‘How did they know to come?’

This was the question Grid had the moment the martial god followers entered the dining room. It took 20 minutes to get to Bairan Castle. The followers of the martial god appeared there like they had been waiting so he even wondered if there were spies in the castle.

Then he realized that he had ignored something Zikfrector mentioned. He failed to understand the logic of ‘securing a safe area by destroying the statues of the martial god.’ It was natural since Grid never instructed Lord to destroy the statues of the martial god. There were few hints and not enough time to immediately understand Zikfrector’s remark.

‘He deliberately lured them.’

Meanwhile, Zikfrector was convinced. Grid had created a safe zone by destroying the statues of the martial god in the forest of the guardian. It meant he had seen how to get rid of the pursuit of the martial god followers. Yet he dared to move locations and allow the followers to track them here. He showed a willingness to start a war for his new messenger by taking on the followers.

‘His quick judgment and steadfast courage are worthy of being an object of envy.’

This was why Zikfrector had coveted Grid since the days when Juander was emperor. He appreciated Grid so much that he urged Grid to become the emperor of Saharan and he had a tendency to overestimate Grid. It was a time when Grid and Zikfrector’s thoughts intersected.

‘Is it a trap?’

Haegak felt a chill as the fragments of the exploded blood sword swept over his body. Haegak had never allowed any type of attack to hit since he gained sharper hearing and a sixth sense after abandoning his vision. Therefore, the burning sensation from his body was surprising.

Haegak turned to Grid’s direction. Despite the missed attack, this man’s firm attitude of forming blood again into a sword alerted Haegak. This guy—

He was the king of this kingdom who dared to impersonate a god.

“You are Grid. I heard you killed Lee Jeong but he wasn’t very good.” Haegak abandoned the unstable posture of the one-handed handstand and stood upright.

Grid opened his mouth, “Kukuk, Lee Jeong was the weakest of us—did you want to say something like that?”

This was a regular type of comment from Lauel. He would mutter it to himself every time the dispatched personnel failed and returned.

Haegak flinched and shut his mouth.

“...Really.” Grid frowned when he saw Haegak’s reaction and then he used Freely Move. The followers of the martial god only marched forward. Their sole purpose was to achieve the peak of martial arts. Their essence didn’t change even if they were deceived by Zeratul and lost their sense of reason. Due to this setting, the skills they used weren’t simple. They were obsessed with techniques that were difficult to use, complex, and hard to hard. They also sought development in actual combat. In short, it meant they didn’t use targeting skills.

Moonlight flowed in from a collapsed outer wall. The followers’ weapons, fists, and kicks moved through along the light, scattering them and causing ripples. The techniques connected brilliantly, but they couldn’t even touch Grid’s fluttering cloak. It was because the power of Freely Move to avoid all non-targeting skills was absolute.

‘1.2 seconds.’

Grid calculated the time the blood sword combined with the Magic Power Ejection Machine would last and reached Haegak. He immediately unleashed a four fusion sword dance. First, Linked Kill occurred and Haegak dodged with restrained movements.

At this moment, the accumulated combat experience rang a warning bell inside Grid.

‘A counterattack will come.’

Wave Pinnacle was launched after Linked Kill. Haegak immediately recognized that it was impossible to avoid this and he stretched out his right arm. He didn’t use any recoil. He just threw his fist forward with his elbow down by his waist. The result was amazing.

[There are no attacks that you won’t recognize.]

Grid’s transcendence was triggered. Originally, an attack gained speed by using the recoil of pulling back the arm but Haegak’s fist shot forward like a bullet despite omitting this process. Grid couldn’t afford to admire it. In a slow world, Grid avoided Haegak’s attack and saw the scene of the chain being pulled out as Haegak’s fist shot forward and deflecting the blood sword. It was an iron chain that connected both of Haegak’s wrists. It collided with the blood sword and bounced it back toward Grid. It was a really fast and sharp counterattack.

