The Cooperative Skill—it was a hidden piece that occurred when linking skills with people he had a deep bond with. Grid was the first person to uncover this very difficult hidden piece. Once the Cooperative Skill was activated, Grid’s damage increased by a huge 260%.

Grid, Braham, and Piaro—Drasion was struck down by the three people’s cooperative skills and disappeared from the battlefield. It wasn’t possible to see his form because he was buried deep enough in the ground to suspect the birth of a new Abyss.

‘...What is this?’

He was hit by Braham’s great magic and Piaro’s ultimate technique in a row, but the opponent was the 11th ranked great demon. Drasion must’ve been injured quite a bit, but he would’ve avoided fatal injuries. Grid expected Drasion to immediately rise from the ground and fight back, so he was prepared.

However, Drasion didn’t reappear. He was quiet under the ground, like a hiding earthworm.

‘Is he trying to catch me off guard?’

Grid determined that Drasion was aiming for a surprise attack and focused all his senses below him. Grid planned to use Earth God the moment the earth moved even the slightest bit to block Drasion’s movements. Then he would use a five fusion sword dance. Nevertheless, Drasion didn’t move until the end.

“Uwaaaack!”

“Uhh, uhhh...!”

The screams and groans of the soldiers were coming from everywhere. The soldiers were still fighting hard even when Drasion was hiding. It was because the soldiers affected by Drasion’s curse and the monsters made from his feathers were still on the battlefield.

‘Shit.’

Grid wanted to quickly kill Drasion and end this battle. However, Drasion didn’t appear and he became nervous. He was wondering if he should chase Drasion into the tunnel, but his worries didn’t last long. Fighting in narrow terrain made it difficult to gain an advantage.

“Even if the range of Earth God is 100 times larger, I would have to turn the entire ground upside down...?”

Grid was so focused because he didn’t want to make a mistake. Then his gaze suddenly shifted to the sky. It was because he heard Kyle’s screams. He observed Kyle’s situation and found that it wasn’t very good.

‘Kyle can’t even beat the Triad?’

In fact, Grid’s expectations for Kyle were great. Kyle had the setting of a person with ‘high potential to make the emperor confident in him.’ Therefore, he was a person with high growth potential among the super named NPCs. In fact, Kyle was stronger than Grid. Grid had grown infinitely and gained strength that surpassed the single digit knights, the normal yangbans, and the dukes, but he hadn’t surpassed Kyle.

Kyle might shrink back because he misunderstood Grid’s power, but it was always Kyle who had the upper hand in the relationship between him and Grid. Yes, Kyle was strong. They met after a long time and Kyle had clearly entered a higher stage of transcendence. His status might be lower than Grid’s status, but considering the various additional stats obtained by super named NPCs and Kyle’s unique lightning ability, Kyle was clearly stronger than Grid.

Of course, that was a story when calculating it numerically. Until now, Grid had fought and won against opponents stronger than himself. The result of the two of them fighting was unknown.

“The followers of the Martial God are variables.” Braham sent a warning as he stood beside Grid and watched Drasion’s movements. “If we can’t stop them from invading the battlefield then the damage to our allies will be several times greater.”

There were new figures appearing in the sky. Those who were gathered by Lee Jeon’s side by using a sky walking movement technique were followers who had acquired at least 10 secret techniques.

Braham’s gaze shifted toward Piaro’s direction. Piaro was trying to sow seeds for when Drasion appeared. He judged that if the plants grew and took root in the ground, they could purify and weaken the demonic energy of Drasion lurking there.

Braham’s gaze moved to his feet. He didn’t know when Drasion would suddenly appear from the ground. Braham thought for a moment before speaking to Grid. “It is your role to stop them.”

“......”

Braham couldn’t leave this spot. Braham was the best person to counter Drasion’s surprise attack. Grid knew that as well. He knew that he and Braham were the only ones able to fight properly against the 29 followers of the Martial God who had taken control of the sky.

“I understand.”

There was no choice. Grid shook his hands that were trembling with tension and soared into the air. First of all, he had to save Kyle from the crisis. ‘King's Negation.’

He used the skill attached to Talsha to make the followers of the Martial God abandon their weapons. He ignored Kyle’s shout that there was no chance of winning, lightly avoided Lee Jeong’s attack with Freely Move, and moved to the center of the martial god followers, creating a tsunami of sword energy.

“......?!”

“......!!”

All 29 of the Martial God followers, including Lee Jeong, were swept up by the tsunami of sword energy and were pulled to Grid’s side. Then he cut all of them.

“Ugh!”

Many of the followers groaned and suffered from a ‘loss of balance.’ In the aftermath of their loss of balance, the progress of their light footwork technique stopped and they fell to the ground one after another.

Wave—it was the moment when the ‘single’ sword dance dominated the battlefield. However, no one thought it was a single sword dance.

“What is this? Is it a new fusion sword dance?”

