Overgeared (WN KR)

“By my authority, I will give you the 9th throne, Rose.”

“......!”

Rose’s eyes shook violently.

A single digit great demon—she gained a position that no player had dreamed of. It wasn’t an illusion. She was directly singled out by Baal in a situation where she was facing Grid.

“...Hahat! Ahahahat!”

A stage that attracted the attention of the whole world—Rose felt great excitement just by being on stage alongside the ‘protagonist’ named Grid, and trembled. She felt like she was proudly starring in a lead role.

Of course, it was as a villain. Most of the people watching this moment would be pouring out all types of accusations and curses, saying that she was a demon’s lackey. It was okay. The more immersed the audience was, the higher her value would increase.

‘Grid started as a villain as well.’

Technically, it seemed he didn’t start out as a villain and was simply a madman, but...

In any case, it was a world where awareness was directly linked to power. Just as Grid, who was a player like everyone else, had been reborn as the main character of the world, she could also set the stage for becoming the second main character from today...

Rose thought up to this point and became motivated.

[Will you accept the proposal of the 1st Great Demon, ‘Baal’?]

It happened as she was about to answer ‘yes’ to the notification window that popped into his sight...

-It is great that you gained Baal’s trust so quickly. Your qualities are really like a demon.

Someone’s voice directly rang in her brain. It was a familiar voice.

The Great Demon of Conflict, Amoract—she was the master Rose originally served.

-Child. Surprisingly, Baal is at a disadvantage. Grid’s subordinates are active at every major base and the whereabouts of the Old Dragon brought by Grid are also unknown. Think about what might be behind Baal’s intention to give strength to you at this time. It isn’t worth it to move according to Baal’s will now. You won’t get much results and you will be used as an arrow in the quiver.

Amoract’s advice was valid. Rose was slightly moved. To be worried and give advice to a subordinate who ran away after stabbing her in the back...

At this point, wasn’t she an angel rather than a demon?

‘That is why she is a fool.’

Rose’s brightly shining eyes cooled down.

-You intend to drive me against Baal. You’re the Great Demon of Conflict. Yes, that’s it. Just stay backstage and watch as you usually do, you old hag who is chained up and unable to do anything.

In the first place, Rose didn’t trust Amoract.

The Great Demon of Conflict—Amoract’s essence was to encourage conflict, although Rose had never personally witnessed any power related to conflict. It was understandable to be wary. In the end—

Rose ignored Amoract’s subsequent persuasions and accepted Baal’s offer. An explosion occurred around Rose. It was an explosion created by a powerful wave of demonic energy. It was powerful enough that Grid’s divinity shook despite maintaining a fairly long distance. Lightning bolts crackled among the still surging demonic energy.

Rose’s eyes revealed through the gap were red.

[A new 9th Great Demon has been born.]

[It is Rose, the Demon of Betrayal.]

“......”

The soaring demonic energy started to sink calmly. Like melting chocolate, it flowed down Rose’s body and hardened. Rose was soon dressed in a pitch-black dress that was as hard as iron armor and let out her stopped breath.

“Hah... I’m ecstatic.”

The world seen by a transcendent was somewhat familiar to Rose. However, at this moment, she was born as a being close to an Absolute, not a transcendent. It wasn’t just because she was a single digit great demon.

[The existence who gave birth to you is right by your side. Your magic power and status are greatly increased.]

Rose stood beside Baal and became close to an Absolute. Some of Baal’s power was being shared with her. It was a benefit of being reborn as a close aide of the 1st Great Demon.

“Grid.” Rose’s movement through the air left afterimages. It was proof that she was incredibly fast. The viewers were extremely nervous. “I've admired you for a long time. It was from the time you oppressed me with great power. From that time on, I had the dream of being like you.”

Strength—it was a concept that everyone yearned for. In order to obtain simple freedom, strength was sometimes needed. Moreover, Rose was a woman of great ambition. She always wanted to gain great strength and power and rule over others. She felt the desire to become like Grid more than anyone else. The look in her eyes as she stared at Grid’s splendid, blooming orange divinity that flowed like long hair was pure, unadulterated love.

“So today and in the future, I will bring you down. Until you also come to admire me. That is how our relationship will be complete.”

‘...Is she crazy?’

Grid didn’t see her as a normal person from the time Rose described herself as ‘oppressed.’ It was because the nature of the oppression she mentioned was retribution. Rose had simply paid the price for her sins. She shouldn’t talk like a victim.

‘A normal person wouldn’t be doing all this bullshit.’

Originally, there were few normal people among the transcendents or rankers. Wasn’t the habit of relentlessly digging into one field a form of mental illness in itself? It made him wonder such ridiculous questions.

