Times had changed—it was now common to see players on the East Continent.

“......”

Bubat had also moved to the East Continent. It wasn’t just him. It was many of the rankers who visited the East Continent due to the Call of the Heavens quest. It might be different if they had established their own power in the West Continent, but there was no reason to refuse living on the East Continent which provided more hunting grounds and quests.

“...It is before the storm.”

A master of combat who could neutralize anyone he fought with at least once. Bubat boasted a huge bull-like figure and murmured with a ferocious expression. His gaze was fixed on the red carpeted floor. He was recognized for his merits and skills in Chiaotzu and obtained a noble title. Even so, he didn’t dare raise his head in front of the Xing King because of his low rank.

In the king's palace where hundreds of ministers were gathered, Bubat’s location was the last place. It was the furthest place away from the throne.

“It is too sinister and I can’t sleep,” the king, who had been silent since convening the meeting, spoke for the first time.

The golden cloth embroidered with the black tortoise looked shabby instead of gorgeous today. It was probably because it resembled the complexion of the Xing King, who was anxious.

“Thanks to the help of the distinguished people, we have recovered the forgotten ancient god and became independent from the Hwan Kingdom. I have vowed that I will forget the Hwan Kingdom and strive for peace in the future, but uninvited visitors from a strange place keep bringing up these disgusting memories. Their intentions are impure and will harm the kingdom, so we need to discuss countermeasures.”

It was about Zibal’s group.

Their group appeared a month ago and repeatedly asked the Xing people about the Hwan Kingdom, shaking public sentiment. They said their purpose was simple. They wanted to be guided to the location of the Hwan Kingdom. This couldn’t happen. Xing was currently under the care of the black tortoise. The barrier prevented the fake gods (yangbans) from entering, but an absolute condition was needed to maintain this effect—forgetting the fake gods.

The people of Xing shouldn’t mention them, nor should they be reminded of them. Just as the black tortoise was forgotten for many years, it was only by forgetting the yangbans that their divinity would be weakened and the black tortoise be strengthened.

“I’m afraid that stories of the Hwan Kingdom and the yangbans will circulate through the Xing Kingdom due to these uninvited guests. Then the protection of God Black Tortoise will be weakened. How can we calm down this situation?”

“Umm...”

There was a dark shadow on the faces of the ministers. No one offered a solution. Bubat’s stomach was burning.

‘What is there to worry about? Isn’t it simple if they are banished?’

The reason why Bubat felt the current atmosphere was the eve of the storm was because he anticipated a bloody battle to occur soon. He couldn’t imagine that the king and the ministers would be trembling because of Zibal’s group of less than 20 people. Why couldn’t they come up with a simple solution to expel or eliminate Zibal’s group?

Bubat was frustrated, but he first watched the situation. Five minutes passed, then 10 minutes. There was no progress in the meeting and he finally couldn’t stand it anymore. He opened his mouth, “Excuse me, isn’t this a problem that can simply be solved by driving them out?”

“Hah!”

“Have you ever seen such a rude person?!”

The last place Bubat dared to talk and the ministers scolded him. A nobleman standing next to Bubat poked him in the ribs and shook his head. Nevertheless, Bubat didn’t stop. Rather, he raised his head and stared straight at the king.

“If they refuse to leave, I think it is right to use force and execute them.”

Bubat had decided to live in Xing. He would do his best for the ideals that he had chosen. He couldn’t just watch this outrageous situation. He couldn’t watch such a pathetic situation every time. In the midst of the tumultuous atmosphere, Bubat stared steadily at the king. The king looked downward at him with slightly wide eyes and smiled lightly as he descended.

“That's right. You haven’t met many yangbans so you still lack insight. Therefore, you are fundamentally misunderstanding what is going on.”

“......?”

Insight? Misunderstanding? The Xing King explained to Bubat, who was shaking his head, “Among the uninvited guests, there is an absolutely strong one we can’t face. It is a suicide act to confront him with force. All of Xing would be destroyed.”

