Chapter 1826

‘By the way.’

The evil eyes’ king who readily (?) agreed to cooperate—Grid’s eyes slowly sank as he smiled at the king. It was because he felt the enemy’s presence behind him. An illusionary body was rising above the surface of the lake. The aftermath of the destructive rays swept over it and caused ripples.

‘They are really nasty, just as rumored.’

An illusionary body—it was a generic term for things that originally inhabited the gaps in dimensions and shouldn’t exist in reality. Here in this lake, an ‘illusionary body that replicates and mixes aspects of the invaders with the highest level or stats and uses them as its powers’ appeared as a boss monster.

“Hah…” The evil eyes’ king lamented.

It was a huge monster with a total length of 20 meters. It had a long body with hundreds of arms and legs wriggling like a centipede and its face resembled Grid’s. The hundreds of arms and legs also resembled Grid’s and were mixed with arms and legs that resembled Biban’s.

Kieeeeeek!

The shout coming from the illusionary body caused a storm. It was a storm of blades. It even copied Grid and Biban’s weapons and used them as powers. Every time it opened its mouth, all types of swords poured out of the black abyss.

“Isn’t this the strongest field boss ever?” Lauel said while calming the storm with the power to change the weather.

“I think it is going to drop a precious item.”

It was a rather pleasant voice. It was an effort to relax the tension. Of course, the illusionary bodies couldn’t replicate 100% of the target’s stats and skills. However, now it had cloned Grid and Biban. It was clear that the human centipede was one of the most powerful monsters on the surface.

“Despair can be easily experienced on the surface,” Hexetia, the God of Blacksmithing, said with a regretful expression on his face.

The surface—Grid and countless other hands had cooperated to protect this land and it had accumulated unprecedented power and technology over the years. Despite this, it was still unstable. It seemed precarious to the point of now knowing when it would suddenly collapse one day due to a new enemy.

‘Therefore, he will fight until the end even if it means using a friend as a shield.’

Hexetia’s eyes showed pity as he looked at Grid.

—That there would be true peace on the surface. He thought that this might be impossible forever. It was natural since they were abandoned by the creator in the first place.

Rebecca, the Goddess of Light—from the beginning, she treated the surface differently from heaven. In heaven, angels were appointed as guardians, while the surface was neglected. She took a step back and watched all the events on the surface. At some point, she started to ignore it altogether. There was no room for the rule of ‘it will be protected’ to be established.

It happened the moment when Hexetia felt guilty…

“Let’s use this opportunity to test the power of the sword.” Biban took a step forward. He held a short, blunt sword in his hand. It was a sword whose blade looked like it had been cut in half. It looked like something found in a junk store.

“……?”

Why was the supreme Sword God wielding this…?

It happened as Lauel and the evil eyes’ king were feeling puzzled…

Kiyaaaaaah!

The illusionary body created a storm again. It sprayed dozens of blades toward Biban and slammed its huge body toward Biban. Biban responded by swinging the Broken Sword. It seemed pointless. There was no way that such a short sword could reach the centipede. Even if it did, it wouldn’t be able to stab or cut it.

Flash!

“……!”

A vision was projected into the eyes of Lauel and the evil eyes’ king—it was a vision in the form of a very large sword. The illusionary body, which had looked as huge as a dragon just now, quickly turned into something small.

The lake split in half. The image of a huge sword could be seen in between the streams of water soaring high enough to reach the sky. The appearance of the illusionary body couldn’t be seen. It was because it was devoured by the sword much larger than itself and disappeared.

Gray ash spread like mist between the sinking pillars of water that were scattering heavy rain. It was the mark left by the death of the illusionary body that had been destroyed by an illusion greater than itself.

“……”

Lauel and the evil eyes’ king were both stunned for a moment before slowly turning their heads to look at Biban. It was the same for Grid and Hexetia. Everyone present was shocked. There was only one exception—Biban.

“…I didn’t test it properly this time.”

Biban took back the illusion overlapping with the Broken Sword and clicked his tongue regretfully. He took for granted the power of the sword that killed the illusionary body with one blow. It was a sword that materialized the mental image he polished into a sword in order to slash a dragon. This was a sword that deserved to cut a dragon. It was right to be powerful enough that others couldn’t even imagine it.

However, he wanted to check the limit of its power, so it was regrettable that this wasn’t possible.

“Perhaps it will be difficult to properly check the power of the sword for the time being,” Grid told him.

Sword God Biban—he was a rare Absolute on the surface and a monster who would overwhelm a great transcendent with just one branch, let alone when he was armed with a dragon weapon and armor made from intent. Who could face him? It would take Grid, Hayate or Marie Rose to push Biban to his limits. Of course, Grid had no intention of confronting Biban.

‘It isn’t a spar that will be helpful.’