Grid didn’t even blink once. He already anticipated a counterattack and was prepared for the situation. The God Hands blocked the blood sword. Then the blood sword changed directions and returned to Haegak again. Grid’s response was indeed perfect. Unfortunately, the blood sword didn’t reach Haegak. Just before reaching Haegak, the duration ended and it exploded. Haegak was wounded by the fragments again and retreated from Grid.

‘He doesn’t have complete control over that sword.’ It would’ve been dangerous if the blood sword hadn’t exploded and struck him directly. During the time when Grid was tied up by Haegak, Zikfrector had bound five followers while Mercedes had killed three.

Zibal stabbed the followers who were bound by the runes that Zikfrector unfolded like a net and shouted, “Grid! Call out the ambushers!”

That’s right. Like Zikfrector and Haegak, Zibal also believed that Grid had designed this situation. It was natural. He wouldn’t have left the safe area without any countermeasures.

‘Was there an ambush?’

Haegak raised his senses. He could feel Grid and Zikfrector, as well as the sword energy scattered here and there. There was nothing good about increasing the number of enemies when there were already three strong opponents present who could overwhelm the followers who had learnt eight secret techniques.

‘I should aim for a quick fight.’

It wouldn’t be easy. Haegak estimated that Grid’s skills were as good as his. Rather, it was right to see Grid as more favorable than himself seeing that Grid controlled 10 black-gold hands holding different weapons.

‘I can only hope that I have more reinforcements than there are ambushers.’

In the worst case, he might have to borrow the ‘wings.’ It was a method where four angel wings were implanted to force him to become an angel, or an apostle of the martial god. It was a black magical art that caused extreme suffering by temporarily separating him from a human, making him lose his sense of ‘me’ in exchange for borrowing the power of an angel into a human body. In the first place, the relationship between the human world and angels was the worst. From the moment the wings were implanted, his mental strength and stamina would be worn out. Even his life span was decreased.

‘Lee Jeong hadn’t learned this black magical art.’ Grid might be hit because he didn’t know about its existence. Haegak was judging the situation while Grid looked embarrassed.

‘Things would be worse if I had prepared an ambush.’

It was necessary to stop the knights and soldiers who would come running after hearing the turmoil. The followers of the martial god who appeared here had learned at least eight secret techniques. Ordinary knights and soldiers would just be cut down by them.

The best way to confront them was with a small number of elites and at least four elite people were gathered here. Himself, Mercedes, Zikfrector, and Zibal’s magic machine... no, Zibal. In this way, it was enough for the four of them to wipe out the followers. The rapidly rising skill proficiency when fighting the followers was a bonus. If they were lucky, they might get one of the martial god’s secret techniques.

“What ambush? We are enough.”

Yes, there was no such thing as an ambush. It happened when Grid smiled while concealing his thoughts and raised his thumb...

The windows and walls on all sides shattered and new martial god followers entered. There were at least 20 of them. The number of enemies doubled in an instant.

“You alone are enough? Haha! Yes, you can try it!”

Haegak shouted and the 40 followers rushed to Zikfrector. Their purpose was Zik of the Seven Evils. It was to eliminate the danger that could use all types of tricks to incite a rebellion against the heavenly gods.

Mercedes blocked the followers. She pushed away the leading followers with her shield, rotated while swinging her sword close to the ground, cutting the Achilles’ heel of the followers. The followers ignored her. They broke through the gaps caused by her attacking their colleagues and aimed all sorts of techniques at Zikfrector.

Zikfrector was slowly pushed to the defensive. His body was weakened due to just awakening from the long sleep the Curse of Sloth put him under and the ancient magic using runes took time to unfold. He couldn’t easily handle the followers who rushed in from all directions without caring about defense.

Grid tried to help him.

"Where are you going?” However, Haegak blocked Grid’s way.

It just stretched out, out, and out. Haegak’s right fist flew forward at high speed without the help of the recoil and forced Grid into the world of transcendence.

