The colorful light that refracted through the stained glass mysteriously dyed the statue of Goddess Rebecca. It was a brilliant and holy sight, but the priests kneeling below it weren’t dazzled. The priest looked up at the statue with a cold gaze before taking off his crown and rising from his seat. This last prayer was actually a ritual putting an end to his faith.

Dark clouds appeared in the weeping sky. The light was concealed by the clouds and darkness enveloped the temple. Thunder was heard. Then the moment that lightning struck, there was a close-up of the Goddess Rebecca statue on the screen.

Exquisitely cast shadows erased the statue’s smiles. The benevolence she showed so far was nowhere to be found and she felt endlessly cold. She seemed to be staring at the priest who left behind his crown and sword and left. Even so, the priest didn’t shrink back or hesitate. He walked confidently to the end with a straight walk.

The corridor of the huge temple was very long and the dark clouds cleared as he walked. Once outside, the priest saw a huge sun that seemed to welcome him and give him new blessings.

“......”

The priest unbuttoned his coat. He took off the pure white robes that were a symbol of the Rebecca Church and wore armor instead. It was armor engraved with the crest of a sword and hammer. The camera close to him turned and captured his new appearance on the screen from head to toe. The moment his gaze met the camera, a caption introducing him was placed at the bottom of the screen.

Damian. The leader of the Overgeared God Church.

***

The opening video for the 6th National Competition became a hot topic. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the status of the pope was a symbol of absolute power that all players envied, yet Damian chose to abandon it to become the leader of the Overgeared God Church. People couldn’t help going crazy when this person, who had been in the spotlight these days, was the finale of the video. In particular, they displayed a high interest in the ‘sword dance’ Damian would show.

Following the 5th National Competition, Grid also declared his absence from the 6th National Competition and they were looking forward to seeing his swordsmanship through others. Starting from the brutal killing of the PvP championship candidates in the 1st National Competition to the fusion sword dances during the Demon King’s Subjugation...

How much could Damian reproduce?

『 The reason why Damian gave up his position of pope to become the leader of the Overgeared God Church will be revealed soon. 』

『 How powerful is the status or class of leader of the Overgeared God Church? People expect that it is the best since he has the protection of the supreme one, Grid, but is it really true? 』

『 Yes, this year’s Damian will show the greatest performance ever. As we all know, the biggest advantage of the Overgeared God Church is that it can raise the power of Grid’s items to the limit. If he is the leader of the Overgeared God Church, then he should be heavily armed with items made by Grid. It is also the latest product. 』

“...Pfft!” Damian, who woke up in the morning and drank milk, sprayed milk from his nose. It was frightening to realize that public interest was greater than necessary.

‘It is currently still worthless.’

It wasn’t just the Overgeared God Church leader. All members of the Overgeared God Church had great potential. It was just that to unlock its potential, they had to build up enough proficiency in the sword dance. Like the analysis of the experts, they also needed Grid’s items.

However, Damian currently had nothing. He was only up to the two fusion sword dances and his Grid items were the sword and armor he purchased in the past and the shield he was gifted last year. People’s expectations that Damian would show the greatest performance ever was completely different from reality.

“In the first place, they didn’t tell me that such great weight would be placed on it...”

He thought that shooting the scene had taken exceptionally long, but he never guessed it would be the highlight of the video. Wasn’t this the first time since Grid and Kraugel that a particular individual was highlighted in the opening video?

‘How did I get treated like such a great person? There are also Jishuka and Chris. Why is it me...?’

This must be the Grid effect. The aggro of the Overgeared God Church was more than imagined. Damian sighed as he thought about it, but he was more humble than necessary. He needed to be more confident in himself. It was purely Grid’s power that killed the fallen Pope Drevigo. It was Damian himself who became the Goddess' Agent and rebuilt the Rebecca Church. Additionally, Grid greatly helped Damian in becoming pope, but Grid wouldn’t have been able to help if Damian wasn’t qualified. It was also purely thanks to Damian’s efforts that the Rebecca Church had greatly improved.

Damian might not know it, but the world saw Damian as a big figure who was the next Grid or comparable to Kraugel. He even had the record of an outstanding performance as the ‘Zombie Demon King’ in last year’s National Competition. Therefore, he had enough qualifications to be the finale of the opening video.

“Sigh.”

However, he was feeling depressed, so it was extremely normal to sigh. Damian had just become the leader of the Overgeared God Church and didn’t have enough money to make item production requests to Grid, so he was several times weaker than last year. There was a very high probability that he wouldn’t meet people’s expectations. Maybe every event he participated in would undermine the prestige of the Overgeared God Church.

‘It would be better if I didn’t participate.’

As he had been thinking about whether to participate or not, his judgment was blurred due to the broadcasting station official he met.

‘I didn’t even sell my house.’

Damian sighed repeatedly before his expression suddenly fell.

‘Is there any need to worry about this?’

He had lost all his abilities he enjoyed since his days as a pope, but he was a priest of the Overgeared God Church. He had inherited Grid’s sword dances.

...Grid’s sword dance had always been the strongest. Damian still remembered the sword dance Kill that defeated Hurent in one blow. Of course, these days, rankers wouldn’t die from a single sword dance. If it wasn’t one blow, then it would be two blows. If it wasn’t two blows, then three blows. If three blows didn’t work, then why not try four?

‘Yes, it is a meaningless worry.’

He could win against anyone. In particular, players who were contestants of Player 56 or 55. He couldn’t be lacking compared to the new rankers who gained popularity through the power of TV. If he wasn’t as good as them, it was a problem of his quality, not his new class.

