Overgeared

Chapter 1639

“Hoo, hah.”

“……?”

It was early in the morning…

Youngwoo arrived at the promenade and was dumbfounded. Jishuka was floundering around. She took deep breaths and slowly swung her arms around. It resembled the Tai Chi moves in movies that Youngwoo enjoyed as a child. She had good proportions and was pretty, so she looked good no matter what she did.

Jishuka explained to the engrossed Youngwoo, “It is good for increasing concentration.”

It was surprisingly difficult to release the action slowly. It required higher concentration and patience than when moving fast.

Youngwoo nodded as he remembered a story he once heard.

‘I heard that the difficulty of the new skill she learned is very high. Is this why?’

He had watched the video recorded by his younger sister, Sehee, several times. Now Jishuka’s arrows didn’t need to be aimed at the target. She shot at the innocent ground or walls and it repeatedly bounced off and bent at strange angles before reaching the target. The demons collapsed with an incredulous look as they looked down at the arrows stuck in their necks.

Jishuka’s arrows had a stealth effect and evolved into a more unpredictable weapon. However, he heard it was very difficult to use because it wasn’t easy to calculate the trajectory even from the perspective of shooting arrows.

“Hmm… Should I try it too?” Youngwoo had never skipped stretching before he started his jogs. It was always with Jishuka, but now Jishuka was doing Tai Chi instead of stretching. Youngwoo always wanted to do the same thing.

Jishuka laughed.

“I knew this would be the case, so I prepared it.”

A holographic image emerged from Jishuka’s watch. It was a Tai Chi video. This was a video that Hao had taken and sent to her. Hao was the heir to a prestigious Chinese martial arts family and he practiced the peak of Tai Chi. Every move was accompanied by a detailed explanation to help with understanding.

Wouldn’t the value of this video be worth billions if converted to money? It was to the extent where it was a perfect textbook. However, Youngwoo’s expression was very uncomfortable. “Did you contact Hao separately?”

“Huh? It is natural. We are friends.”

In the absence of Youngwoo, the alliance of the Overgeared Guild and Hao had been repeated several times. It would be a problem if they didn’t become friends. It was just that Youngwoo’s reaction was uneasy.

“Friends…? Friends… can a man and a woman be friends?”

Youngwoo repeated the word ‘friend’ several times before asking with a serious expression. He was trying not to express his feelings, but his stiff eyes showed his unpleasant emotions. If Jishuka had been an ordinary woman, she would’ve felt a great deal of anger. He had two lovers in reality and three wives in the game, but he was doubting her friend?

Nevertheless, Jishuka wasn’t angry. Rather, she blushed with a relaxed expression and her fingers twitched. “It is right that we are friends, but… Hmm, you don’t want me to get in touch with a man?”

“Yes.”

“W-Well, I will do as you say.”

Jishuka unexpectedly liked being restrained.

***

“What? Grid is a martial artist?”

“Yes! It is completely right!”

In hell…

Jishuka’s eyes shone as she told her colleagues about what happened this morning. The content was very interesting. Grid only watched the Tai Chi video twice before mastering it perfectly. It was even in reality. Jishuka was so surprised that her eyes popped out when she heard Hao’s video rated it as a 100% synchronization rate. Anyone would be surprised if this story was true.

Of course, the fact that their experience in Satisfy was also reflected in reality was scientifically proven. She had just never heard of a person becoming a complete genius like Grid.

“It is a bit of an exaggeration… isn’t this too much?”

“It isn’t an exaggeration. I’m just saying it as it is.”

“Then Grid must’ve been learning Tai Chi on his own. He is very interested in working out.”

“I-Is that so?”

Certainly, this was more realistic. Grid did many things that required concentration, so it wasn’t straight for him to learn Tai Chi.

‘He only got a 53% synchronization rate the first time he followed it.’

Was he playing a prank on purpose?

‘He is mischievous. So cute.’

Her colleagues turned away from Jishuka, who was smiling. The horizon was turning dark. A new swarm of demonic creatures was coming.

***

‘Hao is great.’

He felt it the entire time he was watching the video and learning Tai Chi. The few words of explanation that followed the slow implementation of the action were very kind. It seemed to be approaching the spirit of educating dogs and monkeys. Even Grid could easily understand it despite having no aptitude for learning. Grid was able to learn it in less than one hour because of the explanation added to the easy to unravel movement.

