Chapter 357
All paladins had similar swordsmanship.
Every time they wielded the sword, they poured their whole heart into it, making it close to the concept of breaking the target. Due to this, the orbit was simple, and when the attack failed, it inevitably revealed a gap.
Yoshimura had a lot of experience and was aware of this fact. How could an archer with high agility struggle against a paladin? It was like that until now. For Yoshimura, paladins were merely solid targets. They wouldn’t easily fall down, but they weren’t a threat.
Damian was the exception.
Seokeok!
“Kuak!”
Every time Damian wielded his sword, Yoshimura’s body became covered in wounds. Yoshimura couldn’t avoid his attacks.
“You..! How can a paladin use such splendid swordsmanship? Is it because you’re a hidden class and not a paladin anymore?”
It was an incorrect guess. As Goddess’ Agent, Damian was still a paladin. However, it was a unique class. He was able to learn a higher Sword Mastery skill than general paladins, and that was the key to his high quality swordsmanship. Furthermore, Damian…
“I’m a paladin. A paladin with the strongest master.”
That’s right.
Damian was a person taught by Piaro. He grew by leaps and bounds when he was farming under Piaro. It was thanks to a clear enlightenment, as well as the quest reward for ‘★ Hidden Quest★ Fun and Exciting Training!’
“Supreme Swordsmanship might be slower than other swordsmanship techniques and less varied, but it is the most excellent one.”
“Why?”
“A good sword might be controlled with strength, while an excellent sword is controlled by the mind and heart. It can accelerate according to the speed of the mind, while making many changes like the heart.”
“…”
As a paladin, Damian couldn’t understand it. If this was reality, Damian wouldn’t have felt anything from Piaro’s teachings. But a game was different from reality.
[You have received the teachings of the sword by Piaro and awakened!]
[Accuracy is increased by 30% when wearing sword type weapons. This effect is applied separately from the Sword Mastery skill.]
In other words, it was an additional reward for the hidden quest. Damian was well behaved and built up a great deal of favor during the hidden quest, and was able to gain great strength thanks to it.
“The strongest teacher? What are you saying?”
“There’s no need for you to know.”
Puok!
“Kuaaack!”
“Master!”
Yoshimura was deeply stabbed in the side and eventually sat down. Orochi saw this and ran over aggressively.
“How dare you do this to Master!?”
The strongest person in the Sakura Guild, Orochi. He was the master of twin swordsmanship. He was particularly strong in PvP as a high ranking player, capable of dazzling the target with his swordsmanship.
But he wasn’t Damian’s opponent. Damian scoffed as he easily defended against Orochi’s sword with a shield.
“Even Reidan’s farmer who likes potatoes will yawn against you.”
Reidan’s farmer who likes potatoes?
‘Who is that?’
Did he mean the legendary farmer who caused an uproar in the world by smashing Hurent and 2,000 troops in a short amount of time? Orochi felt doubts.
Chaaeng!
Damian pushed at Orochi using his shield and then stabbed his chest.
“You aren’t my opponent. You should at least be a temporary farmer in order to deal with me. Oh, I am still lacking compared to him.”
Temporary farmer?
“Who is that?”
“I also don’t know.”
“…?”
From then on, a one-sided massacre took place. The Sakura Guild lacked a third advancement class, so they were totally overwhelmed by Damian, who was over level 300. Damian’s basic defense was high and his healing was fraudulent, so it was difficult to kill him.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that Damian’s endurance in battle was the best. The Rebecca’s Daughters candidates were also a problem. The Sakura Guild’s hands and feet were tied up because they thoroughly assisted Damian.
“Shit! Shitt!”
Once their colleagues started dying, the Sakura Guild members became angry.
Yoshimura cried out, “Why? Why are you helping a Korean person!?” (TL: Once again, a Japanese word meaning Korean person that has negative connotations)
“Korean person? What an old-fashioned and racist remark. You should apologize.”
“What? You… Keook…!”
Damian no longer continued the conversation. He knew that the opponents weren’t worth talking with, so he just silently killed the Sakura Guild members.
On this day.
The Sakura Guild suffered big damage. All the guild members died and lost experience and some items. It was a huge loss, making them unable to do anything big for a while.
***
Grid became certain of one thing after the spar with Kraugel. His goal of becoming the best wasn’t a fanciful dream.
‘Geniuses… No, it’s true that my talent is poo compared to the general public.’
He didn’t deny it, since it was a reality he’d realized since his childhood.
‘But.’
Grid had a weapon that no one else had. It was the power of items. It wasn’t the usual items, but the items which had collapsed the sky above the sky.
‘First, polish the weapons.’
In order to regular users to obtain items, they had to devote themselves to raids or hunting. However, Grid was different. As a legendary blacksmith, he was able to produce ideal items directly.
‘But it isn’t easy.’
There was a limit on the performance of items. It was virtually impossible to make a 10 billion damage weapon that could kill a target unconditionally, or to be invincible by making a 10 billion defense armor.
‘It’s about creating ideal items within the limits.’
It couldn’t be done by staying in the smithy. Grid knew from experience. Then what did he have to do?
“…”
Reidan’s smithy.
Grid was locked in thought for a while.
“Expand my insights.”