Battles between Absolutes usually ended as short-term battles. Furthermore, Grid and Biban locked up their enormous offensive power. They had skills that could destroy defense. If they did their best when fighting each other—rather than learning from each other, it would be decided in an instant. There was a high probability that it would be a confrontation that would only leave wounds.

“I think it is better to ask Bunhelier. I should be prepared as much as possible for the showdown with Baal.”

Biban also seemed to have no intention of confronting Grid. In the first place, there was Bunhelier. It was a dragon that he could cut without any worries because Bunhelier would survive.

“Certainly, that is true.”

Grid nodded. Lauel and the evil eyes’ king looked at the two people having an absurd conversation with calm faces. The one who treated a dragon as item-making materials and the other who treated a dragon as a sandbag… weren’t they really illusionary bodies that defied logic?

“And—” Biban shifted his gaze to Hexetia. “There was something I wanted to ask if I ever met a celestial god.”

“What is it?”

“I heard there was a time when Trauka hunted the celestial gods.”

Hexetia’s face darkened rapidly. “…There is some exaggeration, but it is true. It is also true that the Goddess made a treaty with Trauka through that incident.”

“The souls of the gods who died at that time.”

Biban’s eyes flashed. A sharp gaze, that wasn’t easily shown during the days his mind wasn’t right, examined Hexetia’s reaction in real time. He would immediately catch it the moment Hexetia told a lie.

“Where are their souls? Have their souls also fallen into hell?”

The silent Grid had the illusion of his heart sinking.

This world—it was designed to favor Baal. All the souls of the dead fell into hell. The hell that Baal distorted made them all nourishment for Baal. The more people died, the stronger Baal became. Would the deaths of monsters and gods apply? If their souls also fell to hell and became nourishment for Baal…

“That’s right. The reason why Yatan created hell in the first place was for the dead. In addition, the aspiration of the supreme god becomes the law. The souls of the dead gods also fell into hell.”

“……!”

Hexetia’s answer shocked Grid and Biban also gulped. They were thinking of the worst case scenario.

“Then… are you saying that the souls of the gods hunted by Trauka are now in Baal’s hands?”

Hexetia shook his head at Grid, who asked the question with a dark expression. “That isn’t it. Trauka went on a rampage in Asgard much longer ago than you think. It was before hell was distorted… so it was back in the days when Yatan ruled hell itself.”

“Then did Yatan send the souls of the gods who fell to hell back to heaven?”

“He extinguished them.”

“……?”

“Yatan didn’t extinguish them himself. Yatan is a god who regretted the concept of the cycle of life and reincarnation but accepted it. That is what a supreme god is. They never go against providence.”

That’s right. The ‘Yatan of the past’ that Grid met felt sorry for the souls suffering from the cycle of life and reincarnation, but he didn’t change their destiny.

“I’m guessing that a ‘completely different divinity’ created by Yatan’s subconscious aspirations intervened without Yatan’s knowledge and extinguished the souls of the gods. Well, that is Judar’s guess. I just have a vague understanding of the basis for that speculation.”

“A completely different divinity…”

Just one thing came to mind—the Saintess. The divinity of the Saintess exerted a beneficial influence on the living, while acting harshly on the soul. It was enough to wipe out even the powerful souls of the archangels and great demons.

“Yes, the power that your sister inherited like it was fate. Judar is wary of it and speculated that it came from Yatan.”

“…It is possible to think so.”

“In any case, there won’t be a situation where Baal treats the souls of the dead gods like a secret weapon?”

Biban once again dominated the conversation. He didn’t want a long story. He just wanted to get down to business.

“That’s correct.”

Hexetia responded. Hexetia was also reluctant to say anything else because he didn’t know a lot about it.

“Take this.”

Biban handed a bundle of papers to Grid. This was an item dropped by the illusionary body just now. It was an ancient enhancement scroll that could enhance myth rated items. Some of the monsters that popped out from the dimensional gaps were creatures that existed on the surface in the distant past. It wasn’t surprising. Due to the change in the world caused by Trauka, the old land of the giants had also been revealed. Grid was already aware that the world could be turned upside down by something very powerful.

“…Thank you.”

Grid received a total of 12 enhancement scrolls and immediately started to enhance his items. The dragon weapon and armor had very high basic stats, so it would be very powerful even if he enhanced it by +1.

‘But I need three for my battle gear.’

Grid put away one scroll for the Twilight he lent to Kraugel for a while, only to belatedly notice Biban. He had a guilty conscience and took out one scroll.

“Let’s enhance Biban’s sword as well.”

“…Forget it. I still don’t know its limits. What is the point of enhancing it?”

“That is true, but it might be a shame when you fight in hell…”

“Then you can keep it for now and enhance it once we go there.”

“I understand.”

It was a strangely bright Grid.

Biban decided to erase the existence of the scroll from his mind.

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