“A god.”

Existences derived from the aspirations of human beings. Harang defined the man with black hair and shook her head. She saw a certain meaning in the man’s expressions, gestures, and even gait. It was a sword dance.

‘Performing a ritual in the middle of the battlefield?’

Why? What was this ritual for? Harang was engulfed when she suddenly noticed something. Contempt was in the eyes of the man looking at her. It was to deny the yangbans.

‘...The ritual of a god killer!’

The space was dominated. All the energy of nature was controlled by the man’s ritual and expressed its displeasure toward Harang. It roared as if threatening her to disappear.

‘Ahh, I see.’

Harang had a crisis in front of her and realized...

Pagma, the brother who used sophistry to deny Hanul’s words. Harang knew why Hanul didn’t punish Pagma and who was behind it.

‘Chiyou, you’ve been supporting Pagma.’

Did Chiyou glimpse hope from Pagma? The hope that Pagma could kill him.

Dozens of waves of sword energy poured toward Harang. The ferocity of the sword energy, which had enough momentum to eat even the gods, was amazing. It created the illusion that dozens of dragons were flying. It was a level that would make Harang nervous.

‘Amazing. However, you can’t destroy a god at this point.’

The yangban had intangible power from those who believed in them. Harang’s willpower exploded the air around her, attempting to block the dragon-like sword energies. Yet it failed. The problem was that the entire space was under Grid’s control. The ripple sparked by Transcended Linked Kill Wave Pinnacle that Grid used to eliminate Harang completely controlled all the energy in the area, including Harang’s willpower.

Tremble tremble.

Harang’s body shook against her will. It was fear. Her willpower was soon completely defeated and the formless will scattered. She was forced to wield her sword to confront the sword energy. She couldn’t use the breaths of the sacred creatures and even the basic sword energy was unable to be created.

She cut, blocked, and struggled against Grid with pure physical power. Her hands were torn with every clash between sword and sword energy and blood was scattered. An explosion occurred every time a sword energy was extinguished, stripping off the clothes and accessories she was wearing.

“...”

The 10 meritorious retainers held their breath. They were overwhelmed by Harang’s divine aura, which cut through dozens of black sword energies in a short period of time.

“...Sigh.” Harang finally let out a breath. She believed that she had destroyed the ritual for the incomplete god killer. At least, until the scattered sword energies once again joined together in the air and descended.

“...!”

Following Transcend, Link, Kill, and Wave, the energy of Pinnacle bombarded Harang. It was a finishing blow that accurately targeted the gap when Harang took a breath.

“...”

The silence was heavy. The place where Harang stood was covered in dust as the sword dance of Transcended Linked Kill Wave Pinnacle ended.

“Kuheok... Cough, cough!”

Grid coughed several times as he finished the last movement of the sword dance and fell forward. Jishuka ran to him and reached out but Yura was already by his side. Even before Jishuka arrived, Yura held Grid in her arms. Jishuka bit her lip as the dust slowly cleared to reveal Harang’s ragged appearance.

Blood poured from her wounded body but she stood upright, denying Grid, or to be exact, denying Pagma.

“It isn’t enough... it can’t be seen as a complete god killer.”

However...

“S...Save me...”

It was enough to destroy them, who were nothing more than fake gods. This fact was proven by Gru, who had already died, and Naeun who was begging not to die.

“For us, pain is unfamiliar.”

Harang smiled bitterly and broke Naeun’s neck. It was the worst feeling to give rest to a brother who never imagined his end. It was so unpleasant that she felt nauseous. No, it seemed more appropriate to call it sadness. The tears of humans were flowing down her cheeks.

“There is something I want to ask you.” Harang wiped her tears with her fingers and asked Grid, “Is everything you’ve done here according to Pagma’s will?”

“No,” leaning against Yura and with the four God Hands in front of him, Grid responded, “I have only been acting on my own thoughts and judgment.”

Although their attempts to help people were similar, Grid and Pagma had completely different inclinations and thoughts. Grid was a little less selfish, a little less arrogant, and had greater empathy. Grid was certain... “In the first place, Pagma could never be like me.”

Pagma was an extremely efficient person. He forced people to sacrifice themselves for the cause. Was it possible for him to gain the trust and support of the Cho king? If he was Grid, Pagma’s personality meant he likely would’ve failed to revive the red phoenix in such a short amount of time.

This wasn’t intended to demean Pagma. Grid had a deep appreciation and respect for Pagma.

“Yes... I see.” Harang smiled bitterly as she gazed at Grid, who had declared proudly. Pagma was different from the others but in the end, he was still a yangban. He would’ve also failed to understand the ideal form of a god for humans and wouldn’t have become a real god. She thought about it and the existence of a yangban became more and more ephemeral.

“Is Pagma dead?”

“Yes.”

“I see. He lost his life since leaving the Hwan Kingdom. However, he left a great disciple behind and his life wouldn’t have been as meaningless as ours.”

“......”

Grid was Pagma’s disciple. Grid had never met Pagma, only inherited his techniques through his writings. However, Grid didn’t deny it. He was nervous and prepared for Harang’s counterattack with his dying body.

Blood flowed from Grid’s mouth and nose. A massive backlash was raging inside him.

[The attack power that has been doubled by consuming one origin true energy has returned to normal.]

[The recovery of all resources and abnormal statuses are temporarily stopped in exchange for consuming the origin true energy.]

