[Your party member, White, has died.]

“Sister!”

In an alleyway that was far from the center of the battlefield, Black turned pale as she hid in a safe place while controlling her clones. Her proud sister, who had steadily raised her level and equipped herself with legendary items after vowing to get revenge on Grid and the Overgeared members, had actually been killed in less than two minutes.

Black stared at Grid as her clones were stunned by the lightning strikes, and a chill ran down her spine.

‘The gap between us has widened rather than narrowed?’

Every game had limits. Growth would slow after a certain level. The growth of low-level players was much faster than high-level players. Players with low-rated items were more likely to develop than those with a large number of high-rated items. As such, it was expected for the growth rate of the top ranker Grid to be much slower than others’ since he had been wielding legendary items from the very beginning.

Then what was this strength? The current Grid was transcendent compared to last year, let alone the National Competition that had been held several months ago.

“...Surely he didn’t obtain myth rated items?”

No, it was impossible. Finding a myth-rated item was harder than plucking a star from the sky.

Black shook her skinny face as she confirmed that the resources consumed by Illusion Manifestation had finally recovered. Then she immediately used her ultimate technique, Illusion World. She intended to alter the field that Grid had summoned and make it hurt him instead.

[Your illusions have twisted reality.]

[You have lost 4.7% experience as a penalty for using the great power, Illusion World.]

[The target point of Illusion World is already dominated by a huge power!]

[The target’s presence neutralizes your illusions.]

[Illusion World has failed to manifest!]

“...What?”

A long time ago, Grid had faced Black and speculated that her class was legendary-grade.

Seeing as he had met many strong players, Grid’s vision was excellent. So he knew that in fact, Illusionist was a growth type hidden class that could grow to the legendary rating. Black’s level was still low due to the large penalties that occurred every time she used a skill, so the class was still at the unique rating. However, the fact that it was a top class was undeniable.

An Illusionist’s illusions had an influence on most targets. Even if the opponent had a legendary class, they were still helpless in front of the illusions that Black summoned at the cost of her experience. However, this excluded targets like archangels, great demons, and transcendents like the yangbans. They resisted the unique-rated Illusionist. It was necessary to upgrade to the legendary rating if she wanted to influence them.

Yes, there were the limitations of rare targets like archangels, great demons, and yangbans, but a unique-rated Illusionist should still be able to exert absolute power over a player. Yet it was impossible to exert absolute power over Grid.

“What is this...?”

Despite consuming the resources and experience, the ultimate technique was neutralized! Black was astonished by the painful loss when she heard Grid’s voice. He was speaking directly to Black’s illusion clone, “You sisters haven’t grown at all. Did you quit the game for a while?”

“You bastard!”

Quit the game for a while? How hard had they tried to grow from the last time they appeared? They had many stories of hard work and effort.

“You don’t know anything!” The angry Black commanded the illusions who overcame their paralysis and stun to launch a full-scale attack. The illusions copied the characteristics of the ideal strong person, Faker, and rushed toward Grid. Black believed that a copy of the monster Faker would be able to handle Grid, since he had defeated her despite having a normal class. There was a basis for this idea. Grid had consumed all types of skills while dealing with Kir’s troops and White and then acted like he was tired.

In reality...

‘It consumes too much mana.’

Grid could no longer maintain the Storm Demonic Energy Field that consumed 1,000 mana per second. The Ring of Absurdity that he’d gotten from Black in the past reduced the mana cost of the skill by half, but the problem was that Grid’s mana base was too small. However, Grid didn’t feel regretful. The Storm Demonic Energy Field massacred hundreds of soldiers in exchange for consuming a large amount of mana!

“Hihi! Hihihik! Die! Die! Dieeee!” Three beauties holding daggers in their hands flew toward Grid at the same time. Their speed was very fast as they moved from left to right around the soldiers. It was reminiscent of the third advancement assassin class, Master of Swiftness. For a moment, Grid was unable to respond, and his arm and waist were cut. The curses and spells of Kir’s magicians and the necromancers interfered with Grid’s concentration and movements.

“Kyahat! Kuhihihihit!” Black let out delighted laughter when she saw Grid’s wounds.

Meanwhile, her illusions continued to rotate and stab at him.

Grid defended against the magic bombardment with the God Hands and equipped the Slaughterer’s Eye Patch. It was then that the attack accuracy of the clones dropped noticeably. This was because Grid borrowed the power of the Slaughterer’s Eye Patch and started to read their attack orbit.

“Tch!” The emotions of the main body were conveyed to the clones. Black became annoyed as Grid started to avoid attacks like a rodent. She urged Immortal’s necromancers, “Why are you not covering me? Move the skeletons to seal his movements! Why are men so useless?”

“...”

The influence of White and Black in Immortal was very large since Veradin had recruited them himself.

Although the necromancers felt great dissatisfaction toward the women who treated them badly because they were men, they couldn’t express it. In the first place, they would lick shit if it meant taking down Grid. They didn’t intend to miss this opportunity to catch Grid.

Clack! Clack clack! The undead army started these activities in earnest. The bodies of the soldiers were raised and started pushing at Grid. Due to them, Grid’s movements were greatly restricted, and Black’s attack accuracy started to rise again. Alas, there was a problem.

