Overgeared

Braham’s consciousness was deeply submerged as the darkness filling his vision deepened. His thoughts expanded infinitely. It came from beyond the Abyss and reached the point where he could feel and interpret the original ideas that erupted like lava. 

‘It is painful.’ 

‘Why do we have to suffer like this?’ 

'I haven’t committed any sins!' 

‘How come it doesn’t end even when I die? Someone kill me again... completely extinguish me...’ 

‘I curse you. I curse this world!’ 

The voices of numerous vengeful spirits caused a chill to go down Braham’s spine. Even though he hated the fate of his blood kin dying of illness and Marie Rose all his life, he couldn’t measure the anger and pain of the souls. It was that deep. 

Braham thought of his mother. Why was she expelled from hell even though she was third in the absolute hierarchy? He was told it was because she tried to reform hell. The exact content was vague. His mother’s willpower made some memories blurred. The basis was so few that he could only guess in several ways. 

What exactly happened? Why did the rulers of hell banish his mother and even joined forces with Rebecca to inflict the Curse of Sloth on her? The answer—

‘Don’t tell me...’ 

It suddenly came to Braham’s mind at this moment. The hypothesis that was completed based on the voices of the vengeful spirits penetrated his mind like a thunderbolt. 

‘Was hell originally very different from now?’ 

It was known that after death, they either ascended to heaven or fell to hell. Those who had accumulated virtue in their lifetime would go to heaven, while those who had committed crimes would go to hell. However, many of the vengeful spirits were shouting that they hadn’t sinned. They cursed the world and questioned why they should be here. 

‘They are out of their minds.’ 

Braham’s expression crumpled up like a sheet of paper. 

A terrifying thought came to his mind and he trembled. The proud son of the great Beriache, the apostle of Overgeared God Grid, and the strongest magician in history was frightened. It was due to reflecting on the principle of the birth of angels. 

Angels were made from the souls of those who had proven their abilities during their lifetime, i.e. very few chosen beings. The actions of the number one archangel and Mir’s remark proved this fact. Only those who became angels could ascend to heaven. 

Then what about the rest who didn’t qualify to be angels? Where did all the lives who were dying at this moment go after death? If all of them fell to hell... 

‘Hell shouldn’t be in its current form.’ 

This was why he could guess that the original appearance of hell was different from the current one. It was likely that hell was a world made to shelter the dead, not punish the dead. The river of reincarnation flowing through hell supported this hypothesis. The river of reincarnation was a system that existed to bring salvation to the dead. 

Yet Baal distorted hell. The river of reincarnation turned into the possession of demons, not the rights of the dead. His mother was expelled to the surface after struggling to bring back such a world... 

Braham’s thoughts went up to here and he lost his composure. Anger and fear rose endlessly as he discerned the feelings of the wronged souls and his mother’s position. 

“Cough!” There was a backlash in his mana due to the agitation in his mind. The pain of his heart tearing apart caused Braham to convulse. His mana scattered and his flying magic was forcibly lifted. Braham’s body, drooping like a broken doll, fell at the speed of light. Braham blankly imagined his end of crashing into the floor of the Abyss and having his brain leak out. There was no motivation. 

Yatan, the creator of hell—perhaps he had been watching the world with some sympathy after gaining the ‘stigma’ of the evil god. Was there no way to get away from Rebecca’s slander? Was there any hope for them when the present world could even suppress an absolute god like Yatan? 

‘In the first place, it was something Mother failed at.’ 

All that awaited them in the future was despair. They would eventually die one day, fall to hell, and come to a position where they could only produce meaningless ideas... 

“......”

How much time had passed? 

Braham, who was falling silently toward the end of the endless pit, suddenly felt a certain gaze. Beyond the abyss, an eye was lurking. It was like seeing a planet floating alone in space. The eye was that huge. 

““It... hurts...””

Thousands or tens of thousands of voices echoed. Braham belatedly noticed why the eye was red. Demon God Sitri—he was now crying in the form of countless resentments and desires created due to the principles of hell. He was shedding tears of blood. 

“”Ahh...””

The red planet disappeared. The demon god closed his eye, and a black hole appeared in the universe. It was a huge mouth. It was the mouth of the demon god, who would soon swallow the falling Braham. 

“......”

Braham didn’t resist. He lost all motivation and only waited for the moment when his descent stopped and he would be eaten. In any case, he was just bringing forward the destiny that would surely come someday... He felt at ease when he thought like this. At this moment— 

‘I believe that you will come back safely.’ A familiar voice was heard. No, it was a thought, not a voice. Grid’s faith and wish was clearly conveyed to Braham. It was a rapport caused by their bond. 

“...Kukuk.” A laugh leaked from Braham’s tightly closed lips. His red eyes flashed and his falling body immediately stopped. He embodied magic through blood instead of his scattered mana. 

Blood magic—it was Braham’s innate power. It was a power he never thought he would get back, yet he got it back. Marie Rose handed it to him. It was one of the miracles that Grid created. Braham looked back on his journey with Grid. 

Resurrection—he drifted in a soul state and returned to his body. 

