Grid was as aggressive as he was strong, and he wasn’t wise as he was intoxicated with his own power. He was the type of person who was blinded by immediate gains and lost the bigger profits. His cruel violence expressed in the name of decisiveness was enough to cause disgust, and he was perfect at antagonizing people.

So far, this was Kir’s evaluation of Grid. Right now, Grid reigned with a strong force, but he would become isolated and be destroyed sooner than expected. Kir didn’t expect Grid to last for very long. Nevertheless, what was the truth? Kir’s spine became freezing cold as he saw Bunny Bunny. He was forced to evaluate Grid differently.

‘He is clever!’

No, Grid wasn’t smart. It was clearly the influence of Lauel, who founded the Overgeared Kingdom. There was no weakness in Grid with the genius called Lauel behind him. After Kir realized that Grid had decided to take away everything he owned, he experienced a deep frustration and lost all hope. He fell into despair and questioned it, “What's the difference between you and me?”

“...?”

“At least I didn’t slaughter the elves. I didn’t kill a single elf until you interrupted me. On the other hand, what about you? Now you have slaughtered hundreds of soldiers in dozens of minutes. What? You respect NPCs? You are better than me because I took the elves as prisoners? A murderer like you hates me and rescued the elves?”

“Oh, it is an obvious story.”

“...?”

Many years ago, Grid was performing a time attack quest to wipe out Pope Candidate Pascal and the Vatican elders, causing him to overlook the deaths of prostitutes. The prostitutes had been used as shields to threaten Grid, but he had ignored them and they were then killed by the elders.

No, let’s go back in time further than that. On the first day he encountered Khan, Grid casually killed the local gangsters who threatened him and Khan.

“I have my own standards. I never said that I respect all NPCs.” Grid was someone who agonized over and over about the existence of NPCs. He pointed to the civilians hiding in the streets. “Look. I didn’t kill those people.”

“You—!” It was impossible to intimidate or even criticize Grid. His deep selfishness meant that not even these words had an effect. Kir became less composed. His eyes became bloodstained as he shouted, “You! Do you think you are a god? How can you be so selfish?”

Grid doubted his ears. “What are you saying? Aren’t you the one who thinks you are a god?”

“...?”

“Haven’t you been acting like one? You captured weak people without hesitation. You did this because you thought you were a god.”

“S-Sophistry!”

“Yes, it’s sophistry. Don’t make a broad analysis of a simple matter.”

“I am what?” Kir found it hard to understand the Korean manner of speaking. Kir frowned while Grid aimed a sword at his neck and declared, “Stop your attacks now.”

“???” What nonsense was Grid saying? Kir was stunned. Why was the one-sided slaughterer telling him to stop attacking? “Shouldn’t I say that to you?”

“No, don’t I have the right to defend myself? Stop the attacks. Then I will stop mine.”

‘This jerk!’

Grid was conscious of the camera right till the end. Acting like a victim, he was being really hateful right now. Still, Grid gave Kir one last chance. “Please surrender. Then I will leave this city without taking it away from you.”

“...” It was just the city. In other words, he would take away everything outside the city. Kir wasn’t particularly surprised. He had expected Grid to come here with that type of mindset. “...Are you going to take away all my merchandise?”

“Yes.”

“This is beyond common sense. One day, the world will discover what you have done to me and criticize you. Then the Overgeared Kingdom might become isolated.”

“I know.”

All types of maneuvers would occur before the Overgeared Kingdom was established. Many forces wanted to take away the Overgeared Kingdom’s rice bowl because they were strong, so there would be an alliance that would try to destroy the Overgeared Guild. The threat would come anyway, so it was better to become stronger than to sit silently and wait.

“It will be dangerous if you are left alone. It is better to take your life and make it so that you are unable to recover. This is from the position of the Overgeared Kingdom. Do you understand?”

“...” Kir didn’t say anything because he agreed with Grid. In the first place, he had also taken things away from other people in case they would strike at him again someday. Ultimately, Kir’s goal was to keep his trading rights. So, after careful consideration, Kir displayed the wit of a merchant. “I understand. I will follow your demands.”

“Hoh?”

“Only...”

“Only?”

“I want you to promise not to take away any trading rights that I gain in the future.”

If he was forced to lose it, then he would give it to Grid. Instead, there should be a promise for his future. Grid thought for a moment before nodding. “Yes. Let’s write up a contract.”

In fact, Grid hadn’t known that Kir would listen to his demands. He had expected to spend a great deal of time and money in order to steal the merchant’s commerce rights which were bound in the form of a ‘contract.’ Yet Kir was willing to give it all at once. Moreover, it was also good for Grid to guarantee Kir’s future.

‘If he loses everything and has to start again from the beginning, he won’t grow fast enough to threaten the Overgeared Kingdom.’

Grid removed his sword and turned his gaze to the necromancers standing to one side. Grid’s face distorted as he saw them. It was a terrible expression that contained fearsome hatred and killing intent.

