Overgeared

Chapter 1766action

The Prison of Eternity—it was the destination of the gods who sinned. It was rumored that there were more than one or two gods who could never escape from this dark prison and had been forgotten.

“You don’t have to be self-conscious. Cry as much as you want.”

Hexetia’s attitude when comforting the angel was very kind. As expected of the blacksmithing god, he recognized the identity of the angel instantly. The smell of cold metal...

The smell that Hexetia longed for had permeated the angel’s body.

Flinch.

The amount of flames flowing from Hexetia’s nipples naturally increased.

“Angels who regain their memories usually weep like you. I couldn’t understand the meaning of these tears in the past, but now I think I vaguely understand. You must miss it.”

Yearning for something. It was an emotion that a god inherently couldn’t feel.

However, Hexetia was different. He had committed a great sin. He confronted the ‘comrade,’ who rose to heaven with a human body, with all his heart and repented for his mistakes. Therefore, he experienced regret and knew longing.

The days when he played with fire and metal to his heart’s content. The scenes where his works became the learning and life of human beings. Now he wanted to hold onto all the moments that came like a dream.

“...It is an honor to meet the god of blacksmiths.” The angel, Khan, bowed politely. He felt a bit of guilt. Khan was an angel made to fill the vacancy of Hexetia, who was in prison. It was hard for him to face Hexetia directly.

“This isn’t something you should feel sorry about.” Hexetia read Khan’s inner thoughts and laughed. “On the contrary, all the gods should feel sorry toward you.”

The very fact that he was forcibly raised to heaven and brought to the current situation...

“I am going to fall down from this outrageous behavior.” Zeratul suddenly interjected. Unlike the neatly dressed Hexetia, he was almost like a beggar. No one would’ve recognized that he was the Martial God if it wasn’t for his muscular body, which was as hard as divine stone, and his hands, which were as big as a pot lid. “What type of nonsense are you talking about when sitting in this cramped prison, rotting and dirty? Don’t waste time and find a way to get out of here.”

“Zeratul, you... what type of feelings did you have when locking me up in here?”

“Aren’t you asking the obvious? Of course, I put you in here to suffer forever until you are forgotten.”

“Those who locked you here up must’ve felt the same way.”

“What...? Kukuk! Kuhahaha!” Zeratul looked stunned for a moment before he burst out laughing. “Hexetia! You are nothing more than a cow releasing useless flames from your nipples! I am the Martial God! The Only One God, Zeratul! I am different from you, whose role was replaced by an angel! How can you put me on the same level as you when it will be a huge loss to Asgard if I am forgotten?”

“Do you still believe that you are special? This is the Prison of Eternity.”

Hexetia didn’t bother to mention Chiyou. He was too kind to hurt Zeratul by treating him as a fake or a clone. In the aftermath of meeting Grid, each and every human living a short life became precious. From Hexetia’s perspective, Zeratul wasn’t a target of resentment but a target of sympathy.

“There is no way to escape from the Prison of Eternity. Shouldn’t you be aware of reality?”

“...Bullshit.”

Zeratul flinched and shut his mouth for a moment. Then he growled like an animal.

“This can’t be the Prison of Eternity...”

“......?”

“Is this narrow room that is less than 10 pyeong [1] the Prison of Eternity that extinguished countless myths?”

“Don’t deny reality and keep your mind intact. You put me in the Prison of Eternity. So does it make sense that this place isn’t the Prison of Eternity?”

“...Goddess Rebecca intervened. Yes, it is obvious. The Goddess took pity on me and destroyed the Prison of Eternity. Thanks to that, you were also saved.”

“......”

Hexetia’s eyes widened as he looked at Zeratul.

Zeratul tried to ignore him. He didn’t like the atmosphere so he hurriedly changed the topic. “There must be a way out as long as this isn’t the Prison of Eternity. We have to find a way to escape.”

“Zeratul, you...”

“Grid.”

“......?”

“......?”

Hexetia and Khan listened carefully when Zeratul, who had been acting like a madman, suddenly mentioned Grid’s name.

Zeratul’s expression became proud again. “He is a rare swindler. Just look at the stage of the holy war where I competed fiercely with him. Then he gave it an absurd name like the ‘Tomb of the Gods.’”

“......”

Zeratul suddenly brought up Grid’s name and criticized him.

It was the moment when the disappointed Hexetia and Khan tried to ignore him.

“He always deceives the world in his favor, but the deceit works very well because the foolish humans worship him. It is safe to say that even at this moment, the world is being tricked by him. He will definitely... he will definitely ascend to heaven again. No matter what naive means he uses, he will unconditionally do it.”

“Why do you think so?”

“He will want to fight me properly.”

“......?”

“I fought against Grid at a disadvantage on the surface. He might’ve defeated me, but he wouldn’t have been satisfied at all.”

Zeratuls’ expression was meaningful. He was being really serious.

“Sooner or later, there will be an opportunity when Grid rises to heaven and disrupts order. Then it will be proven that this isn’t the Prison of Eternity. We will be able to get out of here together.”

“Why do you keep saying sophistry...?”

Khan clicked his tongue. Zeratul talked nonsense from beginning to end and he seemed like a lunatic.

