Chapter 423

Before Grid raided Russia.

As Grid predicted, Kraugel targeted South Korea. It was because among the countries that remained, South Korea had the highest score. Of course, he didn’t intend to fight to kill. He planned to keep Korea in check by preventing them from concentrating on the target processing.

Kraugel wasn’t in a perfect state. Yes, he was like a car out of fuel. It was the same as just after his confrontation with Piaro. What if he faced Grid now?

Kraugel was sure that the probability of his defeat was more than 80%. It was shocking if Kraugel was to be defeated by someone, but Kraugel knew. He wasn’t invincible. In addition, Grid was strong.

‘This?’

Kraugel stopped moving through the forest. In the sky above. The golden hands holding weapons were handling the targets.

‘...The God Hands.’

South Korea’s score was slowly but steadily rising. Kraugel realized that it was thanks to the God Hands. He looked around and confirmed that there were no signs of Grid. He had to neutralize the God Hands.

But.

Chaaeng!

'Indeed, destroying them is impossible.’

The God Hands were ridiculously durable. After being hard by White Fang, causing them to stiffen for 2~3 seconds was the limit.

Bururu.

The God Hands’ protection system was activated. They started targeting Kraugel.

‘The Sword Mastery skill is attached?’

The God Hands had grown compared to when he faced them in Reidan. They were stronger and faster. Kraugel guessed that the God Hands could hunt level 200 monsters alone. They were really great items.

Indeed, it was the private item of Pagma's Successor.

‘Will a sword saint have an item only for them?’

Kraugel imagined it as he avoided the attacks of the God Hands in a relaxed manner. It was like a professional boxer facing four elementary school children.

“...?”

Once the God Hands were drawn to him, South Korea’s score had completely stopped. Now Kraugel jumped with surprise. It was because Russia had been increasing the gap from South Korea, only for their score to suddenly stop.

‘It can’t be!’

Kraugel felt like he had been hit in the back of the head. It was clear that someone attacked Russia while he was away, and that someone was likely to be Grid.

‘Go back.’

Kraugel determined that it was impossible for Russia’s representatives to deal with Grid and was going to return.

Tatang!

Around 120 meters to the rear. A sniper shot came from behind a huge rock. A bullet made of magic power. Based on the direction of the sound and the wind, Kraugel predicted the point of impact. He moved his waist and avoided the magic bullet.

Peeng!

The tree behind Kraugel exploded, the shockwave causing Kraugel’s long ponytail to become a mess. It revealed his face that was as beautiful as a sculpture.

『 As expected from Kraugel! This is the control skill of the 1st ranked user! As long as it isn’t a definitive attack, he can avoid almost all of it! 』

『 I received some statistics just now. In this target processing match, Kraugel avoided a total of 502 out of 537 non-targeted skills... Heok, is this data wrong? 』

『 He has gone beyond the realm of a human... 』

The former 5th ranked Yura. Despite her appearance and her hidden class, the world was only focused on Kraugel. Yura one of the most popular women in the world, was only a supporting figure when placed next to Kraugel, the peak of two billion users.

『 How long will Yura grab Kraugel’s ankle? 』

『 Currently, Kraugel is in a tired state. Since she was the 5th ranked user, shouldn’t Yura be able to hold on for five minutes? 』

『 No. Since the old days, Yura was vulnerable to close combat. She can only withstand for one minute. 』

As the commentators and experts speculated, Kraugel rushed towards Yura with White Fang. Kruagel was convinced that Yura was a gunman, so he focused on narrowing the distance. Yura planned to buy time while running away, but...

‘Fast!’

Kraugel’s speed was much faster than expected. The actual speed of movement was similar to Yura, but Kraugel grasped the forest terrain in an instant and minimized his movements, making it more efficient.

Kraugel caught up to Yura. At this time, the God Hands had completely left Grid’s sphere of influence. Therefore, they no longer targeted Kraugel and were forced to return to Grid’s inventory.

Chaaeng!

Kraugel wielded White Fang without any hesitation. Yura defended with Alex’s Magic Engineering Gun in rifle mode and shuddered. Kraugel’s white sword had gone over the top of the barrel and stabbed into her heart.

Puok!

“Uh...!”

A truth that everyone overlooked was that Kraugel’s greatest strength wasn’t his control skill, but his ridiculously high level. Due to the gap in level, there was a bonus to the attack power, defense resistance and accuracy.

Yura had just reached level 260 and wasn’t able to cope with Kraugel who was level 343. She suffered great damage. Kraugel was surprised by this.

“You, why is your level so low?”

Yura was 5th on the unified rankings. Half a year ago, she had already crossed level 300. But looking at the damage that Yura received, she didn’t seem to have experienced her third stats awakening yet. She was just a paper body, despite the excellent condition of her armor.

Why? What would make her level drop so drastically? Kraugel was feeling confused when Yura whispered in his ear.

“I believe that one day you will know why.”