Damian gained confidence in his thinking and worked hard in the first event of the National Competition held a fortnight later.

“Gasp... Gasp...”

He lost various buff skills and recovery skills. Damian lost everything he had enjoyed so far and realized how difficult it was to compete with others with just one passive skill and a few attack skills.

‘Isn’t this why Grid was scolded?’

The reason why so many people mocked Grid during the 1st National Competition was that there was no control. Once he experienced Grid’s position at that time, it was more than he couldn’t control it rather than there being no control.

If the blacksmith part was removed from Pagma's Successor, it should be considered a melee damage dealer, but there were no defense skills and no charging skills. The sword dances could be used as an evasive move, but it was natural that the practicality was inferior compared to an actual evasion skill.

‘It isn’t clear when hunting low intelligence monsters, but it is a weakness that can be attacked when fighting people.’

It would gradually improve in the process of learning a new fusion sword dance, but the current Grid’s sword dances that were available were too passive. It was absurdly weak in combat against individuals. There were no special advantages apart from the very high attack power. Rather, there were many disadvantages due to the long preliminary movements.

As Damian stood on the podium with a trembling expression and the gold medal was placed around his neck, cheers burst out from everywhere. It was a lot of adversity, but he eventually got first place. He wandered through the labyrinth and slaughtered all the participants he encountered with powerful swordsmanship. The problem was that it was much harder than expected.

『 Um... Damian has won the gold medal as everyone expected. 』

『Still, how should I say this? It was a series of very rough fights, right? It was a battle where Damian’s unique color couldn’t be seen. 』

『 I agree. Originally, Damian used his nimble shielding to suppress the opponents, seal off attacks, or restrict the movements with divine magic. Then he uses his refined combat skills to take down the target. Meanwhile, today it is like... Um...』

『 What else can be said? It is just disappointing. Disappointing. How can this be the ability of a PvP winning candidate? Thanks to the accumulation of numerous combat data, the combat guidelines these days are very high quality. Even level 200 warriors don’t fight like that these days. I think Damian has fallen a lot unless he is purposely hiding his skills. Well, that might be a stretch. How much would he have regretted letting go of the pope position? In the future, Damian can only go downhill. 』

Being at the top and staying there consistently wasn’t something that could be done with just passion and ambition. Some people misunderstood it as Damian losing his passion. The skills that Damian showed weren’t so good.

***

The Overgeared Kingdom was busy preparing for Prince Lord’s coming of age ceremony...

“In the end, it happened.” Prime Minister Lauel received the unpleasant news. It was news that rebellions were occurring in various parts of the Orc Kingdom. It was as he expected.

Originally, orcs were a primitive species that lived in tribal units. The new orc lord, Teruchan, hoped to build a kingdom and Grid helped him create the Orc Kingdom, but most orc nobles took the kingdom as a prison rather than a fence. In tribal societies, they could reign like kings. Then in the kingdom, they were bound by various laws and regulations. It was natural to be stuffy.

The dissatisfaction of the orc nobles continued to build up and orc players showed signs of exploiting this. The reason why this couldn’t be prevented because of the high number of orc players. It was physically impossible to monitor and manage them one by one.

‘They must have been waiting for this time.’

Most of the main power of the Overgeared Kingdom was away due to participating in the National Competition. It was also a busy time due to Prince Lord’s coming of age ceremony. Due to the lack of manpower, it would take quite a lot of time and money to put down the rebellion.

‘I have to minimize the number of tribes that succeed in gaining independence...’

If the orcs split back into tribal units, then the orc players would gain too much power. Most of them were Chinese players. If they dominated the tribes and increased their influence, then it wouldn’t be good for the Overgeared Kingdom.

It happened as Lauel frowned and started to sort out the list of Overgeared members to be sent to suppress the rebels...

“Why is your expression so serious? I heard the news that the orcs have rebelled. Isn’t it a problem that Teruchan can solve?” Grid finally emerged from the smithy that he spent the past few days in and visited Lauel’s office. The soot on his face offended Lauel, who was already sensitive.

“Currently, you aren’t just the king of a country anymore. Shouldn’t you pay more attention to your appearance when you become a god?”

“Looking human is more likable.”

He might be called a god, but it was still at a level similar to an honorary position. Grid swallowed down these words and checked the list that Lauel was writing.

“I think Laella and Zednos will suffer too much if they follow this list.”

“Still, it can’t be helped. We have to thoroughly defend the capital until the coming of age ceremony is over, so it is difficult to recruit more troops. By the way, did you finish making it?”

“Yes, I think Damian will be very pleased. Hmm, I will go for a bit...”

“Where are you going?”

“Where else? I’m going to quell the rebellion.”

“There is no need. Does it make sense for you to be gone when the coming of age ceremony begins in just three days?”

“Three days is enough.” Grid opened the map of the orc kingdom and pointed to the south and north. “Tell the kids to go over here. I will take care of the rest.”

“...Do you have 10 bodies?”

There were a total of 43 rebellion sites in the areas Grid said he would take charge of. It was impossible to subdue them all in three days unless he had 10 bodies. However, Grid was behaving in a relaxed manner.

“It is because I have good eyes.”

“......?”

“In any case, I’ll be back. Deliver this item to Damian.”

“No, wait... Your Majesty! Hey! Now isn’t the time for you to do this!”

Lauel tried to stop Grid and even spoke informally, but it was useless. Grid laughed like Lauel’s reaction was cute and threw himself through the warp gate.