Grid’s impression of her went up to there. He wasn’t very interested in Rose’s character personally, no matter what she said. He just felt a bit of gratitude. ‘Let’s match her properly and buy time until the cooldown of Another Tomb ends.’

“The silent attitude is cool as well.”

Rose smiled and checked the newly created powers and skills.

Tightrope Walking. Each power and skill had a similar name. It was just as shown by the title of Demon of Betrayal. The system seemed to notice that she constantly changed factions.

‘It isn’t bad.’

It was just like the name, Tightrope Walking. Most of Rose’s newly acquired skills had high reliance on ‘probability.’ It didn’t exert great power on average, but had a low probability of exerting a tremendous power. Without any luck, the level was lower than normal skills. Nevertheless, Rose thought positively.

Grid and the Overgeared members—it wasn’t enough to fight and win against them, who were stronger than her, with normal level skills. It was important that there was a chance of getting a glimpse of some odds of winning, even if the probability was low.

[You have activated the power of Tightrope Walking.]

[Two major stats will increase slightly or by 3x and two major stats will decrease slightly or by 3x.]

[Critical probability will increase to 100% or decrease slightly.]

[The weak point attack probability will increase to 100% or decrease slightly.]

[Magic power will increase slightly or significantly.]

Rose was ready for battle. She overlapped skills that she didn’t know would be buffs or debuffs. The target was Grid.

Her purpose wasn’t victory. She thought it would be enough if she could put her name on Grid’s myth, even if she lost. It was because she believed that this weak start would serve as a stepping stone for a great and brilliant future.

As the buffs overlapped, she turned into something other than human. Then Baal handed her the demon sword. It was the demon sword where powerful energy was condensed. Rose felt the power in it and was thrilled.

“”Baal, it is good to be loyal to you.””

She felt sorry for her past self who suspected that he might be a rotten rope. Rose sincerely thought this. Maybe this—

Wasn’t she capable of competing with Grid? In fact, this was the intent she moved with. Didn’t she get the demon sword with Baal’s magic power condensed? This meant that Baal had chosen her as Grid’s opponent. A proper fight could be established.

“”Finally... I’m finally at the same eye level as you, Grid.””

The twisted longing distorted Rose’s expression in an even more grotesque manner. It was a moment that sent chills down the viewers’ spine.

Rose sped forward. She left dozens and hundreds of layers of afterimages. The demon sword in her hand carved dark lines along the path she passed. It was a line that cut through the landscape. It was the sight of a new horizon overlapping on the horizon.

It was very unrealistic. In the first place, the whole situation was out of touch with reality.

A player who became a great demon—the beam of magic emanating from her fingertips as she wielded the demon sword that Baal directly handed to her turned everything she touched to ashes. It was completely beyond the realm of a player.

It was clearly threatening to Grid. The result couldn’t be predicted at all. The situation itself was wrong, so it didn’t seem strange if Grid was defeated like this.

The baptism of magic that Rose fired grazed Grid’s body every time. Rose hadn’t reached the realm of an Absolute even though she obtained Baal’s buff directly. It was nearly impossible for her attacks to reach Grid in the first place.

However, the demon sword imbued with Baal’s will was different. It relentlessly pursued Grid, who dodged with spectacular movements, and succeeded in cutting his chest. Baal’s magic power that was concentrated on the demon sword swelled greatly.

It was as if the sun was rising. It was the precursor of an explosion that would devour the whole area.

“Ah.”

At the entrance of Baal’s city—Jishuka and Vantner lamented as they were using the evil eyes’ king as a shield to suppress Asura’s head. It was because they witnessed the crisis of Grid with their vision that was in the transcendent realm.

Grid was fading. His orange divinity was being swallowed up by the black sun of the demon sword. The attack completed at Rose’s fingertips was undoubtedly Baal’s strength.

It was a time when everyone in the world realized it and despaired. In the midst of the black sun, the remnants of the orange divinity that was being extinguished shook. It was a feeble movement like a candle just about to go out.

The result was great.

Cutting something in half.

Defying the Natural Order, made by Grid to bring down the sky, easily cut apart the artificial sun made by a great demon.

The black sun split in half. The vast amount of magic power that should’ve caused an explosion soon scattered helplessly in all directions.

Rose’s head floated through the black haze. It was separated from her body. She wandered around with a shocked expression before turning to ashes. The ashes created by her death didn’t soar into the sky. It was absorbed by Baal, who was approaching from right behind her.

A smile spread across Baal’s face as he stared at Grid with bright eyes.