Hexetia covered Khan’s mouth and nodded. “Okay, Zeratul. I will cooperate with you when the time comes.”

There were no eternal enemies. Hexetia knew this fact better than anyone else.

***

“Just like the upside-down statues here. You. Are unclean.”

“Because you defy the will of God. By performing miracles with a human body.”

“Your nature. It isn’t divinity. It is going backward, it is treason.”

“That. It might be considered as God Yatan’s wish.”

“In fact, a Saintess. Started appearing in human history. Only after God Yatan entered the long cycle.”

“Saintess. Perhaps it is the incarnation of Yatan.”

The Specter’s voice kept hovering in Ruby’s mind. As everyone was enjoying the party, she alone held her cup with an uncomfortable expression.

The Saintess—an existence that proved themselves by practicing love for humanity. Ruby was still doing good deeds without taking a day off through quests that were divided into daily, weekly, and monthly quests. This was the only way to maintain the qualification of a Saintess.

She often wondered. Why was the Saintess so philanthropic?

Ruby was a player. She only had to sacrifice herself when connected to Satisfy. It was a sacrifice forced by the system through ‘quests,’ so there was little resistance. On the other hand, all the other Saintesses in history were residents of this world. They gave their entire lives to helping others. They sacrificed themselves without expecting anything in return. How could an ordinary human do that?

She had even more questions after learning about the concept of human gods. None of the Saintesses became human gods. It was the same for Ruby. People of the world worshiped her as a god and even established a religion dedicated to her.

Nevertheless, Ruby was never judged to be a ‘god.’ Why was it like this for a Saintess? Why couldn’t they become human gods even though they had achievements that deserved to be worshiped as a god?

‘It is because we were incarnations of a god in the first place.’

According to the Specter’s conjecture, a Saintess couldn’t become a god because she was ‘another form of a god’ from the beginning...

Ruby realized this and felt a huge fate. If there was the ‘incarnation of Yatan’ in the latent characteristics or identity of the Saintess—

She was really becoming a necessary person for her brother. It was as if the world predicted Grid’s future and chose her to become the Saintess.

‘...Can I really handle this role?’

Ruby was both a healer and a buffer. She had to participate in most of the big wars. She had been involved in many wars, but she had little experience with shouldering great responsibilities like her brother. She only treated the wounded after her brother and his colleagues completed their jobs. She had become used to relying on them like that.

However, she had to become a main subject in the future.

Khan’s rescue. In other words, her brother needed someone he could ‘fight with’ as his ultimate goal was to conquer Asgard.

‘Of course, I can do it. Whose sister am I?’

At least in this world, she had grown up watching her brother’s back.

Pat pat.

Ruby shook off her worries and patted her cheeks to encourage herself. She looked like a crazy person. The image of her pouring alcohol nonstop and slapping her own cheeks...

“What happened underground...?”

It happened as some people were worried about Ruby’s unusual behavior...

“In ten days, we will rescue the souls of Pagma and Alex.” Grid declared an expedition to hell.

He aimed for a task that he had already failed several times.

“We have the moving Overgeared World. I think the odds are high.”

It was Grid’s judgment that there was no reason to delay.

“I will do as God wills.” Lauel agreed.

This was the end. The laughing, chatting, and drinking members of Overgeared immediately stood up. It was to prepare for war in their own way.

Everyone was aware of it. Hell? It was no longer something to be feared. It was just a stepping stone to gain experience before ascending to heaven. Their first goal was Khan. It was to bring him back to the surface that missed him.

‘They don’t care too much about Pagma...’

Grid inwardly pitied Pagma. He was a hero who saved the world like Muller. However, wasn’t it the natural consequence of his misdeeds? There were so many things he did under the pretext of saving the world...

In any case—

‘Let’s wrap up the boring class quest first.’

This time, Grid was determined to achieve his purpose. He couldn’t even finish the class quest of a legendary class when he had become an Only One God?

It was because this was a real disgrace...

***

“Finally...”

In Hell...

The 1st Great Demon, Baal, finally digested the qualifications of a God Killer and felt rare joy.

A soul laughed at him.

-It is ridiculous that you are happy to barely gain my power, when I’ve already passed away a long time ago.

It was the soul of the yangban, Garam. The ego was so strong that the guy who endured years without being digested by Baal was still maintaining his sense of reason. It was evidence that all the pain of the distorted hell couldn’t shake his ego in the slightest.

At this point, Baal was also interested in him. “I really want to give you a chance. Why don’t you live a new life by my side?”

-A chance? I am the one who makes the chances, not you.

“...You don’t know how good it is.”

Since when did this start happening? These days, he felt like everyone was looking down on him so Baal felt great skepticism. In this way, the ‘fear’ that was his origin would gradually fade. Such an absurd thought flashed through his mind for a moment. Of course, that would never happen unless humanity was destroyed.

‘In any case, time is on my side.’

He was destined to grow stronger as the years passed...

Baal calmed down by recalling this unchanging truth and lay down in a cradle in the darkness.

He didn’t realize that he might not have much time left.

1. Korean unit of measurement. One pyeong=36 Korean square feet ☜