“A human? Hahat! You are too impatient! We said that we would see you tomorrow morning!”

A half-draconian, Heltavon, came after discovering the unexpected guest. He was extremely excited. A human was slaughtering monsters alone in the Chaos Mountains? It was natural to look forward to it.

‘I didn’t expect there to be a person soloing in such a remote place! It is interesting!’

The world had changed a lot while they were trapped in the imperial walls. It was worthwhile to throw away the frogs in the well who wanted to play with the empire to wander through the mountains.

Duguen! Duguen!

Heltavon’s heartbeat sped up. The blood of the evil dragon Bunhelier that flowed through his veins boiled hot. The innate aggressiveness of the half-draconians poured out. “Well, I don’t care if I fight tomorrow or not. I will start the fight straight away. Right?”

It was well known that the half-draconians were mountain dwellers. However, it was still a problem for them to be fully self-sufficient when it came to food, clothing, housing, and transportation. This was why the half-draconians had prepared an event for Duke Steim.

They planned to use Frontier as a supply base to stay in the Chaos Mountains for a while and engage in a frenzied struggle with the monsters. In front of the inhabitants of Frontier, they planned to slaughter the most powerful talent in order to dominate Frontier’s people and gain a tribute of food, clothing, and especially alcohol. The most important thing to Heltavon wasn’t the plan but the pleasure of the moment. He was just pushing forward the event that was scheduled for tomorrow.

“Hahahat! Let’s give it a try!” Heltavon yelled with a laugh and fired a Breath.

The dizzying blizzard was dispersed by the black ray of light. The black-haired man standing in the center of the open landscape was clearly captured in Heltavon’s vision. At this moment...

‘What?’

Heltavon’s mood became strange. His excited heart calmed down a bit. It was the first time he had ever calmed down in front of an opponent.

‘It was a mistake.’

Heltavon shook off his distracted thoughts. The Breath he shot was already reaching the chest of the black-haired human. Then—

“Revolve.”

Grid hit it back easily. Heltavon was flying forward to attack only to become perplexed as the human reflected his Breath.

‘Isn’t he quite good?’

Heltavon’s body became stiff for a moment as he blocked the reflected Breath. However, his eyes didn’t stop moving as he pursued the human’s movements.

‘Pretty fast?’

Heltavon didn’t avoid the attack of the human who appeared from the side. The sharp cuts or stabs didn’t threaten his scales. At least, it had been like that so far. The single-digit Red Knights learned that even a sword full of aura couldn’t cut the scales of a half-draconian and switched to blunt weapons.

“...Kuock!”

Heltavon wanted to grasp the human only to let out a scream when his back was cut.

‘What?’

It was a strange pain. Heltavon examined his back with a shaky gaze. Blood spurted. The scales cut by the human’s sword fell onto the snow field.

“I was cut?’

Heltavon hurriedly spread out his wings. There was a strong gust of wind that shook the human. Heltavon didn’t miss this gap and raised his knee to hit the human’s side. It was a fast and sharp attack that the 5th Red Knight had barely responded to, yet the black-haired man grasped it with his hand. It was proof that he wasn’t inferior to Heltavon when it came to both strength and speed.

‘The level of the 2nd Knight?’

Heltavon fully grasped the black-haired human’s skills and wasn’t panicked. He wasn’t even excited. He had calmed down from the moment he encountered the human He was calm and sober, just like the festival (duel) between his kind to determine their ‘rating.’ That’s right—Heltavon’s condition was the best when his aggressiveness was suppressed. It was the effect of Grid’s contract with Hao.

Heltavon’s left knee was held in the hand of the human, causing him to spin backwards and throw a right kick. Grid pulled his head back to avoid it but something stretched out. Sharp and hard claws emerged from Heltavon’s feet and brushed past Grid’s neck. The attack was only two centimeters deep but it cut Grid’s artery, dealing him the ‘bleeding’ and ‘unable to recover’ states.

“Hrmm...”

Grid had to let go of Heltavon’s knee to avoid the attack and took the opportunity to step back. Then he asked directly, “What is your level?”

“What?”

“I’m asking you whether you’re strong or weak among the half-draconians.”