[You are currently experiencing fractures and excessive bleeding in exchange for using Transcended Linked Kill Wave Pinnacle that became available due to the skill Open Potential.]

[You have suffered 5,900 damage.]

[You have suffered 5,900 damage.]

[You have suffered 5,900...]

Before Yura appeared, Grid had already consumed the Skill Creation rights. Coincidentally, Grid recalled the Transcended Linked Kill Wave Pinnacle used by his clone. The five fused sword dances could be acquired naturally if he met the qualifications one day so he wasted the Skill Creation right on it. It couldn’t be helped. Time was tight and the strongest skill Grid could think of immediately was the five fused sword dances.

Fortunately, the system put the brakes on him.

[You can’t implement Transcended Linked Kill Wave Pinnacle with your stats at this time.]

The system responded to Grid’s idea like this.

[To implement Transcended Linked Kill Wave Pinnacle, you need to unlock your potential.]

It suggested a solution. The word ‘potential’ gave Grid enlightenment.

Open Potential—a quasi-legendary skill that was said to be held by fewer than five players in this world who had completed certain hidden quests. It was said to allow the person to use skills one grade higher in advance when certain conditions were achieved. In other words, Grid created the Open Potential skill and could temporarily open the locked skills tree. It was now possible to use Transcended Linked Kill Wave Pinnacle.

“Grid!”

The meritorious retainers were rushing to Grid’s side. They learned that Grid’s condition was more serious than they thought and guarded him while being alert to Harang.

“Are you going to create a new world?” Harang muttered in a voice that couldn’t be heard by others as she alternated looking between the silver-haired man fighting Garam and Grid’s group.

They were inevitably weak. If Pungsa or Unsa sensed this and appeared, they would be wiped out. However, this was a story for only right now. Over the years, they would build up their strength and were more likely to grow into a force the Five Seniors couldn’t leave alone.

Chiyou would make time for them.

“Remember this. Not all yangbans are as lax as we are.”

“...?”

“There are some yangbans who have studied and trained, unlike us who have wasted the years. They are much stronger and have more comprehension than me. They aren’t as clumsy as Garam, whose ego was hurt and he started training late.”

It was like giving advice. What was this? Grid knew the nature of the yangbans and doubted Harang. He was convinced that Harang was planning something behind his back. However, his condition was so messy that he couldn’t even open his mouth.

Harang smiled at him who was trying to endure the pain without reacting. “I envy Pagma who left you behind before he died.”

At this moment, someone fell from the sky and tore at Harang’s weakened body. It was Garam.

“Pant... Pant...” The battle against Braham seemed to be a tough one. Garam’s distorted face was covered with sweat and blood and his eyes were filled with disbelief. The constant heaving of his chest showed that he was so tired it wouldn’t be strange if he collapsed immediately.

“You can’t handle a single human being? You are incredibly incompetent.”

Garam spat out blood and denied the dead Gru, Naeun, and Harang as he started to recover rapidly. By killing Harang, he absorbed her strength, or to be precise, the faith she had built up.

“This time, I’ll be enough by myself.”

Garam's breathing was stable. He became more complete as he focused entirely on the faith of Harang and the humans that had been gathered to him. He became much stronger. He was sure that he could beat all the humans in this place, including the weary silver-haired guy and the dying Grid.

“First, let’s change this disgusting space.”

Garam’s formless will became so powerful that it was different from before and it was able to cut the air. Then the thousands of eyes on the hell moon staring at the ground were split in half and the hell that Yura summoned was destroyed. It was the moment when the field magic that had been suppressing the divinity of the yangbans disappeared.

“Next.” Garam’s gaze shifted to Jishuka. Garam couldn’t ignore her potential when she held the Red Phoenix Bow and had the blessing of the red phoenix. Garam was one of the few yangbans who could simultaneously operate the four breaths of the red phoenix, black tortoise, blue dragon, and white tiger. He was particularly talented among the yangbans and had a high fighting spirit. At this moment, he completely awakened and the 10 meritorious retainers failed to respond properly.

The Shunpo that was triggered during a gap in their breathing was a step higher than the Shunpo that Harang had used. It happened when Garam appeared by Jishuka’s side and was stabbing her in the neck...

Grid was a bit faster and rushed to Garam to block the attack. It was a more powerful strike than the previous attacks.

“You?” Subtle differences caused a huge ripple. Garam’s body was slightly pushed by Grid’s move. He slightly tilted and as a result, Garam’s spear swept past Jishuka’s neck without stabbing it. Garam’s eyes were filled with disbelief. His trembling eyes met Grid’s black eyes.

“The dying man has become stronger?”

“I leveled up, you damn XX.”

He used the remaining points he saved as he couldn’t afford to leave them be.

“?”

Garam’s doubts didn’t last long. Braham, who seemed to be quiet for some reason, used multiple restraining magic and Garam had to endure the weight of this gravity. Grid’s sword dance and the ultimate skills of the 10 meritorious retainers poured toward the dull Garam. Garam tried to stop it but he couldn’t fight back.

[The resurrection of the guardian god of the south, Red Phoenix, has succeeded.]

It was because someone intervened.

“Kuek...! Kaaaaaaaaaaaak!!”

Garam’s wounded body and soul were unable to withstand the heat of the sun and started to burn. It was the end of the evil who had long plagued Grid.