Overgeared

Chapter 1860

“It will be soon.”

Asgard—the normally solemn heaven was, in a rare occurrence, crowded. It was the aftermath of Judar summoning the gods.

The God of Wisdom had been keeping an eye on the situation in hell. His eyes, which had been indifferent for many years, shone just as brightly as described by the myths of the distant past.

Dominion and the other chief gods also focused on the situation.

Hell was purified by Grid. Some of the beings to be liberated today were coveted talents from Asgard’s perspective. It was necessary to snatch their souls before they could cross the river of reincarnation.

“Now.” It happened the moment Judar gave the signal...

The 1st ranked Archangel, Raphael, formed branches out of light and wove a string. It was a string with a sharp needle at the end.

“You must not fail.”

A sight that one couldn’t imagine normally—Raphael, who was known for their disdain of the gods, replied in a very polite manner, “Yes.”

Of course, Raphael was bound to be humble in front of Dominion and Judar, but it was excessive today. The reason was simple: a bruised face that couldn’t be healed immediately even with the power of light.

Until they were rescued—

The 1st ranked Archangel had been imprisoned in the ‘Prison of Eternity’ until then and lost their momentum. Raphael had made quite a significant mistake.

Hexetia, the blacksmithing god, and the angel Khan, who was chosen to succeed him—the prisoners who were originally in prison were taken away by Grid while Raphael was imprisoned. It was even rumored that they were driven to the brink of death by Zeratul, who had lost his qualifications.

Now they were a sinner. It wouldn’t be strange if the qualification of an archangel was taken away from them at any time.

‘Shit.’

At the murmurs of the gods, Raphael gritted their teeth and controlled their emotions. It was time to make up for it somehow. They stared silently at the well that illuminated the other side of hell and threw the fishing line woven with light.

The target was Baal. Surprisingly, Raphael planned to snatch the soul of the one killed by Grid and lift it to heaven. However, they failed. By the time the fishing line reached hell—

“......!”

Baal’s soul was scattered like dust. It didn’t head to the river of reincarnation and perished without a trace.

“He offered himself as a sacrifice to his self-made Evil God.”

What mistake did they make again?

As Raphael was feeling worried, Judar grasped the situation. Then he cast another look at Raphael. Raphael hastily moved. They broke the fishing line to catch even the remnants of Baal’s power.

It was too late. The soul of Beriache suddenly appeared and took Baal’s power. She also took the power of Amoract, who had died in a short time.

“That pea-sized thing...!”

Raphael wasn’t in perfect condition. Despite all their efforts to control their emotions, they quickly became agitated. They thought it would be really dangerous to fail like this and changed the target to be snatched to Beriache. Then suddenly—

“……”

Raphael made eye contact with Beriache. She seemed to have seen the fishing line made of light with her naked eyes.

The stunned Raphael quickly pulled the string away.

‘She truly is the child of Yatan.’

The fishing line of light—by nature, it was impossible to be perceived by beings from a lower world. However, if they were the master of that world or the lineage of the master, it wouldn't be strange if they were capable of doing so. The fishing line could’ve been taken away...

Raphael got the chills and gasped roughly. Then someone sneered at them.

“You can’t seem to do anything right?”

It was Venice, the God of Money. The most unseemly one among all the gods—she was a merchant who lived by replacing the profits from buying and selling things with fame and divinity, and was originally a very insignificant existence for Raphael. Anything she said was nothing more than a dog barking to Raphael and she had never dared to say anything recklessly to Raphael.

Now really... the situation had changed.

Raphael clenched their fists and couldn’t even look at Venice. They were unable to raise their lowered head as they heard Judar talking to himself.

“In any case, Asura is one of the biggest targets, so it worked out well.”

Raphael followed Judar’s gaze. The gods and Raphael once again set their sights on the hell beyond the well.

The new Evil God, Asura—he was very strong. He had his own origin. In other words, it would be difficult to estimate how much stronger he would become if he joined with the red flesh.

“Can he be controlled?”

Would the exhausted Grid be able to handle Asura...?

Some gods had such doubts, but Dominion, the God of War, rightly predicted Asura’s defeat.

Judar cocked his head.

“Is there any reason to control him?”

At this moment, Raphael met Judar’s gaze for a moment and understood. All the freedom they had enjoyed so far—it wasn’t because they deserved it. It was just that Judar acquiesced. It was with an attitude that it wouldn’t affect the overall situation no matter how they rampaged.

‘This... shit...’

They were just a dog in a fence. It happened as Raphael realized this and was overwhelmed with great shame...

“He is rising,” Judar said.

Asura was caught off guard by Grid’s bizarre angel who was ‘learning his skills intact’ and was severely cut by Biban. Now he was about to collapse. After a while, even his source, the red flesh, was destroyed by the Demon Slayer. Asura lost his power and meekly accepted death.

Out of his own will, he shot his soul toward the fishing line of light. It seemed that Judar had personally given him a divine message.

The new Evil God was taken.

The response of the gods to this fact was mixed. Some thought it was good that Asura would fill the void left by Zeratul, while others wondered if it was okay to bring an evil being into the realm of the Goddess. The former was obsessed with the defense of Asgard, while the latter was obsessed with the essence of Asgard.

It was all useless. Their responses weren’t opinions.

The moment Rebecca entered the cycle, all the decisions belonged to Judar and Dominion. However, it was rare for them to step forward, so only Raphael was active.

“Raphael.”

“Yes.”

“Above all, you must get your hands on King Daebyeol.”

King Daebyeol—as a child of Hanul, a God of the Beginning, he was in the same hierarchy as Judar and Dominion. Of course, in terms of hierarchy, the Three Evils of the Beginning and King Sobyeol were the same, but King Daebyeol was very special.