According to the information Grid recently received from Hao, the half-draconians were a mixed-breed born from the evil dragon Bunhelier and a human. This meant that the blood of a real dragon flowed through the bodies of the half-draconians. However, Grid didn’t shrink back. He had already experienced it with the Twilight Orcs. It was a race that could eventually be selected by players so Grid’s analyzed that the half-draconians weren’t strong enough to violate common sense. Hao had agreed with him.

The blood of a dragon might be flowing through the veins of the half-draconians, but the blood was already weak. Grid thought there would be ordinary members of the half-draconians, unless they were classified as named. Still, it was a bit surprising. Heltavon was quite strong but he wasn’t named based on the color of his name. It could be considered mid-tier among the single-digit Red Knights.

‘It would be a pain if he is an average half-draconian.’

Laden’s potential was explosive but his current growth was low. Even if he became overgeared, the odds of defeat were high if he fought against half-draconians stronger than Heltavon.

‘Do I need to change my plan?’

The reason why Grid didn’t want to directly fight against the half-draconians tomorrow was because he considered a number of situations.

First of all, he didn’t like that he had to personally come forward to deal with rude invaders. If he had to go out personally whenever something happened, it would give a bad impression to the outside and wouldn’t be good for the morale of the people.

The north was also one of the most important borders in the Overgeared Kingdom. The north had prevented the invasion of monsters for many years and were recognized as the elites of the Overgeared Kingdom. It had to be so. Grid wanted to use this chance to prove that the public awareness of the north was true by empowering Laden. He might not be confident but he wanted Laden to do his part.

‘However, it will all be ruined if Laden is killed.’

Heltavon replied to the frustrated Grid, “Huhut, don’t you know when you see it? I am strong among my people. Of course, I’m just a child compared to Helena.”

“...Really? The half-draconian who was sent as an envoy earlier in the day is called Helena?”

“Are you an idiot? It is enough to send a low-grade warrior to be an envoy to humans!”

This was good news. Grid’s expression relaxed. “Then the half-draconian who will fight Frontier’s strongest tomorrow isn’t Helena but a low-grade warrior?”

“Huhut, of course.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“What? Why are you glad? Do you think you will win if you fight a low-grade warrior?”

“If you are a low-grade warrior then I will win...”

“Haha! What a funny little kid! I haven’t revealed my skills yet!”

“Additionally, I’m not the strongest person in Frontier.”

“...!”

Heltavon’s face stiffened for the first time. The human being in front of him was surprisingly strong. He thought it would be hard for a low-grade warrior to win against the human so Heltavon wanted to get rid of him on the spot.

‘Yet there is someone stronger than this guy?’

Were there two talented people equivalent to the Red Knights living in kingdoms other than the empire? The world had changed so much. It seemed that the empire had become a pushover without knowing it.

‘If it was the empire of the past, they would’ve cut off the talented buds of other kingdoms in advance. Now they can’t even control this much?’

It tasted bad from the moment they started talking nonsense about unity.

‘In any case, it is dangerous. I should suggest to Helena to change the list of envoys sent to Frontier tomorrow.’

Before that, naturally—

‘I have to get rid of this guy.’

Heltavon laughed. Heltavon’s bones grew rapidly. The clothes made of leather were all torn and the scales that had only covered the vital parts of the body extended to all over the body. Soon after Heltavon was covered with scales, he spread his wings and gave off a pressure that oppressed Grid.

‘Is this a true half-draconian?’

Grid glanced at Heltavon’s hands and feet, which were large enough to remind him of the giant, Radwolf. Then Grid fired a Magic Missile first. The gust that occurred when Heltavon covered himself with his wings twisted the trajectory of Magic Missile.

‘It is conditional anti-magic.’

There was no need for Laden to worry about this. Laden was a knight. He didn’t use magic.

‘Then what about this?’

Grid took out a spare spear from his inventory and fired it using Spear Shot. Once again, a gust came from Heltavon’s wings and blew the spear off track.

‘It isn’t anti-magic but anti-projectiles.’

There seemed to be no cooldown. However, based on the way the waist lowered slightly after covering himself with the wings, it seemed to cause an ‘immobile’ state for a moment.

‘If so?’