[You have dealt 2,100 damage to the target!]

[You have dealt 1,860 damage to the target!]

[You have dealt 1,990...]

......

......

It was Grid’s ridiculously high defense.

Black’s illusions were armed with unique-rated weapons enhanced to +7. Black summoned them in exchange for experience but failed to inflict damage on Grid as the performance of the armor that Grid was armed with was far superior. It wouldn’t be strange if it was at least +8 enhanced armor.

However, Black was still optimistic about the situation. Even water droplets could eventually damage rocks. The low damage would continue to accumulate, and Grid would eventually fall down. Black believed that after the storm field and Blackening was lifted, Grid would be damaged by her illusions and die.

It was at this time that...

Clack clack! Clack!

The hundreds of skeletons summoned by the necromancers surrounded Grid completely. With nowhere to go after being surrounded by undead and illusions, it was virtually impossible for Grid to avoid the attacks. It was a perfect defensive move.

“Hihit! Hihihik! This is the end!”

“Die! Grid!!”

The attacks of the necromancers and Black poured down like rain.

“Wave.”

In response, Grid used a wide-range skill. The waves of energy spread out in all directions and hit the undead and Black’s illusions simultaneously. The reason why he had deliberately been acting on the defensive was so he could get rid of Black’s illusions using Quick Movements.

“The number of skill uses is limited.”

He had to kill as many enemies as possible with one skill. Grid broke through the collapsing undead army and chased after Black’s illusions to wipe them out.

[The illusion summoned with Illusion Manifestation has been damaged and has vanished.]

[20% experience has been lost.]

“Unbelievable!” Black was hiding deep in an alley. Her eyes shook violently as she suffered a huge penalty from her illusions being destroyed. It was then that she finally regained the senses she’d lost after witnessing her sister’s death.

‘No! I can’t win!’

Her sister hadn’t even been able to survive two minutes against Grid, so what could Black do? Black settled her spirit and turned to escape. Then a lovely voice spoke out from behind her, “I found you, nyang.”

She turned back and...

“Noe!”

It was the memphis famous for having more fan cafe members than Grid. Black’s sister had secretly signed up for the fan cafe, and Noe was even cuter now after his fur changed in color. Nevertheless, to Noe, she was just the enemy. Moreover, she even dared threaten his master!

“I’m going to eat, nyang.”

The small ‘ㅅ’ snout expanded and swallowed up Black.

[Your pet, Noe, has ingested the soul of the player, Black.]

[He has taken away half of the target’s highest stat!]

[Intelligence has increased by 2,131.]

[You understand the knowledge and magic of Braham.]

[The skill Fireball (Enhanced) can be used.]

[The skill Dark Cutter (Enhanced) can be used.]

[The skill Chain Lightning (Enhanced) can be used.]

[The skill Enchant Weapon (Enhanced) can be used.]

[The skill Decoy (Enhanced) can be used.]

“Phew.”

Grid swapped over to Belial’s Staff. He also took off Triple Layers that he had been temporarily wearing to tank the attacks and switched to Valhalla of Infinite Affection. At this moment, Merchant King Kir and Veradin appeared leading a large number of reinforcements.

“Keep pushing!” Veradin shouted after calmly analyzing the situation, unlike Kir who was making a fuss over the mess in the city. Then Veradin confirmed that Grid had a fairly reduced health gauge due to the overwhelming advantage of numbers and the activities of the White and Black sisters.

‘This time I will kill you!’

The new start here in Penan was a brilliant opportunity from Veradin’s and Immortal’s standpoint. Veradin planned to use this counterattack against Grid to provide the foundations of their resurgence. The death knight famous for his poison was summoned, and his breaths poisoned the whole area. Determination filled Veradin’s eyes. He still hadn’t given up his dream of becoming a resident of the Hwan Kingdom as he gave orders to the poisonous death knight and Immortal.

“Kill Grid!”

Grid had already used many skills, so he should be lacking in skills since Pagma's Sword Dance had the disadvantage of a long cooldown time. Veradin was feeling confident about this when incomprehensible words entered his ears.

“Enchant Weapon. Chain Lightning.”

Magic? Why did magic a few levels higher than Magic Missile pop out of Grid’s mouth? Before Veradin could figure it out, lightning struck the necromancers’ undead army, Kir’s soldiers, Veradin, and Veradin’s death knight.

[You have suffered 19,000 damage!]

[You have received an electric shock!]

[You have overcome the electric shock with the effect of overcoming death...]

“Kuk...! Kuaaaack!”

The Chain Lightning reached a distance of 100 meters? Furthermore, this strength was on par with high-level magic!

“Why... Why are you...?” Why did he break the predictions every time? “How are you growing?” Veradin screamed as a huge fireball filled his vision.

Kir was unable to close his mouth as he saw Veradin disappear into a pillar of gray ash.

‘From the beginning...’ The first day that Kir met Grid... ‘I should’ve prostrated myself before him!’

Kir couldn’t even breathe. He was filled with regret, but it was already too late. In Grid’s mind, the ‘Merchant King’ was Muto, rather than Kir.