The gods of Asgard hadn’t forgotten. At the time when the Seven Malignant Saints dared to rebel—King Daebyeol’s power as he drew the bow to help them was truly outstanding. The largest sun made directly by the Goddess out of light fell. It was to the extent that Judar was alarmed.

At that moment, all the gods of heaven were of one heart and one mind. They united just to defeat King Daebyeol. Dominion even took the lead.

King Daebyeol was unable to withstand the onslaught of the gods. He fell into hell, was forgotten by many people, and was weakened. In the end, he suffered irreparable damage, fell into the hands of Baal, and turned into a mass of red flesh.

Judar was obsessed with his potential. If King Daebyeol obediently went through the process of reincarnation and resurrected, he would definitely one day be the poison of heaven. Therefore, Judar planned to summon him to heaven and make him a puppet.

“I think it is better to go down in person.”

Part of hell was incorporated into the Overgeared World, but it was only a part of it.

Dominion clutched his spear. He decided to directly capture King Daebyeol, who thankfully refused to reincarnate and fought with Grid’s subordinates. Judar thought about it for a moment and nodded.

Dominion was enveloped in a cluster of lights and disappeared from the scene.

In the gap where Grid was distracted by Beriache, he would secure King Daebyeol. The gods had no doubts about it.

“......”

However, Dominion didn’t appear in hell.

Judar immediately grasped the situation. “As expected... was he held back on the surface?”

In order to reach hell from heaven, they had to go through the surface. The delay in Dominion’s arrival meant he was stranded on the surface. But who would dare to interfere with Dominion? The surface was the realm of the Overgeared World, which greatly weakened Dominion, but it was impossible for a non-Grid level being to stand in Dominion’s way.

“Did the Old Dragons intervene...?”

The gods were agitated. It was unrealistic, but it was a reasonable guess. There was a situation recently where Gourmet Dragon Raiders helped Grid infiltrate heaven.

Judar’s thoughts were different. “It is Eve. She has been missing for a long time, but now she has come into contact with Grid.”

Yatan’s apostle—she was special among the apostles. It was due to Yatan’s nature.

Unlike Rebecca and Hanul, who created their own subjects, assigned roles, and left everything to them, Yatan personally found a human called Eve on the surface and nurtured her with affection. He taught her everything from beginning to end. She was a relatively difficult opponent for Dominion to immediately subdue when he was weakened by the oppression of the Overgeared World.

“Raphael, you have to do it.”

“...Yes.” Raphael’s hand on the fishing rod tightened. It was because they felt they would be shaking if they didn’t give more strength to it. Raphael had a hunch that this was their last chance.

King Daebyeol, who was isolated among Grid’s subordinates—if Raphael didn’t take the opportunity to snatch his soul, Judar wouldn’t give them a second chance...

‘Shit, how do I do this?’

Raphael lamented to themselves, gulped, and focused all their senses on King Daebyeol.

Then...

“...It’s done!”

In the end, Raphael succeeded in snatching King Daebyeol’s soul. It was really a tiny difference. The soul of King Daebyeol was raised just before he fell into the river of reincarnation.

“I...! I did it!”

How long had it been since Raphael felt such joy? Today, Raphael was swept away by all types of emotions, unlike an Absolute, and finally reached the point of cheering.

“It is useless,” Judar spat out coldly.

At the same time, Raphael also noticed it.

The soul of King Daebyeol that he tried so hard to catch—it was empty. It was a shell without even the slightest bit of divine power left. If he was reincarnated, he might be able to recover some of his divine power. Even so, it wouldn’t mean much and it was completely useless in the current state.

Judar’s eyes fell on the human woman who had just been the target of the arrow shot by King Daebyeol.

“Raphael, I’ll give you a chance to make up for it.”

***

“Jishuka!”

“Jishuka!”

Jishuka was the founder of the Tzedakah Guild, which was the predecessor of the Overgeared Guild. Many of the people who still reigned as the strongest force of the Overgeared Guild were talents recruited by her in the past. Her symbolism was great. After Grid and Lauel, Jishuka was the one that the Overgeared members trusted and relied on the most.

There were many people who were agitated by the sight of her dying again after saving her colleagues from danger.

Yura and Kraugel came running instantly. It was to somehow prevent the death of Jishuka, who was properly hit by the arrow shot by the soul of King Daebyeol.

Yura opened the lid of the potion she had and poured it on Jishuka. In the meantime, Kraugel managed to find and grab Ruby and made a puzzled expression. “Is it impossible to even resurrect her?”

Jishuka had been killed by Asura just a few hours earlier. It meant that her immortality was on cooldown. Once he saw that she didn’t open her eyes, he was sure she was dead. It was right to resurrect her before she turned to ash.

Additionally, one of Ruby’s ultimate skills was a resurrection skill. However, she stayed still and didn’t use her skill.

It was a time when they succeeded in purifying hell and should be enjoying the festive atmosphere. Jishuka suffered two deaths in a row and experienced a huge loss alone. She was even forced to log out and watch the celebration from afar.

It happened as everyone was feeling disappointed...

“Cough cough cough! Stop!” Jishuka sprang up. She spat out the potion that had gone into her nose and mouth.

Ruby belatedly explained to the dumbfounded group, “She isn’t dead. Rather, she is fine.”

“......?”

The eyes of the group slowly widened. They realized the subtle scent of flowers that was spreading along with Jishuka’s breaths. It was the scent of the nurturing grace flowers.

The handful of divinity left by King Daebyeol was inherited by Jishuka.