“...!”

Kraugel hurriedly moved back. Yura’s magic gun suddenly transformed into a sword. The barrel divided into four and a blue blade emerged.

Pit!

The aim was Kraugel’s face. The sword left a wound on his left eye, causing blood to flow.

"...”

The owner of the second legendary class, Yura. Like a flower blossoming, the blue light of the sword illuminated the strong will in her eyes. Kraugel’s black eyes sank coldly while the commentators were extremely excited.

『 Yura has dealt a wound to Kraugel! 』

『 Yura’s strength can’t be ignored! 』

『 What is Yura’s weapon? How did the magic gun turn into a sword? 』

General magic engineering guns only supported rifle mode and pistol mode. But Yura’s magic gun changed into a sword, making the commentators feel disbelief. The experts speculated.

『 It’s a magic engineering gun made by dwarves. 』

『 It’s likely that Yura has travelled to the dwarf city of Talima. 』

『 However, this isn’t a card that will upset the battlefield. 』

Yura was presumed to have obtained the gunman hidden class. She didn’t possess the Sword Mastery skill. In the first place, swordsmanship was out of the question for a black magician. This was what the experts thought, but...

Chaaeng! Chaeng!

Surprisingly, Yura’s swordsmanship was at a good level. She fought back and directly received Kraugel’s counterattacks. The spectacular effects that occurred when the two people crossed swords dazzled the viewers.

But this tense confrontation didn’t last long. Yura’s swordsmanship wasn’t comparable to Kraugel, and above all, their level and stats difference was too great.

Peok!

After throwing away Yura’s sword, Kraugel raised his sword vertically. He put his knee on Yura’s shoulder and held the handle of his sword. It was the precursor of ‘Jajinmori.’ (TL: only thing I could find was related to music, basically the fastest tempo.)

Peeeong!

“...!”

He was kicked in the chest and Yura rushed away. Kraugel tried to hit her by throwing a secondary weapon. But at this time, he felt an intense energy from the rear.

While Yura grabbed Kraugel’s attention, Peak Sword aimed for a surprise attack from the rear.

“Draw Sword, Sudden.”

Piing.

Once Peak Sword’s sword was pulled out, there was a sharp burst of energy and it suddenly flew at Kraugel. Fast. In the first place, drawing sword techniques weren’t easy to avoid. Even Kraugel, with his keen senses and insight, wasn’t able to avoid the skill that was used with perfect timing.

Seokeok!

“Cough!”

The sword penetrated Kraugel’s chest, causing him to cough up blood.

'Dangerous.'

The moment this thought crossed his mind, the figure of his mother appeared in front of him.

'...Stand up.’

Kraugel was at the last of his strength. Yura turned her weapon back into pistol mode and fired magic bullets at him.

Pepeng! Pepepepeng!

Kraugel’s body was consecutively hit by magic bullets. Peak Sword recovered his sword and prepared for his next attack. Then Kraugel used ‘True Clouds’. A blue cloud-like haze covered the area.

‘I can’t see.’

Yura and Peak Sword were nervous because they could see Kraugel within the clouds. They didn’t know when and where Kraugel would appear to attack them. After 20 seconds, Kraugel didn’t attack them and the clouds completely disappeared.

He had run away. It was because the continuous battles had pushed Kraugel’s stamina and mana to the depleted state. Kraugel decided to survive and maintain Russia’s score, keeping the silver medal, rather than kill Yura and Peak Sword.

Then 20 minutes later. South Korea scored 400 points and the target processing match was automatically stopped.

***

『 The 2nd Satisfy National Competition, there was an upset from the very first event! 』

After the opening day finished. There was a brief press conference and the players returned to their rooms.

Shang X Lila Hotel. The Korean representatives were gathered in Grid’s room.

“Amazing! Amazing! Korea won the gold medal at a team event. No one would’ve imagined it!!”

Peak Sword shouted excitedly.

“This is all thanks to Grid, Yura, and Peak Sword.”

"I’m sorry that we were no help to you.”

"Hah, we are useless. We were completely disruptive...”

Kyunghook, Sumin, and Jinhee couldn’t lift their heads. The proud people trembled from their helplessness. The atmosphere suddenly sank. Surprisingly, the one to encourage them wasn’t Peak Sword.

It was Grid.

"No, this result is due to all of us. If all of you weren’t present, we wouldn’t have won the gold medal.”

Grid had been despised for incompetence his whole life. That’s why he knew.

"There are no worthless people in the world. Everyone has their own personality and talent. Always have pride in yourself.”

As soon as a human saw themselves as unnecessary, their lives would be at risk. Their self-esteem would collapse and they couldn’t overcome misfortunes due to their misery. Just like the Grid of the past.

The smiling Grid. As the protagonist of the gold medal, he wasn’t arrogant and shared his achievements with everyone. Yura felt that he had matured. It was interesting and pleasant to watch a man who was becoming an adult day by day.