There were still only two player kings—Overgeared God Grid and God of War Ares. The quality and quality of talent, the size of the force, capital, technology, strength, etc.

On all indicators, the Overgeared Kingdom was superior to Valhalla and Grid was superior to Ares. It was rare for the world to easily see Ares. Yet even Grid recognized and respected Ares’ skill and resourcefulness. He had to do so. Looking down on Ares meant looking down on most players except for Grid himself.

-I was impressed by your performance in the National Competition.

Grid’s voice was full of joy. They had been interacting for quite a long time. In the few times the two people had met directly, their personal feelings were pretty good. There was a special rapport because they were in similar positions. Of course, it wasn’t like that from the beginning. The military cooperation between the Overgeared Kingdom and Valhalla was still ongoing.

Most of the soldiers of the Overgeared Kingdom’s 1st Corps returned from military training in Valhalla after gaining enlightenment and experiencing partial breakthroughs. Artificially improving the characteristics of soldiers and breaking through their stats limit—it was something that Piaro and Asmophel couldn’t do despite training many soldiers so far.

It was originally a miracle that had a low probability of occurring when the soldiers received enlightenment or went beyond their limitations. There was only one person in the world who could artificially do it and it was God of War Ares. It was just like only Grid could exercise the miracle of creating myth rated items.

-My performance? Compared to your activity of recording a new history, it is just a small trick like a slug rolling over. By the way, it is good to hear your voice after a long time. There is a refreshing feeling like drinking Coke. Uhaha!

The military cooperation between the two kingdoms wasn’t a unilateral, favorable agreement. The Overgeared Kingdom also helped Valhalla. Valhalla’s elites were armed with the Overgeared Kingdom’s items. Of course, the two kingdoms maintained appropriate boundaries. They didn’t cooperate with each other wholeheartedly.

Valhalla trained the Overgeared soldiers in ‘moderation’ and the Overgeared Kingdom only sold a ‘moderate’ amount of battle gear to Valhalla’s soldiers at a ‘fair’ price. At one time, Ares dreamed of becoming a true ally of the Overgeared Kingdom, but the wall of reality wasn’t so easy. There were many interests in diplomacy. The arbitrary decisions of his mind couldn’t determine his political line.

Furthermore, Ares paid a great price for his effort in collecting NPCs as subordinates. Among the contents of the price paid was an agreement to achieve the ‘dream’ of the subordinate and this complicated things. Most of Ares’ named NPCs held grudges against the Saharan Empire. It couldn’t be helped. Most of the named NPCs were affiliated with the empire or lost something due to the empire.

-I often wanted to contact you... I refrained from it because I thought you might feel uncomfortable.

-Um, I’ve also been careful out of fear of your discomfort.

The Overgeared Kingdom and Valhalla cooperated, but they were wary of each other. There were two decisive occasions where the kingdoms didn’t trust each other and the relationship started to crack. The Valhalla Kingdom found the ‘blacksmith monopoly’ of the Overgeared Kingdom annoying, while Valhalla’s hostile relationship to the Saharan Empire was a problem for the Overgeared Kingdom.

It was just that both kingdoms didn’t openly express their intentions. The reason why blacksmiths all over the continent flocked to the Overgeared Kingdom wasn’t because the Overgeared deliberately lured them. The blacksmiths just wanted to join Grid. How could the Overgeared Kingdom be blamed for that? The Overgeared Kingdom who monopolized the blacksmiths manipulated item prices and ripped off other kingdoms, but they didn’t do so for Valhalla. As mentioned earlier, they dealt fairly with Valhalla.

The Overgeared Kingdom also had no justification to deter Valhalla, who opposed the Saharan Empire and continued to wage war at the border. At the time of 4th Imperial Prince Edan’s rebellion, Valhalla was used by Grandmaster Zikfrector to invade the empire. They failed and suffered massive damage. The grudge was deep. Additionally, Valhalla was a kingdom that developed by absorbing the forces hostile to the empire. By nature, it was inevitable that they would be on bad terms with the empire.

It was impossible to impose a relationship on Valhalla just because Basara, the new empress after Edan’s rebellion, had formed a friendship.

-The reason I contacted you today... as you might have expected, it is because of the great human and demon war.

It was many years ago when the 22nd Great Demon, Berith invaded the human world. The Ares army dreamed of being the strongest and was full of confidence. They challenged Berith without shrinking back. They were qualified to do so. Yet they were defeated.

The Ares army only decreased the health of Berith—who they thought was delicious prey—by half, before being destroyed. It was a huge shock. The defeat in front of the entire world humiliated the Ares army and was enough to shake their foundation. An inevitable feeling of skepticism swept over them.

This was when Ares realized that he wasn’t Grid. His colleagues might be as strong as the Overgeared members, but he couldn’t be their pillar because he wasn’t like Grid. He belatedly understood how Jishuka felt when she gave up the leader’s position to Grid.

-I didn’t want to say this directly, but Valhalla has grown quite strong. I have many talents under me.

It was ever since realizing how powerful the existence of the hell monarch was. No, Ares’ enthusiasm reached the peak the moment he aimed at Grid and the Overgeared Guild. He gathered talent from all over the continent and worked with them to develop his organization.

-Grid, we won’t drag you back. Lead us during the great human and demon war. I’ll cooperate as much as I can.

The Ares army was competent. Like the Overgeared members, they learned from their valuable experiences without being frustrated by failure. Therefore, they noticed the seriousness of the great human and demon war. Ares felt it was time for all humanity to cooperate. Of course, he knew who the leader should be.

-I’ll make peace with the empire. The new empress is a capable person and won’t refuse to make peace.

-Ares...