Grid fired a Magic Missile and then immediately launched himself into the air to use Kill. It was as expected. The attack speed of Kill was enough to respond to Heltavon’s agility. Heltavon, who was unable to move due wrapping his body with wings, couldn’t avoid it and had to block by raising his two arms.

[The target has received 179,080 damage.]

‘...Isn’t this a bit bad?’

The attack power of Kill was the best out of single sword dances. The concept of defense itself was meaningless in front of it. Considering Grid’s attack power and the damage factor of Kill, the fact that it only caused 180,000 damage meant that the defense of the half-draconian’s scales had reached the highest level.

‘It will be very difficult for Laden, whose attack power is four times lower than mine, to break through the defenses of the half-draconians... Huh?’

Grid frowned as he was recalling Laden’s stats information and skills list.

[The effect of Kill has disarmed the target for one second.]

“...!”

Heltavon’s scales that collided with Kill were temporarily falling off. It meant that the scales of a half-draconian were judged as armor. Grid immediately responded by using Link. He confirmed the damage done to Heltavon’s arms that lost the scales and couldn’t help smiling.

‘The defense will be reduced by twice as much after losing the scales.’

He determined what weapon he would make for Laden.

“You!”

Heltavon was launching a counter-attack. He grasped Grid’s shoulder and the shoulder guards made a loud noise. However, the durability was infinite so it wasn’t damaged. The shape was distorted but it was immediately restored due to the recovery effect. Heltavon lifted Grid with great force before slamming him into the ground. It was a skill reminiscent of Bubat’s CC.

‘It is dangerous. I should widen the distance.’

Grid was thinking when something slammed into his chest! Heltavon’s feet fell. He had decided to kill Grid immediately and opened his mouth to fire a Breath.

‘I can’t avoid this.’

The Breath’s power was tremendous when fired from close range. It was physically impossible to avoid or counterattack when he was in this captured state. However, Grid used the God Hands to block it.

“...?!”

The flustered Heltavon stomped his foot to trample on Grid’s chest again. Then he used the recoil to jump up. Grid instantly raised himself to aim for this gap, only for the sharp tail to sweep by the tip of his nose.

‘He purposely gave me an opportunity to stand up in order to slash my neck with his tail.’

After reading Heltavon’s intentions, Grid widened the distance and watched Heltavon’s tail closely. Then he used Shunpo to attack the tail. Heltavon’s tail that collided with the Enlightenment Sword was as hard as a sword. It held out against the sword without being cut.

‘Is the tail also classified as equipment?’

Grid once again used Kill. It was possible because the cooldown was reset from the effect of God's Command. Once again, the target was the tail.

“Bah! Stupid fool! Does the tail look like a weakness?” Heltavon snorted. His tail was fine despite being hit with Kill. It wasn’t affected by the disarming effect.

Grid nodded. Subsequently, Mercedes’ Keen Insight was transplanted into his eyes.

“I have to be most careful about the tail. It is hard, sharp, and rotates 360 degrees so the range of application is very wide.”

“...?” At this time, Heltavon felt a sense of strangeness. It was like the human in front of him was dissecting him like a frog. It was an unpleasant sensation. “What are you doing? Do you have no intention of fighting?”

“Tell me. Do you have anything more to show?” Grid asked Heltavon, who was gritting his teeth.

“This guy!”

A lion wasn’t afraid of a rabbit. It was because he knew he wouldn’t be eaten by a rabbit. This was the difference in species. Yes, Heltavon couldn’t properly recognize the danger of the human in front of him. It wasn’t a matter of his vigilance.

“...Eh?”

Heltavon had been attacking Grid for a long time only to pause. The hot heat that he started to feel perplexed him. At the same time, the world changed. The mountains and unstoppable blizzard suddenly disappeared and only a world of flames existed. No, looking closely, there were also sharp, silver colored sword energies in his field of view.

“What...?”

The fear of the unknown was great. Grid’s cold voice entered Heltavon’s ear, “I’ve learned enough about your standards. Let’s end this.”

Transcended Linked Kill Wave Pinnacle. The image of ruin merged with the image of the infinite sword energy. Dozens of dragon-like blades of sword energy poured out like raging waves, slamming into the half-draconian. Heltavon met his demise at the hands of Grid and became Grid’s nutrients.