‘Absorption can be poison.’

One of the ultimate martial arts—Kyle felt a terrible sense of helplessness at Lee Jeong’s ability to take away the ‘energy’ of others. After having his lightning stolen and being trampled on miserably, he realized that Lee Jeong was an absolute person who couldn’t be faced. He even thought that if Braham and Lee Jeong fought, they wouldn’t be able to kill each other. Yet Grid had killed such a Lee Jeong.

Kyle marveled at Grid’s judgment in using the holy flames to kill Lee Jeong, who had become an undead under Doom’s influence. He wondered if Grid would win against Lee Jeong even without Doom.

This was a battlefield where tens of thousands of intentions intersected. There were variables constantly happening. Grid immediately responded to a deadly variable and used it to achieve victory. There was no doubt that he was one of the top talents.

“Cough...”

Kyle received a sickle attached to a chain in his back and he coughed up blood. He had deep wounds all over his body and his white clothing were dyed completely red. It was daunting to deal with 27 followers on his own shortly after fighting Lee Jeong. No, he couldn’t afford it.

‘I will die if this continues.’

He had already done his best. He had provided Grid with enough time to focus on Lee Jeong and it was time to find a way out. However, it was hard to find a chance to survive no matter how much he looked. The 12 surviving followers of the Martial God tightly surrounded Kyle. The moment Kyle took a single step, 12 types of weapons would smash him.

“......”

Kyle focused. He thought about how Grid transformed a crisis into an opportunity in the battle with Lee Jeong and the word ‘give up’ was erased from his mind. Then he heard a voice piercing the battlefield from the ground, “Kill me!”

The person’s name was Katz. A member of the Overgeared Guild who actively used blood as a weapon was sincerely shouting at Grid. At first glance, it seemed to be the worst situation.Under Drasion’s curse, he became a puppet and slaughtered his allies. He was left looking for death.

A huge spear was rising like a tower from the pool of blood flowing from the soldiers pierced by his rain of blood. The moment it responded to Drasion’s will and caused a massacre, a distinct blood fragrance drifted up to the sky and buried the odor of rotten earth.

A tearful woman’s shout was also heard, “Kill me too!”

She was disgusted with herself after freezing thousands of soldiers on the north side of the battlefield. She seemed to be a witch of the ice kingdom.

“Hah...”

All those who wanted to live were struggling while those who wanted to die were screaming. It was a hell of confusion created by conflicting wills. There were the followers of the Martial God who kept their mouths shut and ignored all situations. They were creepy like monsters whose emotions were castrated. There was also the strange appearance of Drasion shedding bloody tears.

It made his hairs stand on end. Was this really the earth? Perhaps he had already died and were trembling in hell.

A deep voice entered the ears of the doubting Kyle, the soldiers, and everyone else on the battlefield, “Frozen Crystal.”

“......!”

Kyle got goosebumps. The cold air that dominated the northern part of the battlefield seemed to have been gathered, forming an extreme cold that covered his whole body. In the end, solid ice that would never break was born and Kyle was locked inside it. Kyle couldn’t move his fingertips. His body was completely still.

‘What is this...?!’

Unlike his stopped body, his consciousness was fine. In the thick ice, Kyle could only watch the followers of the Martial God aim their weapons at him. He would fall into the embrace of death without any resistance.

“......?!”

The restless Kyle was startled. It was because none of the weapons pierced the ice that surrounded him. All the sharp weapons and explosive martial arts couldn’t even scratch the ice.

‘Ah...!’

Kyle finally noticed that this ice magic was protecting him.

This fact...

‘Braham?’

‘Braham!’

Two other people trapped in ice like Kyle also noticed it. Euphemina in the north of the battlefield and Katz deep in the center of the battlefield. The two people trapped in ice couldn’t move a finger and the snowstorm and bloody rain stopped like they were lies. It was possible to avoid unwanted slaughter.

“Sigh...”

The chaos of the battlefield ceased and silence ensued. Braham swept back his sweat-soaked hair and spoke in a blunt voice, “Stay still and don’t go on a rampage.”

Braham hadn’t been standing by when Grid was struggling with Lee Jeong and Drasion ran wild on the ground. He combined his knowledge with Mercedes’ Keen Insight to analyze Drasion’s power.

It was identified that Drasion’s curse, which infected a target after inflicting wounds and turned them into a puppet, lasted for a minimum of 20 seconds and a maximum of 3 minutes. It was also found that the duration of Doom that turned people into undead applied for 2 minutes.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t find a method to destroy them. It was because Drasion’s curse and Doom weren’t derived from magic, but from absolute will. It was impossible to intervene in a way that denied and destroyed the mental image of another being if the difference in status wasn’t big.

In the end, the choice that Braham made was simple. He gave up responding to Doom and used his strength to suppress those who were cursed. Just like this...

“Frozen Crystal.”

“......!”