Grid was no longer thirsty for recognition. Rather, he was getting used to being accepted. The reason why his heart trembled was probably because the Ares army was one of the most prestigious. They were a group of first-class people. As promising as they were, their pride was also extremely high. Beyond leaving their backs to him, they were now entrusting their fate to him.

-...I understand.

‘Am I qualified to lead you?’

He didn’t ask such a question. He didn’t bother to be humble. Grid was aware that he was the Lantern of Humanity.

-I won’t let you down.

The reason why Grid and the messengers were able to play an active part in hell was because hell was divided into 33 areas. The great demons who didn’t cooperate with each other were isolated and easily defeated. The great human and demon war would be different. As seen in Pagma’s past, they had a great probability of uniting as an army. It would obviously be a tough fight even when they received penalties in the human world. He had been feeling a great sense of crisis and the participation of the Ares army was as good as earning thousands of troops.

-Uhaha! How can you be so dependable? Soon, our army will arrive in Reinhardt. They left first, expecting that the conversation with you would go well. That resourceful guy is as helpful as Lauel, so I hope you use him well.

-Ares, you’re not coming?

-I have to go as well. It will just take a while because I’m marching with all the troops except the guards. I think I’ll be a bit late. Please understand.

-Can you empty your kingdom? If the demons invade Valhalla, people will...

-My military advisor told me it will be fine. The gates of hell, where a large number of troops can enter through, will either be in the Behen Archipelago or the Abyss. I trust him. That guy, he is a very capable person who matures slowly.

Grid was surprised. Lauel and Sticks had said the same thing. It was unexpected that Ares’ military advisor could compare with them.

***

Every time a man moved, the dirt surged. There was a huge plow that couldn’t be moved even if 10 cows joined together. Now a man was gritting his teeth as he led it and plowed through the fields. The weight on his toes was reminiscent of the Heavenly Subjugation Pressure, the ultimate technique of the dancer martial artists.

A smile spread on the man’s face every time sweat flowed down his clear thigh muscles and permeated into the soil dug by the plow. This man who overturned Morpheus’ predictions over and over again as he gained the flesh of a farmer trained to the limit often felt a great pride when he plowed the field.

“Festival...? Is that right?”

The man had been putting down his plow and enjoyed the scenery of his own field. Now he frowned slightly and cocked his head. He saw the adventurers coming from afar who were excited about the great human and demon war and he questioned it.

‘Are the great demons not a big deal these days?’

Aura Master and Steel Farmer Hurent—he was one of the Five Miracles who had 31 titles in addition to his second class. He was once famous as an American hero along with Zibal, but he had long left the world. He joined the Overgeared Guild a few years ago, but no one had ever assigned him a separate mission. Thanks to this, he enjoyed a free farmer’s life, just as he did before joining the Overgeared Guild.

Hurent didn’t know what was going on in the world. To be correct, he wasn’t interested. Over the past few years, his biggest concern had been finding a ‘rune’ in the field.

‘This place is also a failure.’

Hurent used aura to create a wind phenomenon and shook off the sweat on his body. The rain of aura, combined with the Steel Farmer’s unique skill, ‘Growth Enhancement,’ strengthened the vast fields that were a wasteland 10 days ago. The used plow had already scattered into light and disappeared. The plow was also created with aura. The stronger the rain, the faster and more powerful the green buds grew.

There was no need to worry about the invasion of monsters ruining the field. The monsters that originally swarmed this land were afraid of Hurent’s aura and farming energy.

“Why are there no monsters?”

Did we go the wrong way? The fields weren’t originally in this place, right? He could feel the confusion of the adventurers, but... this wasn’t a problem for Hurent to care about.

‘Um... Where is the next place to move to?’ It happened when Hurent was troubled over the rune he couldn’t find today...

“Hey, Mister. Have you seen a monster? I obviously saw the devil children here before.”

“The devil children aren’t just ordinary monsters, they are demonic creatures.”

Hurent recalled the snow-colored monsters he met on the first day he came here and answered the adventurers’ question with his eyes. He looked like he was asking them if they could fight the devil children with such ordinary equipment that didn’t contain any divine power.

“Who doesn’t know they are demonic creatures? I came here with the purpose of preparing for the upcoming great human and demon war.”

“Go 20 kilometers north to look. I’m sure there will still be devil children there.”

“Gasp, that far? Is my memory wrong? In any case, thank you.”

“What is with that uncle? Is he an NPC or a player?”

“How can a man who farms alone in a remote area like this be a player? He must be an NPC.”

“I thought so at first, but he understood the words great human and demon war. How can a farmer who likes alone in a remote area know about the great human and demon war?”

“The Overgeared Kingdom sent official letters to all nations on the continent about the great human and demon war. Since it is from the Overgeared Kingdom, the rulers wouldn’t have doubted it and they would’ve spread the news to the people.”

“Sigh... Don’t tell me that NPCs will interfere in the great human and demon war?”

“......”

Hurent fell into thought as he looked at the backs of the adventurers gradually moving away. Based on the way that such beginners were looking forward to the great human and demon war, it seemed that the dignity of the great demons wasn’t as great as before.

For reference, the average level of the adventurers just now was 300. They were top rankers. Due to suffering thanks to Braham, Hurent had very high standards and they looked like novices to Hurent’s discerning eyes.

‘Let’s go a bit further this time... Master said there is a high probability of the rune being in remote areas. I should take this opportunity to challenge the forbidden areas.’

Hurent pushed down his straw hat deeper and disappeared like a gust of wind. He was becoming more of a monster thanks to his stats rising every time he made bigger and better fields. It was the secret weapon of the Overgeared Kingdom who was personally recognized by Grid, even though Hurent wasn’t aware of it himself.