Would it be possible to build up his current skills if he was alone like Kraugel, even if he was a genius? It wasn’t possible. Through repeated adventures, meeting new people and enemies, and learning and growing through them.
‘I should do that.’
There was a place that Grid decided to go.
‘Behen Archipelago.’
It was made up of 66 islands. Even Kraugel had only managed to reach the 30th island. By challenging it and experiencing new things, he could overcome his shortcomings and design more ideal items.
The determined Grid moved to the castle.
***
“Abu! Abuuuu!”
“Welcome back.”
Irene and Lord welcomed Grid. Irene’s affectionate gaze and Lord’s envious gaze were directed towards Grid.
‘I want to make them happy for the rest of my life.’
Satisfy was different from reality. Enemies were everywhere and his precious people could be in danger at any time. In order to completely protect them, Grid wanted to become stronger. Grid summoned Lauel.
“Did you call?”
Lauel, who was buried in a pile of papers in his office, came running wildly. Grid was thankful for his diligence, despite always being tired.
“I’m incompetent, so you’re experiencing a lot of hardships by taking on everything.”
“I wanted to do it. You don’t have to worry. Continue to rely on me.”
“Yes, I will believe in you and leave for a while.”
“…Huh?”
“I’m planning to go to a place called the Behen Archipelago. Please look after Reidan and my family while I’m not here. Ah, can I also take some of the potions produced by the alchemy facility?’
“Huh? Ah yes, of course.”
Lauel was confused, but he didn’t ponder over Grid’s choices and actions. Grid had become more cautious since the spar with Kraugel, so Lauel thoroughly trusted him. After that, Grid made love to Irene, said goodbye to Lord, and left for the Media Kingdom.
“Aba! Abubu! Abu!”
Lord held the ‘Baby’s Wooden Sword’ in his hands and cried out as he looked at his father’s distant back. But there was no one who could understand the baby’s words. People thought that Lord was just saying goodbye to his father.
However, the truth was different.
A few days later. After some suffering, the pope procession succeeded in crossing the desert and finally arrived in Reidan. Damian’s heart was overflowing with joy. He was happy because he could see Grid and Piaro, who had helped him a lot without blaming him for being an otaku.
But the touching reunion didn’t occur easily.
“A murderer like you can’t enter the city!”
The soldiers guarding Reidan’s gates blocked Damian’s way. It was unavoidable. Damian’s name was bright red from killing the Sakura Guild.
“No, I’m the pope.”
“Nonsense!”
“Why would the pope commit such butchery?”
“A murderer is trying to lie! Disgraceful person! Get out now!”
“…”
After a while, Damian was able to enter Reidan due to Lauel. However, Grid wasn’t there anymore.
***
There were countless players hoping to cross to the East Continent.
There were those who wanted to get ahead of everyone else, those who aimed for a reversal in a new land, etc. All types of people tried to reach the East Continent. The wealthy even invested an astronomical amount of money.
However, most of them failed to reach the East Continent. They became stuck at the Dead Sea. Only a very small number of people succeeded. Out of two billion users, less than 1,000 succeeded in figuring out how to get to the East Continent.
They were the people who grasped the existence of Sage Sticks by clearing a lot of linked quests. However, fewer than 10 people managed to cross to the Eastern Continent.
Behen Archipelago. It was a difficult task to break through the 66 islands, which were like an instant dungeon.
“Sigh.”
After a long journey, Grid arrived at the Behen Archipelago and took a deep breath to calm himself down. Was he nervous because he remembered Kraugel saying that even famous high rankers had been eliminated at the first island?
No. Grid was actually filled with confidence. The reason for his deep breathing was to stop himself from becoming angry.
“Now, shall I get started?”
Grid readied himself and started to cross the bridge between the mainland and the first island. A notification window appeared at the end of the bridge.
[Do you want to enter the instant dungeon ‘Behen Archipelago’?]
“Yes.”
[The ‘Behen Archipelago’ is limited to one person and the escape method is unknown. Death is highly likely. Do you still want to enter?]
“Go.”
At the same time. Grid’s body was sucked into the gate.
***
“It’s been a long time since there was a challenger.”
The hidden sage, Sticks. He gazed into his magic ball and saw a man with black hair. Sticks examined him closely and didn’t feel inspired.
“Anyway, he will be eliminated.”
The first island dropped the challenger’s stamina to the limit. Faced with the terrible limit, they would cause their own self-destruction. Over the past few decades, most challengers lost their lives at the first island.
Sticks was sure that the same thing would happened to this black-haired man. However, the result was different from what he expected.
“Heok! N-No, how…?”
Sticks was shocked. He looked like he saw a ghost. It was natural. The first island. The goal was to take advantage of the island terrain to hold out against the monsters that appeared ‘infinitely’ for 20 minutes.
They should reduce the area that the monsters could attack from by moving to the highlands or into narrow places. It was a common strategy, but most people didn’t survive for 20 minutes even if they knew the strategy. There was a limit to their stamina.
However, the man with black hair used an unconventional method. He cleared the first island easily without using a strategy. After summoning four golden hands that each held a weapon, he waited for the monsters to appear and killed them. It was a method that destroyed common sense, making even the sage Sticks embarrassed.