For decades, the Xing King and his ministers had been dominated by the yangbans. Serving the yangban had given the king a type of sixth sense to perceive the strong. Therefore, he could see it. The man with a languid expression who was at the rear of the uninvited guests... he was a monster.

A monster who transcended most of the yangbans. The king saw this person from a distance and though a god of war had descended.

“This...”

Bubat finally grasped the situation and closed his mouth. There was a presence on Zibal’s side that was powerful enough to destroy the Xing Kingdom, which was comparable to many kingdoms in the West Continent?

‘Did Zibal also get a legend as a companion, just like Grid got Braham?’

Bubat had to think like this. It was because only a few players knew about the existence of the grandmaster.

***

‘Amazing... I wouldn’t be able to win if our levels were equal.’

Melee classes had at least one stun skill. Once they approached the target and hit the target with the skill, there was a very high probability of stunning the target. At this time, it was possible to inflict a fatal injury. The problem was that the skill had to hit. There was no chance of a stun if the skill itself missed.

The Bow Saint Jishuka...

Tadat! Tak.

She avoided all of Zibal’s attacks with feather-light movements. She continued to step back while maintaining this favorable gap. It would’ve been a boring pursuit if she just dodged. Every time Jishuka opened the gap, she fired an arrow at the same time. This caused Zibal to accumulate damage.

The archer, the weakest class in melee combat, had surprisingly evolved into a counter for melee classes. Zibal became a hedgehog throughout the battle. He finally drove her to a corner and pointed his sword at Jishuka’s chin before lowering it.

“Hah... I lost.”

At present, Jishuka’s level was reset. For some reason, her arrows hurt a lot, but she was only around level 30. It was natural to win against her now. Zibal had to assume that he would lose if he and Jishuka’s levels were the same.

“If your level was over 300, then I would’ve died before driving you into the corner.”

“It might not necessarily be the case if you summon the magic machine.”

“What? Are you actually being considerate to others?”

If it wasn’t for Agnus, Jishuka would be the one with the nickname of ‘Mad Dog.’ Jishuka’s character was vicious to this extent. It was far from delicate. Zibal recalled the troubles he encountered every time he met Jishuka of the Tzedakah Guild on a hunting ground and thought it was absurd. Jishuka just crossed her arms and smiled.

“My personality has changed a bit while studying Grid’s tastes.”

“Jishuka changed because of a man...”

“Isn’t it the same for you?”

“......”

In fact, Zibal was famous for being crazy. He was arrogant and earned the nickname ‘Prince of the United States’ after he gained great power and wealth by reaching the second place in the unified rankings. However, that was all old news. Zibal had realized his inadequacies and devoted himself to moving forward. He was now ashamed of his past self.

He pulled out an arrow embedded in his armor and shook hands with JIshuka. “By the way, congratulations. You have become a legend.”

“Thank you.”

It was a competitive relationship at first and then it was a bad one. Jishuka and Zibal had known each other for the past six years. There were times when they slandered each other on TV. However, they had gone through so much. Just as times changed, so had their thinking and personality. An accurate statement might be that they had grown up.

“Then I’ll be going. I am busy with quests.”

“Yes, go well.”

Jishuka turned around first and Zibal wanted to see her off. The emergence of the grandmaster, who blocked Jishuka’s path, was completely different from Zibal’s intentions.

“…….?!”

Jishuka’s eyes widened. She turned around and a tall man stood in front of her. Jishuka knew the name ‘Zikfrector’ that was floating above the head of the man who seemed skinny, but had shoulders as wide as Grid’s.

“The grandmaster...!”

Grid had said it—the grandmaster was an avatar of the seven malignant saints and the dark mastermind behind the empire. He was recognized as the strongest NPC by Chairman Lim Cheolho. It meant he was greater than Braham and Piaro, who was in a realm beyond imagination. Jishuka was nervous that such a person suddenly appeared in front of her without any warning.

