Chapter 1604

One day, a wounded dragon crashed into the middle of a city. It was purely coincidental. The city was just located at the wrong place at the wrong time. The dragon struggled in pain. Every time he screamed, the windows of the city were smashed. The same was true of the stained glass of the temple.

Goddess Rebecca, who was portrayed on the stained glass, was praying for humans, but it was meaningless. The goddess’ prayer didn’t protect humans from the disaster that had come.

The young Hayate was stunned. He just stared blankly as his neighbors were swept away by a gust of wind every time the dragon’s torn wings fluttered, his friends were crushed to death every time the dragon’s bloody tail swung, and his family burned in the flames mixed into the dragon’s screams.

This was until he saw his lover bursting like a balloon under the feet of the dragon who raised himself using the half-broken castle as a stepping stone. It was only after really losing everything that he realized this was reality, not a nightmare.

His stopped thoughts started to run explosively. The thoughts that extended to all areas were out of control. He had to endure the pain that cut through his brain. He held his sword with trembling hands.

After jumping over the corpses of his family and friends and the bloodstains left by his lover, he grabbed the dragon’s broken horn and leapt, aiming his sword at the cracks in the scales. He continued to aim tenaciously at the neck of the roaring dragon until it subsided.

The feelings of anger, killing intent, and fear stimulated his talent. The help of his extended thinking allowed him to grasp the destructive sword energy and integrated it with his will. Finally, he cut off the dragon’s head. He was covered in blood when he came to his senses. It was blood that had been flowing for thousands of years.

Hayate never forgot the single moment he met the dragon’s empty pupils through his red covered vision.

You are engraved on ‘us.’ Like me, you will have a harsh end.

Hayate frantically ran away from the huge giant eyes that seemed to be saying this. The Dragon Slayer was a being who grew out of such despair and fear.

From that day to today, Hayate never shook off his fear. Every day, he trembled in fear. The dragon’s power was too destructive to forget the horror of that day. Nevertheless, his reason for fighting was simple. He hoped that no one else would go through the same despair he did. He endured the killing intent and intimidation of all dragons in the world without expressing his fear.

“I stumbled upon a dragon who was wounded in a power struggle. I was terrified by his pressure. I struggled desperately to survive and finally cut his throat.”

He was simply lucky. On the first day he met Grid, Hayate used this simple phrase to explain to Grid how he became a Dragon Slayer. He didn’t mention the details. He would rather ignore it. The fear he had in his heart from the beginning—he was afraid that he would reveal the feelings that grew day by day.

Now he had completely shaken off his fear. Therefore, he could calmly talk about the disaster of that day.

“……”

The changes that took place inside Hayate were clearly revealed to Grid. He was glad that his little promise gave courage to this great man. It was an honor. It happened at a time when he was deeply emotional…

“Look here, Junior.”

Biban wiped away his tears and interjected. The traces of his runny nose were clearly visible. As a Sword Saint who cut at targets with his willpower alone, he seemed to express his emotions in a manner that was stronger than others.

‘No, this is too positive an interpretation.’

They were both Sword Saints, but why were they so different? Grid was naturally reminded of Kraugel. He clicked his tongue as he recalled the completely different personalities of Biban and Kraugel.

“Now that we have a 10th Seat, there will be many days when you are staying at the tower, right? I would like to show you around.”

The Tower of Wisdom had recently moved. Grid had already been here for 46 days, but he stayed in his room. He didn’t look around. In the first place, his purpose wasn’t tourism, so he focused only on work.

“Um… It’s fine. I’ll come back often, but I think I will just stay in my room anyway.”

Just because he was a member of the tower didn’t mean he took on their duties. Grid, who was armed with the dragon armor set, clearly transcended all the tower members except for Hayate. He had too much power to take on the odd jobs of the tower members. This was why they couldn’t hold him as the Pioneer.

The reason Hayate gave him the position of tower member was so Grid could give up the responsibility of the Pioneer while enjoying more benefits. There was no need to understand the structure of the tower in detail because he wouldn’t have a big role to play in it.

However, Biban had other thoughts. “But.. sometimes, the cleaning… no, you have to clean up. Wouldn’t it be better to familiarize yourself with the structure in preparation for that time?”

“Why me…?”

“Aren’t you the youngest?”

“Biban, have you forgotten why you are cleaning? Or did you distort your memory on your own? The reason you are in charge of cleaning isn’t because you are the youngest, but because you committed a crime.”

“What did I do that was so wrong? Honestly, isn’t it too harsh to consider it a mere punishment? Additionally, I am talking to a junior. Jessica, don’t interrupt. I also have the face of a senior. Isn’t that right, 10th Seat, Grid?”

“Your pronunciation… please be more gentle…”

“Um? Huh? Now you are finding fault with everything? Aren’t you being too much just because we are in the same organization? I might look like this, but I am 400 years older than you.”

“I apologize for this, Grid. There aren’t many cases where this man is sane. Don’t worry about it.”

