Chapter 166

Kaaang!

[A fire stone has been acquired.]

While Grid was struggling with Hao Gao, Peak Sword successfully managed to mine the fire stone.

‘I did it!’

The red stone that clung deeply to the ground emerged, causing Peak Sword to feel a tremendous joy. It was like managing to pull out a fat lump accumulated in his nose for many years! Was it like pulling out the roots?

“Yes! Success! I gathered a fire stone!”

He played Satisfy for a year and a half, endured all types of trials, gained experience and earned the 16th rank on the unified rankings. He was able to raise his level through hunting, raiding a powerful boss or fighting against hostile forces. Now his eyes were opened to a new way of enjoying the game.

‘I felt so much pleasure the moment I extracted a mineral. Should I learn the mining skill?’

Peak Sword felt a serious sense of accomplishment and waved the fire stone at Grid.

“How about it? Didn’t I do well?”

Grid raised his thumb from where he was confronting Hell Gao. "Well done.”

“Ohh!”

It was amazing. He felt good about receiving praise from that guy. Peak Sword was laughing when he suddenly frowned.

‘No? What am I doing right now?’

He was 16th in the unified rankings and the master of the Silver Knights Guild, yet he was wagging his tail like a dog for someone at least 10 years younger than him?

‘Wake up.’

He became more excited than necessary after realizing that the first legendary class, Pagma's Successor, was a Korean. Peak Sword calmed his heart and watched Grid and Hell Gao. Grid looked relatively fine, while Hell Gao was wounded. He even had both hands cut off.

‘Amazing.’

The monster who slaughtered 200 Silver Knights members with an average level of 140 was being pushed back?

‘The dignity of a legendary class...’

He recalled the battle of Bairan, which caused an uproar in the world four months ago. One of the most powerful groups in Satisfy, the Tzedakah Guild, had been pushed on the defensive by the Yatan Church.

At the time, Peak Sword and his guild members gathered in a pub and predicted that the Tzedakah Guild would be wiped out. The Yatan servants Neberius and Balak were overwhelmingly strong, and were also superior in numbers, so the Tzedakah Guild seemed to have no hope.

Then a man suddenly appeared. He overturned the balance by throwing armor to Vantner, a weapon to Toon, and using the skill ‘ Pagma's Sword Dance’ against Neberius. Peak Sword felt his blood boil and the people filling the pub cheered in unison. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the whole world was buzzing at that moment.

After the battle was over.

Pagma's Successor might be armed with powerful items, but the public mocked him for having weak control. However, Peak Sword through differently. Pagma might be an excellent swordsman, but he was fundamentally a blacksmith. It was right that Pagma's Successor took advantage of his class traits to arm himself with excellent items. He expressed his strength in a manner appropriate for him.

And now.

The Pagma's Successor that he met was making good use of his class characteristics. His armor and weapon were estimated to have a legendary rating, there were the fraudulent seven blades that moved on their own, and the ring that seemed to have a recovery skill. His control skills were still bad, but thanks to the power of his items, he was strong enough to be compared to a ranker.

But Hell Gao’s strength was endless. He lost both hands, but he continued his onslaught against Grid. Peak Sword hurriedly swung his pickaxe again.

‘Hurry. I still need to collect two fire stones.’

Grid was the new hope for South Korea, a country weak in Satisfy. Peak Sword wanted to help Grid in this raid. Grid grew so fast, that one day he would enthrall the Korean people. However, he still a lot of mountains to cross to reach that point.

“Begin the mining!"

Kaaang! Kaaang!

Peak Sword found a new fire stone and swung his pickaxe. At that moment, he was Peak Pickaxe, not Peak Sword.

***

“I’m worried... Worried.”

Bairan Village Castle’s resting room.

The Tzedakah Guild’s chief of staff, Toban, was anxious. The guild members who returned after hunting or work frowned at him.

“What happened? You have no spirit.”

Toban, who was grabbing his head, carefully opened his mouth. "Grid went to mine fire stones...”

“What about Grid?”

"...He told me to believe him twice.”

The first time was before leaving for Cokro Island. Then there was one time after arriving at Cokro Island. He clearly said it two times.

Kwaduduk!

Toban broke his nail from worry. And the guild members were in great shock.

“Grid...”

“He said to believe in him, twice?”

"Huh, that’s the worst.”

It was after the Yatan’s massive raid was prevented. Grid spend most of the four months afterwards making items, and produced a total of 142 items. Out of those 142 items, 25 were normal rated, 84 were rare, 30 were epic and 3 were unique.

Was it simply bad luck, or the operator’s agenda as Grid claimed?

In the early days of joining the guild, Grid had a relatively high probability of making high rated items and even produced two legendary items. However, he had been in a slump for the last four months.

The items he produced had a 20% higher performance than normal items, so even the rare rated items were good, but the guild members couldn’t help feeling disappointed. In particular, the guild members who received normal items shed tears of blood. A legendary blacksmith ended up creating normal rated items? Their disappointment couldn’t be expressed.

Then they noticed something that Grid said every time he produced a normal rated item. It was ‘Believe in me.’ Grid said it every time he believed he would produce a legendary item. So when the guild members heard the words ‘Believe in me,’ they assumed the worst. In fact, it always produced the worst result whenever he said it.

But he said it again this time...

“Believe in me...”

Three fire stones were needed to produce the Fire Shield. Could Grid really collect three fire stones? It seemed like it might not happen. Toban was sad. His ominous feelings almost always came true.

The other guild members also expressed disappointment.

