Overgeared

‘Poor little lamb (Agnus).’

From a mansion near the square, Lauel took advantage of the chaos and quickly sneaked into the square to watch. Lauel was happy and pleased because Agnus had shown the ideal response. He lost control over his reason and entrusted himself to madness, cutting off his connection with the Overgeared Kingdom by attacking Euphemina and Bullet. Agnus also declared that he would be hostile to the people (players) in the square and the seven kingdoms. He would slaughter all of them, even if he died a hundred times in the process. Refusing the hand of salvation held out by the Overgeared Kingdom, he was reborn as the strongest disaster to the potential enemies of the Overgeared Kingdom.

‘His level of quality is next to Grid and Faker.’

Lauel smiled and sent a whisper of retreat to Euphemina and Bullet. Bullet wanted to convince Agnus a bit more, but Lauel pretended not to know. Everything he did was for the Overgeared Kingdom, and Lauel was willing to trample on the thoughts of others. To others, Lauel might be a villain. The concept of conscience was extravagant for him, who carried tens of millions of lives on his back.

“...It’s a hard life,” Lauel said quietly as he became full of emotion. He mourned for the crushed Agnus and recalled the first time he met Grid.

‘Leave everything to me. You just have to do what you want.’

Lauel didn’t forget that Grid had reached this point because of Lauel’s oath at the time. Even if someone pointed a finger at him... Even if someone shed tears of blood because of him...

‘I’m just doing my best for Grid and the Overgeared Kingdom.’

*** 

『 Agnus’ evil deed of indiscriminately slaughtering players is starting to emerge. Agnus will be more isolated in the wake of yesterday’s incident... 』 This was playing on the TV.

[(Column) The one-sided courtship of the Overgeared Guild.]

[Were they nervous that the truce with the empire is coming to an end?

The Overgeared Guild tried to get Agnus to join them. The method they chose was the predictable and common cliche of salvation. Just before Agnus was executed by the guillotine, Euphemina emerged like a hero and claimed that Agnus was falsely accused.

It was a terrible failure. The observers ignored the witness testimony Euphemina presented. Then Agnus broke free of his shackles and attacked Euphemina. Like a toothless lion who is starving to death yet doesn’t want to drink another animal’s milk, Agnus poured out magic toward the Overgeared Guild’s useless salvation. The raging beast ran wild for over an hour...]

Stories about Agnus were everywhere in the newspaper.

“Crazy bastard!”

It was early in the morning. Youngwoo returned from his jog and crumpled up the newspaper after reading it. He wasn’t angry that the Overgeared Guild was embarrassed. Rather, he was furious that his colleagues’ kindness and thoughts had been trampled on.

“That son of a bitch dares to attack Euphemina...! Bullet!”

Euphemina had wandered all over the continent in order to copy skills. She was forced to waste time because of her class characteristics. Still, Youngwoo had been considerate toward her and had not taken away her time even though she was one of the strongest powers of the guild. This precious power had gone to the distant Glaucian Kigndom to help Agnus. Yet Agnus refused her help and even attacked her. He even trampled on Bullet, his former colleague. Agnus’ attacks and the baffled expressions on Euphemina’s and Bullet’s faces couldn’t be erased from Youngwoo’s mind. Youngwoo couldn’t forgive Agnus for ignoring their favor.

“Why is he really living like that?”

Youngwoo had hated Agnus since the first moment they met. Every time he heard and saw Agnus’ speech and behavior which were distorted by a lack of self-esteem, Youngwoo felt frustrated and angry.

‘He is worse than the old me!’

It was a baseless confidence! Youngwoo showered in cold water to calm his mind and then immediately logged into Satisfy. He had a mountain of work to do today.

*** 

The crazy combat power of a madman...

The video of Agnus fighting alone in the midst of enemy territory became a hot topic. First, the scene was impressive. Agnus blew away the executioner with magic and turned him into a skeleton soldier. Then he flew forward while blocking dozens of arrows with the skeleton soldiers. Everything was perfect, from the speed at which he summoned the undead to his insight and ability to control the undead.

During the one hour battle, Agnus killed his enemies, made them into shields, and swung them as weapons, leading to his advantage. It was the ultimate area that necromancers pursued. Agnus had already reached it.

“Controlling dozens of undead like that. I wonder if it is possible for a human. Even Kraugel had a hard time controlling a few swords...”

“I agree. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it. His concentration must be enormous since he maintained the best judgment throughout the battle.”

“Isn’t it like the Savant Syndrome? You know, a genius who is born with impaired brain function.”

“Oh? That sounds quite plausible?”

“By the way, isn’t it known that the higher the dominance stat, the more undead that can be controlled? Then will Agnus become much stronger in the future?”

“Maybe he can grow on par with Grid...”

The members of the Overgeared Guild were gathered and talking about Agnus in a common room on the first floor of the palace. They admired Agnus’ skill that was different from ordinary people. Grid was very unhappy when he walked through the corridor and overheard their conversation.

‘What’s so great about him?’

Then Toban’s voice rang out, “No matter how great Agnus is, he can’t compare to Grid. Grid can kill his enemies in one blow. It is frustrating to see Agnus fighting while summoning skeletons.”

