“Noll!”

The frightened Overgeared members launched an operation to rescue Noll. They buffed each other to offset the debuffs to some extent and sped through the army of demonic creatures. The leading Vantner was reminiscent of a tank, just like his nickname. It was an amazing performance.

However, it wasn’t enough to attract Baal’s interest. Baal looked at the battlefield with his expressionless face again and muttered, “It is a mess. I will have to clean it up first.”

The hell moon reacted to Baal’s will. Countless eyes rolled and aimed at the humans on the battlefield. The faces of the allied soldiers, who foresaw the bombardment of rays, became contemplative. Tens of thousands of rays poured down like heavy rain. It was a rain of destruction directed at the center of the hundreds of thousands of allied forces.

“H-Hik!”

Fortunately, some soldiers avoided it by abandoning their weapons and shields and running away. There were also many soldiers who couldn’t get up after falling. The demonic creatures they were confronting in front of them, the allies behind them, and the people next to them screamed as they were hit by the rays, so they couldn’t help but panic.

The soldiers who weren’t hit by the rays felt tortured instead. They felt an uncontrollable fear that they would soon be in the same situation.

The hell moon closed its eyes after one bombardment and opened its eyes again. The red, bloodshot eyes were wide open as they aimed at the ground again. At this moment...

“Retreat! All troops, retreat!” A female with blue hair fell down onto the middle of the battlefield. Her armor and shield, covered in the blood of demons, had lost their shine, but the white sword covered with so much blood still shone transparently.

“Hoh.” Baal regained his smile.

The rain of destruction poured out again. Mercedes used a wide-area gravitational field to stop the tens of thousands of rays in the air.

“Hur...ry!” Mercedes gritted her teeth and shouted. In order to maintain the gravity field that covered the huge battlefield, she couldn’t take a single step. She used her slender body to block the tens of thousands of rays. She was thoroughly defenseless and was a good prey for the demons.

The demons, who had been confused by Baal’s appearance, cut through the demonic creatures and ran. They were delighted at the thought of killing a legend for free and jumped happily at her.

“How dare you.”

“Go away! Dirty things!”

Asmophel and Amelda ran in and protected Mercedes. They slaughtered the demons with the momentum of ‘one cavalryman defeats 1,000 enemies.’ They shouted at the panicked soldiers.

“Retreat.”

“This is a command!”

“B-But...”

The soldiers came to their senses after witnessing the spirit of the great knights. They despaired as they overcame their terror to some extent and regained their sense of reason. The moon was visible everywhere in the world. What was the point of running away from here?

“...We will fight as well!”

They would rather choose an honorable death. The soldiers picked up their discarded weapons and shouted. The same was true for the soldiers who were seriously injured in the first bombardment. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers strengthened their determination.

Vantner’s party, who just came back from rescuing Noll, encouraged them.

“Great posture! Let us hunt Baal! Kuhahahat!” Vantner shouted in high spirits because he had something he believed in.

Braham and Kyle, who had retired from the front line to rest, re-joined the battlefield. Moreover, this wasn’t Baal’s main body. There was a chance of winning...

It happened as Vantner’s thoughts reached this point...

Barbatos’ bullet flew and caused Mercedes’ gravity field to shake.

“Cough!” The moment Mercedes coughed up blood and fell, the gravity field was released. The bombardment of the stationary rays resumed.

‘I should run away now.’ Kyle, who was greatly intimidated, put up a barrier of electric currents to protect some of them. He did his best, but the range of the rays was too wide for him to completely block it. He couldn’t do it.

“Kuoock...!”

“Block it! Fight!”

The soldiers’ morale was boosted. They set up shields and wielded their weapons as they prepared to face the incoming rays.

“Tsk.” Braham, who was disappointed that he didn’t get enough rest, was forced to step out. He launched the widest ranged shield and activated Mass Teleport. He protected thousands and displaced thousands.

This was the limit. Tens of thousands of troops collapsed in the heavy rain of rays. Some people fought hard to protect themselves and their colleagues, but most of them were seriously injured and collapsed. The hell moon was preparing for the next bombardment.

“Ahh...” The morale they were trying their best to raise fell in an uncontrollable manner. It wasn’t only the soldiers who were frustrated, but the players as well. The commanders were speechless and the number of Overgeared members was too small.

Flash!

The hell moon shone again. Just then, 30 God Hands appeared and lined up at intervals of five meters. It was the emergence of Overgeared God Grid that the world had been looking forward to. It was shabby. The number of God Hands was too low and they were too small compared to the number of rays pouring down like heavy rain. They arranged themselves like they were guarding the allied forces, but the range of their influence was too narrow.

-30 God Hands is crazy;;;

-Wow, it’s amazing ᄏᄏ It seems they can block 100 rays ᄏᄏ

-No, isn’t this game too abrupt? Is it telling us to quit or what? Shooting tens of thousands of rays like that??

-Is the S.A Group going to release a new game? They are releasing the apocalypse in Satisfy to bring people into the new work.

-It doesn’t make sense unless Lim Cheolho is old and senile.

-Aren’t the S.A shares going to fall?

ᄂHow can they fail when they are monopolizing virtual reality technology?

-Lim Cheolho is old and senile.

There was only despair. The people on the battlefield and all those watching were skeptical of the current situation. Grid was the hope of thousands of people, but his presence became weak in front of the 1st Great Demon. It happened as the baptism of rays gradually got closer to the ground and the commentators around the world lost their rationality and started to scream...