“Perhaps it is. Not only is the damage factor high, it also caused them to collapse and inflicted abnormal statuses on them... it is a wide area skill that is close to perfection.”

The players who ran nearby to watch the Overgeared Kingdom and empire’s raid on Drasion misunderstood Wave as a fusion sword dance. It was natural. After passing through Chiyou’s Test with the best grades, Grid’s sword dance was strengthened and it was incomparably powerful. He used a single sword dance and exerted a destructive force comparable to conventional fusion sword dances.

“You have definitely become stronger.” Lee Jeong purely felt admiration. The moment the effect of Freely Move ended, Lee Jeong appeared behind Grid and raised his right arm.

“No matter how strong you are, isn’t it arrogant for you to try and deal with me on your own?”

Lee Jeong’s strong fists aimed at Grid’s shoulder, but the person who suffered damage was Lee Jeong, not Grid.

[The effect of Shoulder Guards of the White Tiger with the Protection of the Red Phoenix has ignored the damage.]

[The Shoulder Guards of the White Tiger with the Protection of the Red Phoenix is releasing burning thorns.]

“Keuk?”

Confusion appeared on the face of Lee Jeong who thought he had grasped victory from the moment he took control of Grid’s back. It was absurd that his fists couldn’t even damage Grid’s shoulder guards when it was capable of cutting steel like tofu. It had been blocked and he ended up bleeding due to being stabbed by the thorns.

‘A divine item?’

A high artificial intelligence was sometimes poisonous. Lee Jeong was wary of Grid’s shoulder guards and excluded Grid’s shoulders from being targeted. Every time Grid moved, no matter how big a gap was revealed, he would avoid the shoulders and only attack other body parts. Lee Jeong created his own restraints. His movements became somewhat simpler and Grid’s choices increased.

Lee Jeong had a deep knowledge of martial arts. He had learned hundreds of secret techniques from Martial God Zeratul and used all types of martial arts. Therefore, he had skills that would give him the advantage in any situation. Lee Jeong didn’t have a disadvantage even if he had the penalty of ‘don’t attack the shoulders.’It was safe to say there were few people in the world who could beat Lee Jeong when competing with pure technique. Of course, it was the same for Grid.

'An equal match? No, Grid is being pushed!’

The faces of the players who watched Grid and Lee Jeong fighting in the sky were filled with surprise. They were amazed that Lee Jeong was gradually gaining the upper hand rather than being pushed in an all-out battle against the supreme one, Grid.

In particular, the general public who weren’t rankers felt a greater shock because they didn’t know the identities of the followers of the Martial God. The more wounds that Lee Jeong inflicted on Grid’s body, the higher the reputation of the followers. The identity of the ‘strongest person in the worldview’ in the minds of ordinary people with a low understanding of Satisfy’s world changed from Grid to Lee Jeong.

Just then, Lee Jeong saw a gap in the defenses of Grid’s lower body. He kicked at Grid’s shin only to instantly stiffen. It was due to items once again.

[The effect of Gaiters of the White Tiger supporting Heaven and Earth has ignored the damage.]

[The effect of Gaiters of the White Tiger supporting Heaven and Earth has released thorns.]

“Keuk!” Lee Jeong frowned at the shock and quickly made a judgment. Now he avoided attacking Grid’s lower body as well as his shoulders. He was placing greater restrictions on himself. Thanks to this, Grid’s movements became easier and he could freely move both feet. In order to stop Lee Jeong’s continuous offensive, he started the fusion sword dances he hadn’t been able to use before and the battle between the two of them became more intense.

‘What the hell is he doing?’

A little bit further away from Grid, Kyle looked at Grid while taking down the followers of the Martial God. Kyle couldn’t understand what tricks Grid was using to slow down Lee Jeong’s movements. Therefore, he became even more afraid of Grid.

‘It is impossible to follow Grid’s movements at my level.’

He knew that Grid was stronger than him, but he never expected Grid to surpass the Triad. Kyle’s misunderstanding deepened.

Meanwhile, on the ground...

'The energy of the earth gives life. Soil can be called the most sacred material in the world.’

Piaro was creating a forest in the middle of the battlefield while ignoring the noise around him. He paid attention to the fact that Drasion was vulnerable to the earth attribute. He did his best to turn Drasion’s mistake of hiding in the ground into an opportunity.

‘What I need to do now is make the land more fertile. I will kill Drasion, who is hiding in the ground.’

Piaro’s hand plow moved faster. He was the spitting image of a farmer as he plowed the ground, sowed seeds, water them and transformed the battlefield into a green one.

“Kuack!”

It was around the time when Lee Jeong’s scream was heard from the sky...

“......?!”

Piaro’s hand plow stopped when he sensed the abnormality. The green forest he was working hard on started to turn black. It was the aftermath of the earth being contaminated.

The earth was shaking. A terrible stench came from every direction. Drasion had been hiding underground and polluting the land to overcome his weaknesses. Now he was about to reappear.