30,556—this was Grid’s remaining health value. It was fatal that Baal’s rising speed after using Blackening was directly related to his hit rate.

‘If I had been hit by the last counterattack, I would’ve immediately entered the immortality state.’

The power of Blackening, that he experienced for the first time in ages through someone else, was wonderful. It was difficult to temporarily adapt to the sharp rise in attack power and speed. He wanted to have it again.

‘It would’ve been really hard if I entered the immortal state.’

The real reason he was afraid of Baal after Blackening was used was that the health gauge was gone. The health marker had literally disappeared. This created more pressure than imagined. It was an unexpected change that could only be described as a fear that he had never experienced before. It was because he had no idea how much damage his attack did to the enemy. It confused his judgment in many ways. The end of the fight wasn’t possible without the enemy’s death, so the skill usage itself wasn’t smooth.

Therefore, he just used everything. He aimed for the timing when Braham drew attention with Meteor. He placed a mass of greed between the nine meteorites. The moment Baal was caught off guard, he swung the Falling Moon Sword.

First, he cut off both arms to weaken Baal’s defense. Then he swapped his weapon and poured out his ultimate skills. Due to that, he suffered a major rebound. Baal’s regeneration speed was faster than expected and Grid was hit by continuous counterattacks. If he hadn’t grabbed Baal’s neck with one hand, he would’ve been swept away from the shockwave, bounced far away, and missed the chance to win.

Yet somehow, he succeeded in taking Baal down. Grid confirmed that it was the correct judgment. If he had hesitated a bit and his immortality occurred before Baal died, he would’ve experienced unbearable chaos.

Could he keep fighting like this? Wouldn’t he die first? Wasn’t it better to fall back and start recovering? Etc, etc. It was highly likely he would’ve slowed down from all the questions, leading to defeat. The only reason was that he couldn’t see Baal’s health.

‘Is it Baal’s inherent power?’ Grid thought about it but soon came to the conclusion that this wasn’t the case. Baal couldn’t use his power. It was the limitation that led to him using Zik’s power, the original master of the body.

‘It makes sense to see it as a correction effect for all top-ranked beings.’

Beings who didn’t show their health from a certain phase or whose health wasn’t marked from the beginning...

It was different from the type of boss monster whose maximum health rose sharply and the figure was marked with a question mark. The gauge with question marks would return to its original form if the monster kept being hit, but there was no proper answer to the absence of the gauge itself. There was no way to know when it would die, so they could only fight to the death. The difficulty of combat was actually tens of times higher.

‘Well... I just need to be stronger.’

Let’s focus on this moment.

[The compensation is being settled.]

The achievement of killing Baal seemed to be great. He might’ve only killed the fragment of a particular ego, but the system didn’t easily give him compensation and was calculating it carefully. It felt chilly, unlike in the past where exclamation marks were displayed to express admiration and embarrassment. Still, this wasn’t surprising. The system had no personal feelings. It was normal to be businesslike.

“...Sigh.” Grid was briefly lost in thought as he looked at Zik’s body that was left behind by Baal. The wound on his face became dim as he restored his breathing. His vision returned to normal. Immediately, he leaped into the sky. Perhaps they didn’t know that Baal was dead or they simply didn’t believe it—eight of Barbatos’ subordinates were chasing after Kyle as he raced through the sky. Braham was unconscious in Kyle’s arms.

‘That person is truly...’

Braham had regained the power of a direct descendant. His species was now a complete vampire, a demonkin. Rather than recovering from the flames of the red phoenix released by Storm of the Fire God, he must’ve felt severe pain and fatigue. It was also after a few days on the battlefield, so it was clear that he wasn’t in perfect condition.

However, he was in a crisis due to helping Grid by searching for Barbatos in that state. It was a judgment that wasn’t like the Duke of Wisdom. Emotions preceded reason. Thanks to him, Grid was able to overpower Baal before his immortality occurred...

‘Don’t worry.’

“Hahat... Keok!”

As he narrowed the distance to Kyle, a few of Barbatos’ subordinates, who were laughing, started screaming. It was because their neck, shoulders, arms, and legs were cut by something that appeared through the electric currents scattered by Kyle. Those who belatedly recognized Grid were shocked.

“Is this real?”

“Baal was killed?”

They freaked out and took a step back, only to soon stop. They left afterimages as they moved discreetly and surrounded Grid. There was no awkwardness in the formation of the eight subordinates.

“Now that I see it, you are in tatters.”

“Did you come here to die on your own? Kukuk!”

The subordinates of a single digit great demon were very high in the hierarchy. It was enough to represent hell anywhere. If they valued the present rather than the ‘better future,’ they could aim for the throne of the hell in the 20s right now.

Grid was seen as good prey for these great guys. Grid was in bad condition. His recovery speed in real time was fast, but he was still ragged. Barbatos’ subordinates precisely saw through Grid’s condition.

“I think it is better to avoid them...” Kyle called out as he stood on the outside of those who surrounded Grid in an instant. His lowered eyes and quiet voice was polite and elegant. It seemed he had been eagerly studying etiquette since becoming the only pillar of the empire.

‘Kyle deserves to aim for a dukeship.’

He was born in the empire and his fighting strength had grown to the highest levels in the empire. If he could abide by the etiquette and prove his loyalty well, he could reign above tens of thousands of people generation after generation. Kyle’s expression was distorted as he glanced at the back of the satisfied Grid.

‘This is crazy... doesn’t he want to run away?’

Kyle didn’t learn etiquette again. In the empire, he was still known as a haughty and overbearing person. The reason why his attitude became more polite in front of Grid was simply due to fear. He barely remembered the etiquette he had learned when serving the former emperor.

