Chapter 1868  

“Martial God... it is the Martial God.”

The Martial God—it had a special meaning in Satisfy. It was a title granted to only one being, so the weight was enormous. However, at this moment...

The crowd gathered under the tower murmured ‘Martial God.’

The first day of the climb—it was while checking the ranking of Grid, who reached the 201st floor in just 15 hours. In the first place, Grid had a history of defeating the Martial God. Who else could they call the Martial God if not Grid?

“Cool! God Grid!”

“I’m always cheering for you!”

There were enthusiastic cheers for Grid as he emerged from the tower. People’s favorability for Grid was at an all-time high. Lately, even the Grid anti-fan cafes had been flooded with posts praising Grid.

‘That is enough for today.’

The Baal he met on the higher floors became stronger. In particular, the unit of his health gauge changed starting from the 100th floor. Unfortunately, he decided that it would be better to stop climbing today. He didn’t want to make Irene wait all night, and he couldn’t raise the ranking further just because he stayed up tonight.

Grid responded to people with a wave and checked the ranking list.

‘The level is different from 7th place onward.’

Yura, Jishuka, Chris, Katz, Haster, Hurent, and Kraugel—all seven of them had surpassed the 260th floor, and half of them had even surpassed the 300th floor. Their climbing speed was also getting faster every day. Despite how fast Grid’s climbing speed was, it wasn’t enough to catch up to them in just a day or two.

Of course, Grid thought the Overgeared members outside these seven were great as well. Take Peak Sword as a simple example. If someone asked Grid to raid King Daebyeol with the specs of Peak Sword, he would refpuse no matter what. It might be different if he kept climbing the tower and got enough buffs.

However, meeting King Daebyeol on the 10th floor, in his almost purely original state, it was difficult to guarantee the odds. Of course, he would succeed in the raid someday if he kept trying, but just imagining it made him sick. Taking 10 to 20 hours to gnaw away at an opponent who was overwhelmingly stronger than him, not allowing their attacks to hit—Grid would want to die.

In the first place, he didn’t want to do that, so he had been relying on the power of items.

Grid flew slowly toward the castle where Irene was waiting and his body and mind were infinitely lighter.

The time to relax—it was the greatest gift Grid had received in return for purifying hell. Until a few days ago, Grid had suffered from great anxiety every day and struggled to become stronger somehow. In fact, he was actually suffering every day. He couldn’t show it in front of others, but he often wondered how he had come to take on such responsibility and felt skeptical. But it was all over now.

The demons who disguised themselves as humans to deceive people and incite quarrels no longer existed. The king of demons, who reigned as the source of fear while restraining the souls of dead humans, also perished and left only the remnants of the demon sword.

A near-perfect peace had come. There were variables such as Asgard and the Hwan Kingdom, but he didn’t want to think about that for the time being.

In the first place, the gods were different from demons. They had too many things to lose to infiltrate the surface disguised as humans or to openly invade. They would lose their prestige and have their status damaged the moment they experienced one failure. They were passive because they knew they eventually wouldn’t be able to exist as gods.

‘Plus—’

The surface was the Overgeared World and the Overgeared World was another divine world. The penalties received by the celestial gods here were staggering. The proof was that neither Zeratul nor Dominion could do anything to Grid when he was much weaker than he was now. It was safe to say that there was little possibility of being invaded by the gods in any form.

"……!”

Grid was smiling in appreciation of being able to relax only to stop in the air. Hundreds of God Hands moved in unison. They spread shields over the heads of children rushing after the trail of divinity and led the market vendors to a safe place. It looked like they were preparing for war.

Thanks to this, the soldiers patrolling the streets immediately noticed the anomaly. They started following the God Hands and enforced the people’s evacuation.

The sound of horses being ridden was heard everywhere. It was the sound of knights rushing to the scene.

Despite the death of Baal, the purification of hell, and the return of peace, Reinhardt’s discipline was still as sharp as a blade. The talents that Lauel assigned to the right places responded quickly and organically to the situation.

“Focus on protecting human life.”

It happened the moment Grid gave an order to Sariel, who came to his side...

Flash!

Light poured down from the sky. It was a light only aimed at Grid, but it was so bright that all of Reinhardt turned white.

Grid pulled out Defying the Natural Order. He glared at the being who had dropped to the ground one step ahead of the light hitting the ground.

“”Overgeared God Grid.”” It was Metatron. They looked very different from the angels that people had imagined and witnessed so far. They had a beautiful body and face, but also an angular face and large body. They were spreading 18 pairs of wings to match their large body.

That’s right. People noticed at a glance that Metatron had a total of 36 wings.

Now Metatron was spreading out all their wings. It was a state of complete liberation. It was completely different from when they met Grid the other day.

“”This is God Judar’s message. Asgard’s target is Chiyou, and it doesn’t have the desire to antagonize the surface. Don’t provoke Asgard by building a fancy tower.””

“......”

Asgard already knew about the tower and was on guard toward it. It meant that the tower raised by Eat Spicy Jokbal did have the potential to reach Asgard. Grid felt both displeasure and joy, but he didn’t say anything.

“”Additionally, this is my personal opinion. Overgeared God Grid. As you know, human beings are grateful to most gods. The same is true even though you now have a virtual monopoly on all human worship. Most gods are valuable only when remembered and talked about by humans.””

There were many gods who were grateful just for being remembered...

Once again, Metatron’s attitude was clear. They were trying to convince Grid.

“”Therefore, it is highly unlikely that the celestial gods will harm humans. Quit provoking and antagonizing Asgard. It is just a matter of useless anger.””

A beehive—the Asgard that Metatron referred to resembled a beehive. There were no benefits if it was poked. Grid found it hard to relate to these words.

“I think if we stay still, you will hit the surface in reverse.”