Grid dodged while noting that the right arm had more developed muscles than the left arm. It seemed that his habit of moving around using his right arm wasn’t for nothing. The reason why the follower blindfolded himself, restrained his hands and feet, and did a handstand with one arm was all part of training. The training of unusual intensity developed his body and combat skills.

Grid understood this too. This was why he did his next action.

Click!

So far, both hands had been restrained by Lee Jeong’s handcuffs.

[Lee Jeong’s Handcuffs have been unequipped. The attack range, hit rate, and attack power of the equipped weapon are restored to normal. Some of the skills that have been sealed will be released.]

“Kukuk! Kuhahaha! Haegak saw Grid removing the handcuffs around his wrists and burst out laughing. It was an action that showed he found it absurd. Haegak also loosened the iron chains restraining his wrists and the chains that fell to the ground caused it to shake. Haegak released the chains binding his ankles and the shackles fell into a hole it created in the ground. “Lee Jeong’s handcuffs are half the weight of my handcuffs.”

Finally, Haegak took off his blindfold. All the restrictions for training were removed. Haegak disappeared like smoke. The moment Grid took one step back, Haegak’s kick passed by the tip of Grid’s nose.

[You have suffered 1,900 damage.]

His nose bled. Grid definitely felt it. Haegak became several times faster and stronger than before. The attack hit rate had risen to the point where it was difficult to dodge even using the world of transcendence. The depth of the martial arts that predicted the target’s response combined with vision made him a monster.

“The Triad... it wasn’t a bluff.” Grid honestly admired it.

Haegak shrugged in response, but he didn’t let down his guard. He had determined that he might have to transplant the wings in exchange for his life, so he couldn’t underestimate Grid.

“Sky.”

The strongest single sword dance cut through the waves of moonlight.

Grid suppressed Haegak with Restraint, appeared behind Haegak, and entered the Transcend state. He connected Kill and Pinnacle to restrict Haegak’s movements. Dozens of blue petals appeared in the area and exploded with a wave-like momentum. Grid pierced Haegak with Dragon and blood scattered.

[The heavenly gods are paying attention to you.]

Sky was a sword dance that announced the birth of a new sky. The attention of the gods was natural and interest was directly linked to hostility. This was why Grid suppressed the sword dance, Sky, that was powerful enough to be a fusion sword dance.

However, that was a story of the past. There was no hesitation in the current Grid. From the moment the heavenly gods imprisoned Hexetia, the relationship between Grid and the gods had become irreversible. The battle between Grid and Haegak intensified dramatically.

Grid gradually increased his momentum by using stronger sword dances while Haegak responded with the dozens of martial arts that he had trained in. The strong wind that stretched out from Haegak’s fist failed to hit Grid and destroyed a spire before being extinguished.

Then the God Hands deflected Haegak’s next strike and fell to the ground. Next, Haegak was cut on the thigh in exchange for blocking a sword dance and leaned over. He grabbed Grid’s collar, used a grappling technique and tossed Grid away. However, Grid appeared in front of Haegak again using Shunpo and swung his sword. Grid and Haegak’s attacks moved along all types of trajectories and collided, creating shockwaves that shook the castle.

Haegak, who had been concentrating for a long time, suddenly burst out laughing. “Hahaha! Aren’t you too focused on me?”

The scene was filled with a bloody smell. It would surely be the blood of Zik who was surrounded by dozens of followers.

“The 6th evil is dying while you are tied up by me...”

Haegak was talking while enjoying the situation only for his eyes to widen. It was quiet. There wasn’t a single noise at the scene other than his own voice. He felt something strange and turned his head, only to be shocked. All his followers were corpses. A silver-haired man sat on the mountain of corpses like it was a throne, a farmer and an angel on his left and right sides.

“What...?”

What type of bizarre combination was this? Haegak couldn’t understand the sight unfolded before him and seemed to have an illusion that the shadows around him were shaking. Then he soon realized it wasn’t an illusion. It was due to two assassins rising from the shadows and attacking him.

Grid smiled brightly. “You should’ve been careful of an ambush.”