Vantner and Peak Sword were cut by Drasion’s claws and cursed. Then they were trapped in ice just like Euphemina, Katz, and Kyle.

“Frozen Crystal.”

Laella and Zednos fell under the curse once their magic was reflected by Drasion and they were also trapped in ice. It was an ice they could never escape from without Braham’s permission. No magic and no physical force could break this ice. Braham was the strongest magician in history and started to build up divinity by defeating the hydra and yangbans. His power was too strong.

‘No way!’ The great magician Ricilia was stunned. It wasn’t because Braham’s method of using Frozen Crystal was extraordinary. The use of Frozen Crystal to freeze a target was inherently varied. It was often used for protecting allies like now, as well as suppressing enemies.

However, there was a limit to the damage that the frozen crystals could absorb. They were bound to break the moment they suffered more than a certain amount of damage. It was so shocking because Braham’s Frozen Crystal was never broken.

“You should go and help Grid.”

Braham’s complexion was growing whiter as the unbreakable ice increased on the battlefield. The mental power and magic power he consumed to maintain the magic added a burden to him. It was hard for him to use different types of magic while maintaining multiple frozen crystals. If it was Braham from a few years ago, then he wouldn’t have done anything like this.

He wouldn’t care about the pathetic people who became the enemy’s puppets or the deaths of insignificant soldiers. He would’ve just attacked Drasion from start to finish.

“Frozen Crystal.”

He was thinking about how Kyle would be a helpful talent to Grid one day and felt the need to protect Kyle. He didn’t want Grid to suffer from guilt and hoped Grid wouldn’t feel regret. He acted in consideration of what Grid would want. This was the result. Braham turned into a person fighting to protect someone. He felt this type of self wasn’t so bad.

“Leave it to us,” Mercedes answered Braham and moved with Piaro. She spread out her silver wings while Piaro wielded his sweet potato stems as they entered the battlefield to help Grid, who was performing his sword dances against Drasion with all his strength.

“......”

It was because of them that Braham could play a supporting role. Braham believed in the skills of Grid and his knights. He knew they could fight against Drasion without him.

“We will join you too!”

Furthermore, Grid didn’t have only one or two colleagues. In addition to Mercedes and Piaro, the still surviving members of the Overgeared Guild and the empire’s dukes helped Grid. Even Empress Basara directly took part in the battle like it was her active duty. They were filled with a belief that they would surely win fighting with Grid.

“Doom will end in 15 seconds!”

Mercedes had analyzed Doom’s duration with Braham and she delivered valuable information. Saintess Ruby and the Rebecca Church’s priests had been trapped in a sense of powerlessness. Now they regained their spirits and paid attention to those on the front lines.

Exactly 15 seconds later.

“Heal!”

“Purification!”

Ruby and the priests simultaneously used recovery magic to heal Grid and the others fighting Drasion. Drasion was shaken that they seemed to know when Doom would end and were waiting for it. Additionally, Doom had a cooldown time. Once Doom ended, Grid and his group members engaged in a fierce battle against Drasion, who was fighting without using Doom for a while.

Drasion’s body fell several times and this caused the rotten earth to vibrate. Of course, Grid and the others continued to suffer serious injuries, but they were saved from a crisis thanks to all the heals from the Saintess and hundreds of priests.

“Kuaaaah!”

As the battle continued, the wounds on Drasion’s body increased and he lost his temper. Eventually, it was the beginning of phase three. He roared like a wild animal and brought hell to the earth.

“Hell Regulation.” Just then, Yura opened a door to hell. The difficulty of the raid dropped sharply thanks to her ability to block Drasion’s field magic and her use of the myth rated Alex’s Magic Engineering Gun.

“Doom!” Then Drasion reactivated his power. It was finally coming.

Grid and his group were feeling tense when a new person’s shout was heard from above their heads, “Summon a Holy Sword!”

“......!”

A brilliant white light engulfed the battlefield and destroyed evil. The divine light given to humans by Rebecca, the goddess of light, exerted its power and Drasion’s Doom vanished.

“Why did you only show up now?!”

Pope Damian—unsurprisingly, he was necessary for this raid, but the time he joined was too late.

“...Damian?”

Toban was greeting and scolding Damian when his expression stiffened. The others were equally flustered.

“......”

Feathers appeared on the battlefield that had become calm again. They were pure white feathers, contrary to Drasion’s black feathers.

A sword covered in white light—the First Holy Sword that was Damian’s symbol lost its owner and fell to the ground.

“Damian!”

In the sky, two angels were stabbing at Damian’s heart and cutting his neck.

“You are no longer entitled to the will of Heaven,” one of the angels murmured softly as he slowly pulled out the spear he had inserted in Damian’s heart. Damian’s eyes lost their light and the angel pushed him off the spear like it was dirty.

“Damian!”

Grid rushed forward. He reached out to catch Damian’s body that was plummeting to the ground. However, Damian turned to gray ash before Grid’s hands could touch him. Grid’s eyes became completely cold.