beginning started with...” 

Kir needed Immortal’s cooperation and was obliged to make them a perfect ally. So, he explained in detail about what happened to him. However, he reduced the amount of damage he’d suffered and hid his relationship with the Yatan Church. Then the lengthy explanation ended.

“Yes. You went through a lot of trouble. You also suffered damage from the villain called Grid. Okay. Immortal will stay here and help you. Victims should help each other. Otherwise, who will help us?” Veradin gave Kir a satisfactory answer. “We will make this place our base and reserve our strength. Immortal will do our best to carry out your instructions.”

“Good. I will also support Immortal by providing items. By the way... what about Agnus?”

In fact, it was because of Agnus that Kir first thought about Immortal. The world message which spoke about Agnus becoming a legend gave Kir hope. He assumed that it would be easier to get revenge on Grid if he had Agnus. However, he couldn’t see Agnus here at all. He was feeling troubled by how Veradin responded like it was nothing, “Isn’t Agnus famous? At this moment, he is freely wandering the continent and enjoying the moment.”

“What about the kill order?”

“What is the use of a kill order against him? Who would dare to hurt Agnus apart from Grid directly?"

“Haha! I see.”

“Yes, don’t worry. Agnus will arrive after we deal with the miscellaneous matters.”

That was a lie. Veradin had lost Agnus’ trust due to the Reinhardt invasion, so Agnus’ attitude was now very different from the past. He didn’t leave any tasks to Veradin and completely neglected Immortal. However, Veradin couldn’t reveal this fact. It was obvious that Immortal would be nothing without Agnus. Additionally, he believed that Agnus would find him again someday.

“Shall we talk about future plans?”

“First of all, I will raise money. I will gather money from all types of commercial areas, regardless of means and methods. I will then develop talent and weapons.”

“Is this to defend yourself against Grid?”

“That isn’t enough. I must take everything away from Grid.”

“Haha! It is a great mindset. Okay. Let’s join forces to flatten Grid.”

“Is it enough to flatten Grid? We will destroy everything. Hahaha!”

The sound of the two men’s laughter filled the colorfully decorated office.

The two men planned to get revenge on Grid and believed it was fully feasible. After all, the stronger the Overgeared Kingdom became, the more people became jealous of them. Thus, Kir and Veradin were confident that they could trample on the Overgeared Kingdom.

This was something Grid and Lauel were concerned about. They couldn’t give any room to people who had already become enemies.

“K-Kir!”

“Veradin! He came!”

“...?”

The cheerfully laughing Veradin and Kir closed their mouths and stiffened at the same time. Their faces turned pale as their rushing colleagues explained the situation.

“What?”

***

“At that time, I was careless.”

“That’s right.”

Boutian and Arisa—the two high rankers belonging to Merchant King Kir’s forces—replayed the fight in the forest.

“It was a shame when I tried to use magic to blow him away. It would’ve been enough to tie up his feet.”

If he had blocked the movements that were required for Pagma’s Swordsmanship, Grid’s power would’ve been weakened by several times. They had analyzed Grid’s weak points in the National Competition videos but hadn’t been able to utilize them due to their greed.

Boutian was filled with frustration while Arisa confessed honestly, “We made a lot of mistakes. I was too conscious of Blackening and got caught off guard. It would’ve been easier if I did my best from the beginning...”

Then Tarot, who was sitting quietly between the two people, laughed. “You should’ve taken me along. I would’ve been able to hunt Grid easily. Isn’t that right?”

Tarot was someone with Blackening, like Grid. He had gained a mighty power during a great demon quest and evolved into a half-demonkin. Even Boutian and Arisa were deeply regretful that he hadn’t encountered Grid at this time.

“Ah, it was a chance to hunt him and get bonuses.” 

“It couldn’t be helped. You had a separate mission.”

“That was a mistake in the first place. If you waited until my mission ended, you wouldn’t have gone through such humiliation... Huh?” Tarot was blaming Kir’s stupidity when he let out a sound of confusion. He rubbed his eyes a few times before pointing at the gate.

“Isn’t that Grid?”

“What?”

Boutian and Arisa frowned at the same time. They thought that Tarot was joking in this serious atmosphere. Tarot licked his lips like he had a delicious meal in front of him. “Ah, how bad is a human’s vision? It has been a few months since I’ve been a human, so I have forgotten.”

“What are you doing?”

It was too much to fool around. Boutian and Arisa became confused as Tarot suddenly used Blackening. Unfortunately, Tarot wasn’t joking right now. He pulled out a red sword and jumped toward the gate. Then a white sword of light flew and pierced his brow.

“...Eh?” Tarot was stunned as he lost half his health from the one blow. He lost his momentum and fell helplessly. Then a man passed by him, and Tarot was hit with hundreds of energy blades and turned to gray.

Boutian and Arise hurriedly shouted, “E-Emergency!”

“Gather the entire army right now!”

“100,000 Army Massacre Sword.”

“...!!” 

Alarm bells rang as a wild beast appeared in the city.