Grid’s left hand moved. It was an action that neutralized the attack of a monster that ambushed him in an untimely manner. The swift attack was gently grabbed and deflected. The technique of reality was implemented in Satisfy.

It wasn’t anything special. One example was professional boxers practicing boxing in Satisfy. Hao also performed dozens of martial arts. Of course, it didn’t have a significant effect. It wasn’t judged as ‘skill,’ so it was just a basic attack with a rather complicated path.

However, Grid had transcendent stats. The technique used with his maximum strength and speed was close to a skill in itself.

‘It is pretty useful to beat opponents who are weaker than me.’

The need to consume resources such as skills and mana had disappeared. Of course, it was too much to evaluate it as a big improvement. It was because the level of the enemies that Grid faced was too high. Such tricks wouldn’t work against them. In practice, this was virtually meaningless.

Nevertheless, Grid had hope. The emotion he felt after mastering Tai Chi this morning still filled his heart.

‘Let’s apply this to the God Hands.’

The disadvantages of the God Hands were clear. They were slow. They didn’t exert a proper effect against transcendents, let alone absolutes. It was hard to reach them even when swinging the swords for a long time. This didn’t mean that the value of the God Hands was undermined.

Currently, the God Hands were used as the framework for the artificial senses. Grid could face the Absolutes thanks to the silver thread of the God Hands warning him of danger. He was satisfied enough, but he couldn’t be satisfied any longer. It was necessary to make a large amount of God Hands in order to increase the effectiveness of the Sanctuary of Metal. He had a lot of God Hands left after spreading out the artificial senses, so he had been worrying about how to use them. Then he learned Tai Chi today.

‘The aesthetics of slowness. I will surely see great results if I apply the principles of Tai Chi to the movements of the God Hands.’

In fact, Tai Chi was the inner fist method that trained the essence, vital energy, and spirit. In the modern world, it was dismissed as health gymnastics that trained the five viscera and six entrails. Even so, Satisfy was different from reality. As Grid had just shown, here he was able to use Tai Chi as real martial arts. His stats made it happen. This meant he could maximize the theory of Tai Chi and suppress movement with stillness.

‘Here.’

Grid came to the hunting ground after a long time, closed his eyes and focused. First of all, he controlled one God Hand directly. It moved slowly without any urgency. It flowed naturally like water and led to the suppression of the artificial flow.

Sweat formed on Grid’s forehead. The God Hands were basically a weapon moved through his willpower. It meant he had to control it with his conscious mind without touching it. He had been using the God Hands for more than 10 years and mastered the control, but that didn’t make it easy. It was even harder to move slowly. It wasn’t easy to direct the movements of Tai Chi in detail and control the speed compared to simply telling them ‘what to do.’

“I’m hungry.”

It was around the time when the stamina of Randy on the sidelines was depleted.

“Gasp… Gasp…”

Grid was barely able to move one God Hand at will. Just then, a large monster roared and rushed in. It was the field boss. Grid restrained Randy and controlled the God Hand. The God Hand gently suppressed the swinging front paws of the boss that was faster and more powerful than itself. The wrist was grabbed and broken to stop the boss’ charge.

“Kill it.”

Grid smiled with satisfaction, but it was still too early to be pleased. Right now, he could only control one God Hand. He didn’t know how long it would take to control dozens or hundreds of God Hands at the same time.

‘…It isn’t a superpower. Realistically, controlling dozens of them is impossible.’

Wouldn’t it be enough to just control 10 at a time? In the eyes of others, even 10 might seem like a superpower. In any case, Grid lowered his target and started moving two God Hands at the same time. He failed several times and allowed the boss to reach him, but it wasn’t a problem.

Grr…?

Grid was currently armed with four dragon armors. With the set effect, the probability of Absolute Defense activating when hit was as high as 80%. This meant most of the enemy’s attacks were nullified. Instead, the one who was hitting him was tired.

A few days later, Grid could control a total of four God Hands. The sight of the God Hands moving in a slow, circular motion while shedding the threats to Grid was overwhelming.

“It is amazing.”

“The difficulty is different from the fifth one… Huh?” Grid was stroking the head of the admiring Noe when his expression stiffened.

[The 32nd Great Demon, ‘Rose,’ has appeared on the surface.]