“Still, he is cooler than anyone else when holding the sword.”

“Haha, of course. I am the Sword Saint. As expected, Grid. Your character is really righteous. You are a person who will neve forget your original intentions. No, wait… I’m not sane when I’m not holding a sword? What…? Don’t tell me…”

“……”

Grid sneaked back while Biban muttered. Grid really liked and respected Biban, but that didn’t mean he accepted all of Biban’s personality. It was appropriate to say that Biban was a person who was good to see sometimes, but not every day.

‘Kraugel is amazing.’

During the time when the other tower members were holding back Biban, Grid returned to his room and smiled as he recalled Kraugel, who was identified as the next Pioneer. Not only did Kraugel become a Sword Saint and had his level reset, but he also studied under Kirinus for at least a year. He even obsessed over Mir for months and suffered several deaths. Yet his level was the second highest?

Of course, it was the aftermath of Chris’ level being reset recently. There was also the effect of stagnant growth for a while as the top powers of the Overgeared Guild were active in hell along with high level NPCs like the kings of the different species. He heard that Amoract was constantly harassing them.

In the first place, Kraugel was the pinnacle of talent. Even the members of the Overgeared Guild had longed for it. Yura, Jishuka, Regas, Pon, and even the proud Chris had said more than once that ‘Kraugel can never be overcome.’ Hao even chose to go under Kraugel. He didn’t see Kraugel as a competitor, just like Kraugel didn’t see Grid as a competitor.

However, Grid thought that the next highest level player after Chris would naturally be Yura. It was because Yura’s growth potential after she took over the entire hunting ground called hell was good enough to be compared to Grid for a while. Considering that the growth had been slowed in recent months and Kraugel’s past moves, it was somewhat unconvincing that Yura’s level was lower.

‘No, it isn’t something that I can hastily judge.’

In terms of talent, it was true that Kraugel was unique. Furthermore, Kraugel had the most titles and hidden pieces after Grid. Above all, he was the Sword Saint. There were no enemies that couldn’t be cut, so he was less likely to be harmed while hunting. He must’ve created enough wide area skills.

He had been staying in the elemental world for nearly three months. There was a high probability that he got an experience buff as a reward for the first discovery of a place no one had been to before. It wasn’t known what type of violence he was going through.

‘No, putting everything aside.’

Hayate might’ve judged that the Demon Slayer wasn’t suitable to be the Pioneer. The Pioneer’s biggest mission was to bridge the gap between the isolated tower and the world. However, the Demon Slayer often stayed in hell, away from the surface. She wasn’t suitable to be the Pioneer.

‘This is convincing.’

Additionally, Kraugel had already been the Pioneer. The pitiful one was Chris. If he had known this would happen, he would’ve put off giving the previous hidden class change book as a gift (?).

‘Well, it can’t be helped.’

He hadn’t expected this to happen. Furthermore, Tzudan’s Successor was a highly difficult class. In the long run, it was better for him to change early and gain a bit more proficiency. Of course, it would’ve been much better if he had changed classes after being qualified as the Pioneer. In any case, it was all in the past. No one knew about the Pioneer system other than Grid and Kraugel. There was no need to worry about Chris being mentally shocked.

Grid relieved his guilt and took a deep breath. He might’ve been delayed for a while due to the visit of the tower members, but his work wasn’t finished. The scales previously obtained from Hayate and Cranbel’s arm remained. The two scales would be used as a supplement when the additional scales from Gujel were insufficient, but he planned to smelt Cranbel’s arm immediately into a sword.

‘It is right to have at least two dragon weapons in order to maximize the power of the newly created gauntlets.’

Ifrit’s arms increased the damage of dragon weapons. Grid planned to use two dragon weapons as dual swords at all times and use them as the framework for Item Combination.

‘Let’s begin.’

It happened as Grid was focused again…

“Would you like some food?”

“Why do you ask about food every time we make eye contact? I’m not a pig. I’m the best demonic creature in hell, a memphis!”

“I’ll give you a snack. A fish cake.”

“…Bah, if you really want to give something then give it to me.”

Noe had fully adapted after moving around the tower for more than a month. Betty showed great interest in the guy who reached the level of enjoying a nap with his belly sticking out. She took him to the room where she didn’t allow anyone except for Grid to enter. Soon, Noe screamed like crazy. It was because he found a memphis anatomical specimen on the shelf…

“Why are your soles pink?”

“Kyaak! Kyaaaaak! Murder! A murderer, kyak!” Noe’s fur stood up and he struggled. He felt the crisis of his life and really did everything in his power. However, Betty’s room was very soundproof. The windows were always closed, so Noe’s screams didn’t leak out.

Meanwhile, Randy…

“Are you interested in my techniques?”

Nod.

She started to win the favor of the tower members. The main thing was her appearance as a little girl.

The long solitary tower members had an average age of hundreds of years and they treated Randy like a grandchild. In fact, Randy was over 200 years old, but she was a child in the eyes of the tower members. Noe and Randy also gained new opportunities.

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