“This type of armor doesn’t accumulate damage. As expected, there were restrictions. This is the way it should be.”

Rose’s death only benefited Baal. Baal’s attitude changed actively because he grasped Grid’s state in the short time she was active.

‘Shit.’ Grid frowned. He originally meant to buy time, but he failed. The power of the demon sword wielded by Rose was so strong that he was forced to fight back, killing Rose with a single blow. The cost was disastrous. Baal’s nails penetrated his absolute defense and struck Grid’s face. His curved fingers grabbed Grid’s chin and snapped his neck.

Grid counterattacked. Due to his strangely curved vision, he couldn’t discern Baal’s location with his eyes. He just relied on his artificial senses to attack. Defying the Natural Order was so powerful even with a basic hit. Baal’s flesh was peeled off, his bones were crushed, and blood gushed out.

Nevertheless, it wasn’t enough power to lead to death. Baal’s superfast regeneration instantly healed the wounds.

“You can’t die? I’ll check for myself if it is true.”

Baal was immune to the five fusion sword dances and below. Therefore, there was no reason to be too afraid of a counterattack by Grid.

After kicking Grid off, he shot a beam of magic power that occupied Grid’s back, forcing him to consume an action to cut the beam. Then he hit the top of Grid’s head with his elbow and repeatedly cut him with the summoned demon sword.

Baal’s power and speed pressing down on Grid were the same as the beginning. On the other hand, Grid became faster and stronger than the beginning. Even so, he couldn’t help accumulating wounds. The tide of the fight gradually turned in Baal’s favor.

This was until Evil Dragon Bunhelier, whose presence had faded to the point where people had forgotten him, arrived. A mouse ran to the side of Grid’s face as he landed on the ground and shouted, “Get on! Squeak!”

It was a real mouse.

To be more precise, it was Bunhelier, who polymorphed into a mouse. The great Old Dragon had become as small as possible in order to completely hide his appearance. He hid his magic power and looked at the situation. Then he saw an opportunity and ran in.

“This is our chance! Squeak! Quickly!”

“......”

Grid was about to ask if he was embarrassed, but stopped. In the first place, there was little difference between a human and a mouse in the cognition of Old Dragons.

‘I don’t think that is the case?’

Bunhelier had a history of mating with human women and having children. There was no way he would treat humans and mice equally. If he did, there would be a serious problem.

...No, it didn’t matter now.

Grid shook off all the ridiculous thoughts that came to mind and turned around while lying on the ground. He lay his back on top of Bunhelier’s small, chubby body.

Baal didn’t notice at all. In the first place, Baal believed that Bunhelier had escaped from this place. It was because the nose of an Old Dragon was pointed higher than the celestial gods. He would be ashamed by the fact that he was shackled by magic the moment he appeared and would’ve left. Baal never imagined that he would be looking for an opportunity after turning into a mouse.

“......?!”

Baal’s eyes widened as he aimed the demon sword with condensed magic power at Grid. Grid, who had been rolling across the ground just now, was right in front of him.

A storm blew—it was a wild wind created by the flapping of the wings of Evil Dragon Bunhelier, who revealed his true body. The surface of Defying the Natural Order glowed red. The heat of the Red Phoenix rekindled the flames of the Fire Dragon Trauka. It had the effect of drastically reducing Baal’s fire resistance and magic resistance. Furthermore, reflective damage was applied proportional to Grid’s magic power, willpower, and weapon damage.

After finally borrowing the power of the activated Dragon Knight, Grid’s six fusion sword dance mangled the weakened Baal. Baal wasn’t able to easily cope with the form of Defying the Natural Order that kept changing according to the sword path.

Disintegrate and Meteor launched a series of bombardments. Baal’s body was shattered, pierced, and crushed, and he didn’t have any time to regenerate.

[All your stats are tripled with the effect of Dragon Knight.]

[There is an 85% chance of ‘Defying the Natural Order’ neutralizing the target’s defense skills, magic, and powers.]

[The effect of ‘Defying the Natural Order’ has greatly increased the damage dealt to a great demon.]

[The effect of ‘Defying the Natural Order’ has greatly increased the weapon damage in dark places.]

The damage increase effect was repeatedly stacked up.

“...Kuaaakl!”

Baal died again.

It wasn’t over. He immediately overcame death and first activated a curse spell. It was a curse that only applied to Bunhelier. It was intended to kick Bunhelier completely out of hell after he dared to reappear and interfere. However, no target was specified. The curse spell didn’t find Bunhelier and scattered pointlessly.

Squeak squeak!

The cry of a mouse was heard in the distance...

Before he knew it, Grid was alone again and trying to pretend he didn’t know anything.