Rose—it was a familiar name to Grid. A Yatan Servant who had committed many evil deeds. At one time, Grid had hated her. Now he didn’t even feel dislike, let alone hatred. On the contrary, he felt a bit of sympathy for her.

It was because in the aftermath of becoming a great demon, it was discovered that there were penalties such as the inability to trade items, inability to use stores, inability to build up affinity with NPCs, and inability to exchange whispers or other correspondence.

He didn’t know if she had won any victories since gaining a lot of strength, but a great demon in the 30s in this world… they were treated like nothing. They were just good prey for high rankers. She repeatedly lost every time she met the Overgeared Guild, so it was amazing she hadn’t quit the game.

‘What courage did she use to climb to the surface?’

Judging by the fact that a world message popped up, she must’ve been witnessed by a large number of players. He was a bit worried about what accident she would cause when appearing in a crowded place.

It happened the moment Grid pulled out a return scroll…

[The 32nd Great Demon has declared.]

[“I’ll go back soon after finishing my work. Sorry…”]

“……”

***

Rose got the first solo advent event since becoming a great demon. She didn’t like the assignment very much, but she was naturally going to do her best. It was a mission where she just needed to get a sheet of paper and a pen. The content was trivial, but in any case, it was a hidden quest. She expected the rewards to be surprisingly good. It was a mission given to her by Amoract. It could be an opportunity to get a hidden piece related to the three evils of the beginning.

She was determined to succeed. She raised her level as much as possible over the past week before finally making her way to the surface. That was when she discovered the fact that her emergence appeared as a world message.

[Declare to the insignificant beings of the surface.]

It was even asking her to declare something?

‘This is crazy.’

Rose had no choice. She didn’t want to fail the quest when all it took was to obtain a sheet of paper and a pen. She spoke as politely as possible that she would go right back without causing any trouble. She was sorry to bother them.

“What is she up to?”

…It was useless. It was bad from the place where she appeared. The faces of the players who appeared through the bushes were amazing. This was a top hunting ground used by rankers.

Rose was stunned by the stinging gazes and slowly stepped back.

‘Paper! All I have to do is get a sheet of paper and a pen! Don’t waste time here. Just steal from a small town!’

As expected of an evil being. In this tense situation, Rose planned an evil deed very naturally. She showed no mercy as she attacked the rankers. She released flames and got away from the pursuers. She moved as far as possible to the outskirts. She passed quietly by cities and searched for a sparsely populated village. In the village she finally ended up at—

“…Eh?” She saw a man with green hair.

Agnus—he was treated as a broken toy by Baal and discarded. She thought he would quit the game. So why was he doing the laundry with the women in this village?

“What are you looking at? Aren’t you getting lost?” Agnus brushed his wet hands through his hair as he spoke. His left hand contained a wooden stick. It was a stick that was used to beat the laundry just now. It was normal that he didn’t pose a threat to a great demon.

Even so, Rose felt an eerie panic. She imagined that this stick was covered with her own blood. It was inevitable. Agnus was the strongest necromancer before he was Baal’s Contractor. He was also one of the few people who had the power of both a rune and the seven malignant saints. He wasn’t easy to handle even if he was discarded.

‘Of course, I won’t lose.’

Rose calmed her heart and smiled. “N-Nice to meet you. I am glad to meet you by chance. That—there are many stories I want to exchange with you, but I am a bit busy right now. I’ll finish my urgent work first and come back to greet you later.”

“Trash.”

“…Huh?” Rose doubted her ears. She had been resented by many people, but she rarely heard profanity in her presence. She was flustered and speechless for a moment.

Agnus’ cold, golden eyes flashed. “Get lost.”

Hell, Baal, demons, and regret…

Dirty memories ignited Agnus’ anger. The bone spear he threw penetrated Rose’s abdomen. In fact, this was a simple optical illusion. The actual bone spear brushed past Rose’s side and struck her shadow.

Rose’s shadow let out a scream and roared loudly. It wriggled like clay and gradually took shape. The bewildered Rose looked back and saw Baal’s familiar there. “What? This…!”

Was it possible that Baal was interested in her? Was she being scouted?

Rose was someone who felt great joy even in an urgent situation…

In the end, Agnus told her cheering self to shut up and stretched out his hand to the air. He caught a sword made of bones that flew to him. It was a sword made from his own ribs.