Transcendence—the magic that reached the peak was developed once more. 

Revival—he regained the blood and power he had lost. 

He experienced many miracles during the not-so-long journey. Impossibility? He never experienced this when he was with Grid. 

Braham once again reflected on his destiny. The destiny to fall to hell and become part of the demon god. The destiny to die and become an angel that was Rebecca’s puppet. Just a little while ago, he was at a crossroad where only two paths could be seen, but at this moment, a new road appeared.

A blurred picture of destroying Baal and Rebecca formed in his head. It was a completely different picture from the destiny this crazy world forced on him. 

“I am certain,” the mana around Braham turned red as he slowly opened his mouth. 

It was a phenomenon that occurred due to the damage of his mana core being replaced by blood. The color was very clear. It was a level that briefly got rid of the darkness of the Abyss. Demon God Sitri’s large and ugly figure was carefully projected onto Braham’s eyes. 

“Your suffering won’t be eternal.” 

It was a statement, not an attempt at comfort. His tone was blunt. Rather than any consideration, it was just at the level of conveying the facts. Nevertheless—

“”Ah... Ahhhhh...”” 

Many of the vengeful spirits that made up Sitri were comforted. The demon god closed the mouth he had opened to quench the thirst caused by resentment and slowly retreated beyond the Abyss. 

[The apostle of the Overgeared God, ‘Braham,’ has prevented the emergence of the demon god.] 

[The demonic creatures, who were running wild due to the emergence of the demon god, have lost their momentum and are weakened.] 

[The Abyss has temporarily entered a lull.] 

***

The amount of experience required to level up increased as the level increased. The higher the level, the slower the growth. However, Chris’ leveling speed was accelerating. The level difference with the demonic creatures was narrowing. 

‘The level difference is so large that the experience penalty is being slightly mitigated.’

Chris calculated as he broke through level 90. 

‘If this trend continues, I’ll recover to level 200 in no time.’ 

Considering the average level of the demonic creatures, he would have to be at least level 300 before he received the full experience points. On the other hand, the required experience to level up increased significantly at level 200. Unfortunately, the pace of growth would slow from then on. Of course, that was just when compared to the present. 

Chris surprisingly judged that he could re-enter the top rankings in the near future. The abilities of his new class were so outstanding. 

A legendary class—it was the ultimate of hidden classes and there were separate means of obtaining additional stats. The skills were also very powerful. There were fewer types of unlocked skills due to his low level, but they all had high coefficients and were of high quality. Chris particularly paid attention to his passive skills. 

First of all, Tzudan’s Weapon Technique. This was a skill that was highly compatible with Weapon Mastery. His damage, attack speed, and hit rate would significantly increase when equipped with any type of weapon. It wasn’t an exaggeration to describe it as a skill for Chris because the effect was maximized when using a greatsword. 

However, the key was a passive skill called ‘Five Steps.’ This was a skill that doubled the power of the next attack after taking five steps. This effect applied to all normal attacks and skills, but there was no cooldown time. It was applied unconditionally no matter what direction he stepped in. It also included walking in place. Considering that the skill level was still 1, the potential was guaranteed. It was the signature skill that symbolized Tzudan’s Successor. 

‘The key is to make good use of this.’ 

There was a stride suggested by the system. It was an effect that always occurred during battle. Footprint-shaped lights would randomly emerge within a radius of 10 meters. If he succeeded in stepping on these lights five times in a row, the damage of the attack after the Five Steps was applied as true damage. This meant it thoroughly neutralized all damage reduction factors such as the target’s defense, various tolerances, resistances, etc. 

However, this was pretty difficult. The positions of all the strides presented by the system weren’t good. It was almost at the level of pushing his limbs, so it even felt malicious. 

‘Even so, I’ll do it.’ 

Ultimately, he had to follow the strides that the system presented. Only then could he maximize the power of this class that Grid gifted to him. In the wake of this incident, he felt the expectations that Grid had for him. The desire to meet these expectations naturally sprang up. 

Chris chased after the lights. He used Tyrant’s Path to break through the limits of his limbs and generated true damage. The head of a demonic creature flew away in one blow. 

Tzudan’s soul was watching all of this. 

[Tzudan is appalled. He is embarrassed and is saying he doesn’t know why his successor is trying to recreate his ending. He insists on stopping that suicide.] 

“......” Grid didn’t know the exact circumstances and considered it something not worth arguing about. In any case, it was rewarding to observe Chris growing at a steep pace in real time. 

‘At this point, Chris will be feeling sorry.’ 

He wondered if Chris would be disappointed looking at the invoice that only asked for 100 billion. Would it ease the burden if he raised the price significantly? Grid was feeling seriously troubled when a world message appeared. 

[The apostle of the Overgeared God, ‘Braham,’ has prevented the emergence of the demon god.] 

[The demonic creatures, who were running wild due to the emergence of the demon god, have lost their momentum and are weakened.] 

[The Abyss has temporarily entered a lull.] 

“Ah...” Chris sighed while everyone else was cheering. It was also a problem when his colleagues were too competent.