“To tell the truth... Grid will sweep them up in one blow, no matter how many undead Agnus has.” 

“Huhuhut.”

That’s it. Grid was much better than Agnus.

...No matter what kingdom, it would be impossible to wipe out Agnus’ undead army in one blow.

‘Well, whatever.’ Grid was in a good mood after hearing his colleagues’ conversation. He hummed as he moved toward the smithy.

***

Ttang! Ttang! Ttang!

Grid hunted while occasionally returning to Reinhardt. Normally, there was no need to explain why he returned from the hunt. Whenever he hunted, items such as potions would reduce in number or the durability of his items would fall. Thus, it was necessary to return to a village. 

This time though, Grid returned for a special reason. Thanks to his blood-sucking ability and his pets, he could hunt without potions. He could also repair his items himself, meaning he had returned for another reason. It was to repair someone else’s item. That item was naturally… the helmet with ether. It was the ‘eye’ of the evil eyes' king.

Ttang! Ttang! Ttang!

Grid hammered with all his heart while a little boy crouched beside him. The cute little boy spoke with closed eyes, “My only king, who has captivated my heart with the generosity of the universe... I can’t raise my head every time I trouble you.” Very few people could stay beside the Overgeared King while he was absorbed in his work. Grid wasn’t aware of it himself, but even the Overgeared members didn’t come near him when he was concentrating. 

In other words, the little boy sitting next to Grid was either a very special person or an idiot who didn’t notice such things. This time, it was the former.

“You don’t need to be burdened. I’m sorry that I’m not a greater help to you.”

The identity of the child was the evil eyes' king. He was the owner of the evil eyes who only at least a legend can afford. No one could deal with the evil eyes' king easily, just like they couldn’t deal with Grid easily. Ordinary people couldn’t imagine that the world-class talents would be sitting next to each other in a smithy.

“My king, do you remember?” The cute evil eyes' king tried to speak solemnly. When he heard the voice of the evil eyes’ king which was more serious than usual, Grid raised his head. “What?”

“I have the ability to plant an evil eye in others.”

“...!”

It finally came! Grid thought of the first day he met the evil eyes' king. The king said he had the ability to implant an evil eye in others. These words had aroused Grid’s blind goodwill.

That’s right. It was why Grid did his best for the evil eyes' king. Grid sought the power of the evil eye, so he tried to attain maximum affinity with the evil eyes' king. Finally, the time had come.

“I-I remember. Why? Do you want to implant an evil eye in me?”

“I have been thinking about it since the day I pledged to serve you. However, you know that the evil eye is also a curse.”

“...”

It was why Grid didn’t cling to the evil eye heavily. A curse...

Yes, the evil eye’s power to exercise its ability by simply looking at the target could be dangerous.

“The faces of your loved ones can’t be seen with both eyes. You might unintentionally harm your colleagues. One eye must always be sealed. I can’t bear to plant an evil eye when it will give you loneliness and discomfort.”

The king had been suffering his whole life because of his evil eyes. He didn’t want to burden Grid with an evil eye. Even so, he brought up the story of the evil eyes because it was the only thing he could do for Grid. It was true that the evil eye was powerful even if it was a curse.

“Um...” Grid thought carefully. He didn’t make a hasty decision, just like when he agonized over whether it was right to consume two slots of the creation skill for the Overgeared Skeletons. After a long time, Grid handed the repaired ether helmet to the evil eyes' king and asked, “How many types of evil eyes are there? Can I choose the evil eye I want?” 

There were evil eyes that froze the target they looked at and those that didn’t deal physical damage and caused obedience. If Grid could choose an evil eye, the risk of the transplant would be greatly reduced. The evil eyes' king replied, “I don’t even know how many types of evil eyes there are. Additionally, the evil eye is a force closely related to the nature of the person it is implanted in. Thus, it is pointless to instill a certain evil eye in you. You will be reborn with a power suitable for you once the evil eye is assimilated with you.”

In other words—

‘It’s random?’

Grid’s headache became more painful. He thought it would be dangerous to have an evil eye when there wasn’t any ether to be used.

“If I’m unlucky, I might have to wear an eyepatch all the time...’

Grid had long favored the Slaughterer’s Eye Patch. He was aware of the inconvenience of having one side of his vision covered...

‘...Wait, there’s none?’

[Slaughterer’s Eye Patch]

[Rating: Unique

Durability: 7/7

* The skill ‘Vital Spot Detection’ will be generated.

The Slaughterer was tortured for a long time. He was also forced to watch the torture of countless people. 

As a result, he has a high grasp of the vital spots.

This eyepatch has been used by the Slaughterer for a long time and gained this ability.

Conditions of Use: None.

Weight: 0.1]

The Slaughterer’s Eye Patch was a special artifact. There was nothing about ‘interfering with vision’ in the description and only had the hint of ‘seeing the vital spots.’ The Slaughterer’s Eye Patch didn’t interfere with his vision. This meant there was no discomfort wearing it. There was no reason to hesitate to transplant the evil eye.

Grabbing the evil eyes' king, Grid shouted, “Give me the evil eye!”

He believed in his good luck stat. Grid expected that he could get an evil eye without significant risk and the performance would be excellent.