[A new update has been applied.]

A world message appeared. It was a notice announcing an ‘update,’ a thing that hadn’t been seen ever since the launch of Satisfy. Viewers around the world were relieved when streamers and reporters at the scene rushed to announce the news. It was a relief that the S.A Group had come to their senses, even if it was late. The shareholders had led Satisfy back on the right path.

『 There is a possibility that the great human and demon war itself would’ve never happened... 』

Streamers and experts started to make pretty extreme but hopeful observations. They got a positive response from the public. The world realized that the difficulty of the great human and demon war had gone greatly wrong. There were many who wanted to make it so that this hadn’t happened. The first update notice that occurred was enough to give people hope.

It was exquisite timing. It emerged as the situation was flowing in an uncontrollable direction. People’s expectations rose as the announcements continued.

[This is an uninspected update. The changes will take effect immediately.]

[Updating the contents.]

[Added a theme song for the player ‘Grid.’]

“......?”

『......? 』

-......?

The article published in the past by the S.A Group crossed people’s minds. It was just... why do this now?

Question marks appeared over people’s heads. A number of people complained for cider after feeling stuffy like they had eaten one million sweet potatoes. [1]

It was such a difficult situation to understand. In any case, time was passing. The war was still continuing.

[Overgeared God Grid has appeared.]

A violin melody permeated the battlefield. There was a crumbling melody of ice that announced the arrival of the cold and loneliness. This was an introduction suitable for the battlefield that had lost hope. An epic expressing the cold and harsh winter seemed to unfold. Then with the unexpected addition of the piano melody, it started to reverse. The opening track that announced Grid’s emergence, ‘Appearance,’ marked the end of winter, not winter. The magnificent orchestra stirred the gray battlefield and made the cold hearts of people beat again.

Hundreds of Magic Missiles launched by the 30 God Hands using Spray collided with the baptism of rays. It didn’t have much effect, but the visual effects were great. It was enough to make the allied soldiers overcome their fear and frustration, and cheer. The real power was something separate.

Flash!

Just before the tens of thousands of rays struck the allied soldiers, the 30 God Hands transformed into Raiders. They became a barrier in itself and blocked the baptism of rays with their bodies. The rays that slipped through the gaps were struck by huge spears reminiscent of temple pillars.

"Ahat! Puhahahat!” Baal burst out laughing. The hell moon he had his back to squeezed out rays from the eyes that started to shed bloody tears because it couldn’t turn red. It was meaningless. Attacks that were just large in size weren’t good against Grid.

“200,000 Army Crushing Sword.” The sword light that had a range comparable to the rays cut through the sky. A single attack didn’t destroy the rays, but it reached Baal who was standing beyond them.

“What? It is great!” Baal leaned back to avoid the attack and his laughter grew even louder.

Grid lost 50% of his health in exchange for crushing the tens of thousands of skills, but he didn’t show any pain. He used Storm of the Fire God to generate all types of effects. Then he quickly restored his health by drinking potions. The hell moon kept firing the rays. This time, the bombardment was fast, as if taunting Grid to cut it down again. Grid responded immediately.

[The Red Phoenix’s 9th Heart has resonated with the red phoenix in the east.]

[The willpower of the red phoenix has descended.]

A rain of fire fell. It was a miraculous rain that burned the incoming rays and the demonic creatures on the ground, while greatly restoring the wounds and physical strength of the allies. Red blood exploded like lava in the tens of thousands of eyes on the hell moon.

“Kuahahahat!” Baal grabbed his stomach and kept laughing. The hell moon barely fixed its dizzily convulsing eyes and violently shot out light. The number was noticeably reduced. There were only thousands of rays, not tens of thousands. There was no need for Grid to step up. The magic of Braham and the magicians, the swordsmanship of Asmophel and the knights, and the skills of thousands of players eliminated the light rays.

“......”

The battlefield fell silent. It was a silence brought about by the destroyed army of demonic creatures and the closed eyes of the hell moon. Only the Storm of the Fire God that filled the battlefield showed its existence. The allied soldiers had their wounds healed by the storm and were given an unbreaking willpower from Grid.

They couldn’t easily accept the rapidly changing situation and stared blankly before belatedly coming to their senses and cheering, “Waaaaaaaaah!”

[The worship of all people has increased deity by 1.]

Only one person—one person dominated the war. It was the majesty of a god.

Just in time, the second track, ‘Influence,’ played and excited the viewers. The energetic melody made their blood boil.

The bloody battle against the great demons that started with Belial, the swift battle with Kraugel during Kraugel’s time as sky above the sky, the Demon King’s Subjugation where he slaughtered hundreds of rankers, the Vatican incident where he tore off the wings of an archangel and extinguished the soul, etcetera—the battle scenes that Grid showed them naturally came to mind as they listened to the music.

“......”

Grid floated in the sky where the moon was asleep and was unable to descend to the ground. He didn’t want his red face to be seen.

‘What is this music?’

Of course, he was glad. He was thrilled. It was a theme song for him. He felt like he was rewarded for his past hard work. However, there were a lot of worries. If there was such a magnificent background sound every time he did something in the future... didn’t it mean that he would have to watch his weight 24 hours a day?

1. Sweet potato is slang in South Korea to express a person's frustration or impatience with a situation. They use this because it is similar to what you might feel when eating sweet potatoes without any beverages. Cider means a soft drink like Sprite and it is often used together with sweet potator. If you are feeling frustrated or stuffy, you drink cider and feel refreshed and happy.