“What are you doing? Are you even abandoning putting up resistance now?” Grid aimed his sword at a certain man.

The famous ranker Drew, who was the head of the necromancers, cried out, “...Kill me!”

Grid was flustered. The strong necromancer had retreated and given up resistance. Now, he was even handing over his neck.

‘Do they have some trick in mind?’

Was it possible that the hundreds of bodies in the ground would explode the moment he approached them? Drew explained to the wary Grid, “The reason we invaded Reinhardt was purely due to Veradin’s command. But Veradin abandoned us. He left Immortal.”

“...”

“I don’t intend to shirk responsibility. Moreover, I am one of those who invaded Reinhardt. I’m not asking you to end your revenge now. However, I hope that you will listen to a request today.”

“A request?”

“Chase Veradin and kill him. We can’t stop him with our strength.”

“...Where is he?”

“If you go behind the castle, there will be the entrance to an underground waterway. He is running away using that place.”

“Okay,” Grid answered before cutting Drew’s neck. The necromancers were all nervous when Drew died this time. Grid stared at them. “You were one of the ones who invaded Reinhardt? You will continue to die in the future.”

“...”

Grid had noticed that Immortal had been abandoned by Agnus. It was the only reason why they had lost their fighting spirit.

‘I didn’t see one peep of him but...’

Grid used Quick Movements and ran toward the underground waterway.

***

[You have died.]

Tarot had been hit by Grid’s surprise attack as soon as he used Blackening. He had been stabbed by the white light and received death from the passing Grid, reviving far from his resurrection point. There was a poisonous fog that caused nausea and dizziness as well as hot lava. Tarot woke up in the middle of hell.

“How rotten...”

Tarot didn’t panic. Hell wasn’t unfamiliar to him since he had experiencing dying while using Blackening during a boss raid. Nevertheless, this didn’t mean it was a comfortable place for him. Despite being classified as a half-demonkin, hell was an unknown place that caused him to feel fearful.

[You have failed to send a message to the guild. Hell is disconnected from the human world.]

[You have failed to send a message to the guild. Hell is disconnected from the human world.]

[The death penalty has failed to remove Blackening.]

“Tch.”

The duration of Tarot’s Blackening was 15 minutes. It was a much better performance than that of Grid who used Blackening through Dark Bus’ Earrings. So, what was this?

‘I was hit without noticing!’

Grid’s appearance from when he cut Tarot without blinking was stuck in Tarot’s brain. Tarot had no idea there was such a difference in skill between Grid and himself.

‘I was a frog in the well.’ Facing reality, Tarot burned with motivation rather than frustration. ‘The fact that I am still weak means I can become stronger. Grid, it will be different the next time we meet.’

Tarot was a weed-like man. No matter how he was trampled on, he would jump up again. This process had been repeated hundreds of times, allowing Tarot to reach who he was today.

“Let’s try hunting demonic beasts within the time limit.”

He couldn’t waste time like this! Tarot knew that he would return once the duration of Blackening ended. Therefore, he decided to invest the remaining time in hunting. The odd thing was that there wasn’t a single beast around, as if someone had just swept through this place… It was vaguely creepy.

Tarot was walking carefully with his weapon when he saw the back of a man in the distance. It was a man with shaggy hair and shabby attire. Tarot felt a strange sense of discomfort because he seemed to have seen this back view somewhere before.

It looked like the back view of Grid which he’d seen when he died.

‘How can that be?’

Was he crazy? Tarot desperately shook his head. The man in front of Tarot turned and asked him a question, “Question. Human?”

“...?!!” Tarot’s heart sank as he confirmed the man’s appearance. “G-Grid...?!”

Had he followed Tarot to hell to kill him? The man’s sword flew toward the astonished Tarot. Tarot couldn’t respond to the speed nor could he endure the power.

“Cough!”

[You have died.]

[You have died two times within 24 hours and have been forcefully logged out.]

Stabbed several times, Tarot had died in the blink of an eye. He had died twice to Grid! Tarot swore that even if there was a blade at his throat or if he was given a bunch of money, he would never become hostile to Grid again! On this day...

[Title: Meeting with Grid]

[Author: Hokquah

Contents: If you mess with Grid, he will follow you to hell and kill you. This isn’t a metaphor, it is real;;;]

A post on one of the famous Satisfy forums became a hot topic.

The comments below were full of sarcasm.

[-Who doesn’t know this? Think about what happened to Immortal. Hell is natural for Grid’s personality. It wouldn’t be strange if he chased someone up to heaven.

-Why would you want to taste hell by going against God Grid?

-Are you a Penan resident? Are you a lair of crazy people?

-I think Penan is really weird. Grid went there for sightseeing only to suddenly be attacked.

-Author’s Comment: No, I mean he literally chased me to hell. And how is Penan crazy? That bastard invaded first.

-Yes, you really are a crazy guy.

-Author’s Comment: (Reports have been received and the comment is hidden).]