“If he fails to make the Fire Shield... Should the Phoenix Raid be delayed for the next time?”

“That’s probably the case. It is unlikely for the raid to succeed if the main tanker can’t hold on.”

It was a solemn atmosphere. After being armed with Grid’s equipment, they were strong enough to easily raid the Awakened Guardian of the Forest. Now it was possible to raid higher level boss monsters.

***

The 4th floor of Cokro Island’s dungeon.

Jeurereuk.

There was a steady stream of blood from Hell Gao’s severed wrists.

Chiik!

There was smoke and an unpleasant smell as the blood touched the ground. Grid blocked his nose and suggested, “Why is a bad smell coming from your blood?”

"Shut up!"

Hell Gao’s body was suddenly full of wounds. The body of an advanced demonkin was weaker than Hell Gao thought. In addition, the second fire stone was taken, so Hell Gao’s magic power was weakening. More than half of the black flames that symbolized his power had turned to jade.

This was bad.

'I am going to suffer a disgraceful loss to a human again...!’

He thought that only Sword Saint Muller was special. But Muller had died over 100 years ago, and now a special human had appeared again. As other demons said, the potential of the human species couldn’t be ignored.

‘I will be ridiculed in hell if I lose to humans again.’

He couldn’t give up yet.

“I will surely kill you!”

Hell Gao shouted and wielded his arms. Then he covered Grid with the blood pouring from his severed wrists.

[You have suffered 1,850 damage.]

[You have suffered 1,790 damage.]

‘Damage is inflicted just from a drop of blood? This damn monster!’

The confused Grid flinched while Hell Gao burned his wounds with his blood. Then he made an expression of enormous hatred.

“I will take your soul to hell and make you my slave forever!”

Kwa kwa kwang!

Hell Gao changed the way he fought. He used his staff as his primary weapon when he had both hands, and hellfire as a secondary attack. Now that he lost both hands, he could only fight as a magician, launching hot winds and hellfire.

Pepepepeng!

“Ugh!”

Grid tried to avoid the flames. He wasn’t able to easily approach Hell Gao. Hell Gao thought.

'Yes, he’s a swordsman, so I have the advantage when fighting at a distance.’

Hell Gao was two times weaker than when he first appeared. But by human standards, his magic power was still infinite. He kept generating hellfire at 0.3 second intervals and fired continuously, looking like a laser gun that ran on solar energy.

"Come and burn to ashes!”

Kwa kwa kwa kwang!

Three rays of fire that flew in a straight line! Grid was constrained by his air being obstructed and hurriedly tried to avoid it. Then the pavranium moved.

Chwachwachwachwachwachwa!

The seven blades gathered in front of Grid and took the shape of a triangular shield.

Kwa kwa kwa kwang!

The golden shield collided with the flames. The shield stiffened and fell to the ground, while the hot winds hit the body behind it. Hell Gao aimed at the heart of the floundering Grid and declared.

“You shall soon die.”

Kwaaaang!

[You have suffered 3,900 damage.]

[You have suffered 4,150 damage.]

[You have been hit by a lethal blow!]

[You have suffered 8,870 damage.]

“Ohh!”

Flop!

Grid lying on the ground was hit. He was very confused.

'I was sure the 2nd round would be a KO win after I cut off his hands. Rather, he was more comfortable to deal with when swinging his staff.’

Hell Gao had certainly weakened since Peak Sword took the fire stone. The damage from hellfire had noticeably fallen. But he was still strong. His strength couldn’t be measured.

‘I have to narrow the distance...’

He could use Transcend to attack from a distance. But unfortunately, Transcend only lasted for 30 seconds. He had to save this means of attack as a trump card, so it was better to approach and attack.

However, Hell Gao controlled the hot wind while simultaneously launching the hellfire, so a method to narrow the distance didn’t easily appear.

Hwaruruk!

The wounded Grid was unable to properly control his body and fire spheres appeared around Hell Gao. Hell Gao completed 30 spheres in flash and burst out laughing.

"Kuahahaha! This is the end!"

Pepepepeong!

The 30 spheres simultaneously attacked from different orbits. It was practically impossible to defend against all the fire spheres with only seven blades.

'I have to take some damage.’

Grid judged and threw three darts from his belt.

Pepepeng!

A fog spread out in the spot where Grid was standing. Then the 30 spheres hit the fog and exploded in unison.

Kwaaaaang!

“Ugh!”

Peak Pickaxe who was swinging his pickaxe in the corner... No, Peak Sword, fell down. It was because a huge explosion shook the dungeon. Peak Sword turned in the direction of Grid and his expression hardened.

The fog cleared and revealed the point of explosion. Grid couldn’t be seen at all.

“It can’t be...”

Had he turned into a grey light after suffering from that attack?

“This can’t be...!”

Peak Sword was frustrated. Hell Gao was delighted and laughed like crazy.

“Kuahahaha! That cockroach like man has finally been turned into ashes!”

Human flesh was weak, and couldn’t be unharmed after being bombarded with 30 hellfire spheres. Grid was armed with excellent armor and received the protection of the golden blades, but there was a limit. Hell Gao was convinced that Grid had died.

However...

“...What!?”

The laughing Hell Gao suddenly looked back. The center of the dungeon. Hell Gao was the only one standing there after Grid became ashes.

“...Pagma's Sword Dance.”

Grid pulled down the zip of his Hooded Zip Up and slowly appeared. Hatred and killing intent towards Hell Gao, one of the 33 great demons of hell, circled around the blue greatsword.

“Kill.”

Puoook!

A large wound was carved on Hell Gao’s false body.