“I don’t think you need to overdo it...” Kyle raised his courage to speak while turning his attention to the palace where explosions were still ringing out. Mercedes and Asmophel gave a signal to flee while tying up Barbatos’ feet. Or they were telling him to run away. Grid had other thoughts.

“Are they telling me to run away with Braham? Leave you guys behind?”

“...No.” Kyle had an expression of horror on his face. He never dreamed about running away alone. For him, Grid was an irresistible fear.

“If I kill him, won’t my goal of participating in this war be achieved?”

“The prey has jumped into my mouth on his own. I’m happy, but I can’t believe it because it is so unrealistic.”

Barbatos’ subordinates giggled as they revealed their killing intent and greed. They saw Grid as their prey. It was a good enough situation.

‘XX... What should I do...?’

It happened as Kyle was gradually becoming angry...

Barbatos’s subordinates were suddenly attacked by Grid and screamed unanimously. They stepped into the realm of artificial senses and were cut in reverse.

Grid didn’t take a single step from his position. The faces of Kyle and the subordinates watching him were pale.

‘Was he pretending to be dying?’

It was natural that they misunderstood. Grid had gained a huge amount of experience from the rewards that had just been settled. At level 503, he reached the fifth stats awakening and was completely different from a second ago. Kyle got goosebumps. He looked at Grid, who tested him even while postponing the crisis, and felt like Grid was the devil. If he had tricked and betrayed Grid, what terrible end would have been waiting for him?

“He is still fine after killing Baal?”

“What is this guy?!”

Barbatos’ subordinates fled desperately without looking back.

Grid chased after them. The reason Barbatos was so difficult to deal with was that he showed the power to share the vision of his subordinates. Grid wanted to get rid of more subordinates when he had the opportunity. He also wanted to become more familiar with the functions of the Magic Power Ejection Machine.

The basic function of the Magic Power Ejection Machine was to mix silver threads with the injected magic power. The silver threads were decomposed to particles and were preserved inside the ejection machine. It moved toward in response to mana.

It was an attempt to give ‘physical strength’ and ‘variability’ to magic power. It was sufficiently successful. In order to increase the length of the silver threads as much as possible, turning it into powder and mixing it with magic power was especially effective. The volume of magic power and the volume of silver threads were proportional.

The disadvantage was that the larger the volume of magic power was, the weaker the concentration of the silver threads were. Now even that had been sublimated into an advantage. It was thanks to the use of artificial sensations. The density of silver threads was very low. When mixed with magic power, it stretched tightly and spread out around Grid like a cobweb. In fact, it was close to pure magic power, so it couldn’t be caught by the hand. Thanks to this, it was difficult for others to realize they had collided with the silver threads except for Grid’s messengers whom he was linked to with magic power. It was like how a person who was rubbed by dust didn’t feel the dust.

‘It was late, but Baal still noticed it.’

It was necessary to expand the limit even more. As long as the linkage between magic power and the silver threads didn’t break, the magic power could expand as much as possible to completely erase the presence of the silver threads. If it stayed like it was, Baal would notice the artificial senses from the beginning when they met again in the future.

‘At the same time.’

He should know how to use the expanded silver threads and shrink it as necessary to pressure the enemy.

Just like this.

“Ugh?!”

One of the subordinates wielding a spear viciously at Grid was flustered. It was because his spear was caught by something invisible in the air. The face of the demon, who was pulled toward Grid, became contemplative.

‘What is this strength?’

“Kuaaack!”

The screams of the subordinate didn’t stop. It was due to being cut to pieces by Grid. Thanks to this, the other subordinates were able to escape safely. The moment they neared the imperial palace, a light that was presumed to be Barbatos popped out and disappeared along with the subordinates.

Grid didn’t chase after them. It was impossible to chase and kill all of them when those with health and defense similar to the great demons in the 20s were running away. He was satisfied with killing the demon he caught earlier.

‘The control of the silver threads is still too slow. Let’s practice steadily.’

The method of replacing the silver threads with Greed with the most ideal, but... it was unreasonable based on the current performance. Greed would give off a great sense of existence even if it was turned to powder.

[Barbatos’ subordinate ‘Guga’ has been killed.]

[Your level has risen.]

[Your level has risen.]

[Guga’s Trident has been acquired.]

[You have failed to absorb the vision from the subordinate because you already possess Barbatos’ Vision.]

‘Next time, I will have to yield it to someone else.’

As Grid learned a new fact and people stared at him, a world message popped up.

[All the hell commanders of the hell army invading the Abyss have retreated.]

[The Abyss has temporarily entered a lull.]

This was good news. The war that had continued for three days and nights stopped for a while. The allied soldiers and players cheering enthusiastically for Grid sat down and were thankful for surviving. They cried and laughed together.

***

“There seems to be a bit of confusion with the memories of my previous life.”

Zikfrector arrived at the Abyss only after all the events had ended. He looked at his body for the first time in a long period of time and said, “I guess I was dissatisfied with my body in my previous life.”

Zik’s body had lost one arm and two legs. Grid was the cause, but no one told him the truth. Grid, who was looking away from Zikfrector and reviewing the rewards he received from Baal, belatedly opened his mouth, “You will be able to walk safely. We have the Saintess.”

“...Um.” Zikfrector gave a rare smile. He was pleased that he had regained his real body after repeated reincarnations for many years and suffering from the curse and dull emotions.

“I will give a prayer of thanks to my only god. I will repay your grace by staying by your side forever.”

[You have built a deep bond with your apostle ‘Zikfrector.’]

“......”

In this case...

Zikfrector’s unprecedented attitude instilled a sense of guilt in Grid. He looked at the distant mountain in an uncomfortable manner. Many people, including Kyle and Duke Grenhal, reacted like they couldn’t believe it. It was the first time they had seen the grandmaster smile, bow his head, or show respect to others. Of course, they were convinced because the other person was Grid.