“...Interesting.”

The grandmaster, who looked like he would fall asleep at any moment, caught Jishuka’s gaze and seemed to wake up from a slumber. It was an offensive, blatant gaze. Jishuka clenched her fists and the grandmaster murmured, “A human who embraces the Breaking Evil Arrow.”

“......!”

Jishuka was astonished. The arrow she got from the shrine a little while ago was different from her expectations—it was actually a ‘resource’ similar to the Hero King’s fighting energy or the Sword Saint’s sword energy. However, the grandmaster saw through it instantly.

The grandmaster’s gaze swept over the frozen Jishuka and he whispered, “You should be wary of the Martial God.”

***

At the gate of Yangzhou’s outer city...

Whisper whisper.

People from all over the kingdom were whispering. Silver hair and white skin that seemed like it hadn’t seen the sun once—she was like a princess described in the fairy tales of the West Continent. The exotic beauty that made people feel this way attracted people’s attention. She was so delicate that she barely managed to support her body with a dark sword. She looked like she would fall down at any moment.

“Why...”

Clear blue eyes filled with resentment—the silver-haired beauty gritted her teeth and shouted at the middle-aged man standing next to her, “How many times do you have to fight? Dammit! Do you intend to kill people?!”

“......”

Unlike her elegant appearance, her voice was loud and her tone, rough. The silver-haired beauty who made people doubt their ears was Grid. That’s right—it was Grid disguised as Irene. From Pangea to Yangzhou, he had fought against Piaro a total of 19 times in a week. He was really going crazy.

“No, why don’t you know how to act in moderation? My stamina has run out from a week of this. I can’t do anything!”

“...I’m sorry. I was too excited by Your Majesty’s new weapon.”

“Sigh...”

From the beginning, Piaro liked fighting against the strong. He was the so-called battle fanatic. Yes, fanatic. It meant he was crazy. Piaro was completely immersed in Grid, whose weapon moved by itself and shot the breath of a fire dragon. Additionally, there was the God Hand with an advanced intelligence on the level of a genius. Eventually, he reached the point of applying for a duel with Grid and at first, Grid was happy to accept as he also wanted to gauge his current level.

However, this was a mistake—Piaro was fascinated by the extremely difficult duel that he had never experienced before and half lost his mind. He became dissatisfied with a single duel and relentlessly pursued more duels with Grid. Grid had been exhausted for the past week and felt more pain and horror than when he fought Garam.

As Piaro grew at a terrifying pace, the duels became more frequent and more and more of Grid’s weaknesses were being targeted and attacked. Therefore, he was both physically and mentally exhausted. Thanks to this, he could now handle Talsha and the Fire Dragon Sword properly. It could be called a huge harvest, but it was a very difficult schedule. It was to the extent where he never wanted to experience it again.

“It isn’t enough to extract a mineral from a dragon’s lair. Now I have to worry about a team kill... Groan, my life.”

Grid finally sat down as he had no more stamina left to stand. Piaro saw Grid opening his legs without paying any attention to his surroundings and coughed. “Are you really going to meet the king as you are now?”

“Uh. Didn’t I tell you? I am going to make Irene become deified and then build her fame. I’ll be in Irene’s form until the end of this activity.”

It was a political plan to use the identity of the ‘Overgeared Queen.’ If the Xing King was informed that she was sent by Overgeared King Grid, then Irene would be welcomed.

Piaro urged Grid, “I think it is better to change your clothes first, Your Majesty.”

“Eh? Ah... Yes.”

It wasn’t good to wear a dress—firstly, the strange wind blowing at his crotch felt weird, and secondly, it restricted his body’s movement too much. Grid was unaware that his legs were spread open. He saw the men around him, who seemed like they wanted to eat him, and carefully brought his legs close together.