If the surface and Asgard didn’t intervene with each other, there would eventually be a god who would be forgotten. Asgard was at a one-sided disadvantage. The forgotten gods would become nervous and it wasn’t known what they would do. They could cause a disaster on the surface in order to imprint their existence onto people.

Metatron read Grid’s inner thoughts and shook their head.

“”The gods aren’t so simply forgotten. Humans are imperfect beings and are bound to feel despair in their lives. They will inevitably have a tendency to lean on something. The gods can survive simply by whispering a small oracle to them or extending a helping hand.””

“...In other words, is it right for humans to despair? I can see why you helped the demons when they invaded rather than helping people.”

“”You are making too much of a leap. But I don’t think it is wrong...””

Metatron tilted their head and pondered on Grid’s words. Then they quickly came to a conclusion.

“”It is physiology.””

“What?”

“”It is like the logic of nature. There is no reason to respond emotionally.””

“You have a knack for making words very unpleasant.”

“”There is one thing you should keep in mind.””

The invader who called themselves a messenger—the angel in front of Grid, who stepped onto the surface without permission, was unpleasant in many ways. But Grid didn’t do a sword dance to stop Metatron from talking nonsense over and over again. It was because the energy waves coming from Metatron were so powerful.

A former archangel—the so-called ‘Angel of Contract’ usually had their arms, legs, eyes, ears, mouth, and wings sealed.

It was an attitude of treating Metatron as a dangerous object. But now all their wings were spread out. It wasn’t known what type of strong contract they signed, but they were in perfect condition. In fact, they easily broke down Reinhardt’s seal and arrived in front of Grid.

Strong...

It was a heavy burden to deal with Metatron in the middle of a city where so many people lived.

‘I guess this was what they were aiming for.’

During the time when Grid’s expression distorted, additional assistance was arriving one after another. The soldiers and knights of the empire, as well as the apostles and Overgeared members, came from all directions. It was reassuring. It was different from the days when he didn’t like the support of his colleagues and ended up more anxious.

‘There are more means to protect the people.’

They had been eating together for years.

Grid even knew how many spoons there were in Peak Sword’s house. Grid was familiar with his colleagues’ skills and could predict how they would use the current situation and terrain to protect the people. It meant he could trust in them and move.

“I wasn’t perfect at that time.” Finally, Braham arrived at the scene. He slowly descended with a red glow in his eyes and emitted powerful waves from the magic power gathering in his hands, causing Metatron’s giant figure to vibrate slightly. In the midst of the heightened atmosphere—

“”The feelings you have for Asgard aren’t important.””

Metatron warned.

“”What you should keep in mind is the danger of Chiyou. Your relationship with Asgard can’t be settled in any form as long as you can’t do anything about Chiyou. No matter what, Chiyou is heaven’s primary target.”

When they met in the past, Metatron had warned Grid to be careful of Chiyou. Of course, Grid let it enter one ear and go out the other. Metatron was a mere minion of the gods, while Chiyou had shown favor to Grid. Out of the two, the one that Grid should trust was naturally Chiyou.

“That is your situation.”

Grid finally moved. It was shortly after the soldiers and knights evacuated the people from the scene and he confirmed that the Overgeared Guild had built barriers at every street corner. It was a chance to tear apart and kill the invader in front of him, who kept talking nonsense...

Thinking about it differently, this was a great fortune. One of the strongest forces of heaven, who would’ve been a great enemy if they met in Asgard, walked in on their own.

Step.

It happened the moment when Grid’s steps were sublimated into a dance move...

“”It is too late.””

Metatron frowned.

Grid also stopped moving.

Their gazes shifted to the same direction.

“”You shouldn’t have referred to yourself as the Martial God.””

Since when did he? Grid was choked up by this series of nonsense, but he didn’t reply. To be more precise, he couldn’t open his mouth. He was under tremendous pressure. Something great was coming...

There was the feeling of all the hairs on his body standing up. Sweat ran down the bridge of Grid’s nose as he gulped.

Braham and Zik noticed the situation one step later and also shifted their gazes.

“Are you finally able to replace me?”

Jingle.

The outrageous words were followed by the sound of bells.

“...Martial God.”

Chiyou—the true Martial God crossed the continent and arrived in front of Grid.

“”Loosen the constraints of the Overgeared World...!””

Metatron’s urgent cry gradually faded away. It was the aftermath of being hit by the back of Chiyou’s blade and disappearing as a dot.

Grid recalled past memories.

-Don’t deal with Chiyou. There must be a reason why the Goddess turned away from him and sent him away. He might harm your hierarchy.

The intent that Metatron left behind the other day. It was etched in Grid’s mind again.

-Ignore it. Don’t associate with him.

It was a situation where it was clear that Metatron was absurd.

The angel’s warning—it should be treated like a dog was barking. But somehow, Grid couldn’t help listening to Metatron’s words. He saw through Chiyou’s essence.

A god who wanted to be destroyed—Chiyou existed only for himself without taking on any obligations.

He was wrong. Just because Chiyou didn’t harm humans, or gave Grid great power, didn’t mean Chiyou should be trusted. Chiyou seemed very satisfied with Grid’s wary attitude.

“Are you really going to replace me?”

In the first place, it was unlikely that a being who desired to die would have an intact mind. In fact, Grid knew it too. It was just that he maintained his goodwill with the vague belief that Chiyou wouldn’t threaten him. He shouldn’t have done that.

Just then, Chiyou trampled on the ground once and the skills and magic that the Overgeared Guild had deployed as barriers were disrupted. It shattered like glass.

“Are you judging phenomena or concepts as matter? No... did you just break it using sheer force?”

Braham’s voice, which was close to astonishment, plunged the Overgeared members still reeling from the unexpected turn of events into greater confusion.