Chapter 1609

Knight, someone who was known to the public as the death god. A person who consumed the target’s ‘soul gauge’ to deal a definite death. Unlike his ID, his notoriety was quite high because his ability specialized in assassination. Some people said that his assassination-related potential was comparable to Faker.

Lauel paid attention to his personality. Cool-headed, yet tenacious. He clearly distinguished when to back down and when not to back down. He didn’t compromise easily. If faced with an unfavorable situation, he seemed to give up without any regrets, but in the end, he produced results. If 10 people escaped from Knight’s assassination, nine of them would suffer a mysterious death one day.

An inspector who needed to dive into the tiger’s lair and gather evidence to hunt the tiger. It was judged that there were few people more suitable than Knight to carry out the mission that had constant exposure to danger and temptation.

Of course, Knight found it absurd. He was moved by Lauel’s effort to recruit him, so he joined the Overgeared Guild. But… his first assignment was unexpected. An assassin acting as an inspector?

‘In the first place, are there any fools who have a traitorous mind against the present empire?’

The Overgeared Empire used the absolute armed force and popularity of Grid as the backdrop for its birth. Not only did it absorb Saharan intact, but it received tribute for all nations on the continent. Was there a nobleman who dared to have a traitorous mind when Grid’s power pierced the sky? If there was such a person, he was either impatient or a stupid person. He wouldn’t be appointed lord in the first if he was these things.

Knight’s thoughts changed a short time later.

‘Eyes and ears can’t reach here.’

The Overgeared Empire was too wide. It was natural since almost all of the continent was the territory of the empire. The further away from the imperial capital a place was, the harder it was to find a warp gate and the more the unique color of the area grew. Of course, there were statues of Grid everywhere. There was also a flood of believers praising Grid’s epics.

However, there was a considerable sense of strangeness. This was a remote region far from the center. The place had been ruled by local nobles since ancient times and built their own culture and sentiments. The dialect and clothing of the people became unfamiliar. It gave the strong impression that it was a separate nation and not part of the empire.

‘I think they interpret Grid’s epics slightly differently.’

For the Overgeared God Church, Grid’s epics were the holy book. Was it okay to interpret the holy book in an open manner? Knight was looking around the city while listening to the strange epics praised by the people when he suddenly stopped walking. It was because dozens of soldiers and knights blocked his path.

“You are the inspector from the imperial palace? My lord is waiting at the territory’s capital.”

Territory inspections were carried out by surprise. It was because the meaning faded if the target knew and prepared for it. Yet this place already knew about it. They didn’t give him any time to look around the city and instead wanted to drag him to their den.

“I planned to visit the capital after looking at a few more cities.”

“What is there to see in the countryside? You will just be bored. Furthermore, the lord himself has prepared a banquet. Please accompany him for the sake of the lord’s face.”

The attitude of the knights was polite yet coercive. It was a bit awkward to refuse since they were talking about face.

‘I can do the inspection after the banquet. Let’s start with checking the attitude of the lord.’

Lauel had said that the lord here was planning a rebellion and that there must be the remnants of the Rebecca Church behind the lord. They were absurd words. Lauel presented no physical evidence to back it up. He wasn’t a fortune teller and simply doubted the lord based on circumstantial evidence. Knight found it hard to relate to. He might be wary of the strange closed nature and independence of this land, but he didn’t judge the other side hastily.

Above all, Knight admired the lord’s competence. The development status of the cities in the area exceeded expectations. The high political power of the lord could be seen with one glance.

‘It might be different if he is an idiot, but there is no way such a talented person would conspire with the remnants of the Rebecca Church to start a hopeless rebellion.’

Knight’s confidence was shattered that night.

“……”

Upon arriving at the lord’s castle, he attended the banquet and witnessed strange people. They were those whose souls were colored gold. It was the same as the soul color of the high priests of the Rebecca Church.

“My lord.” Knight put down the drink that the lord poured for him without drinking and stared at the lord.

“Try calling Rebecca a son of a bi*ch.”

“……”

“……”

The noisy ballroom became silent. The shocked band stopped playing while the lord and his vassals blinked and doubted their ears. Some of the vassals belatedly regained their minds and shouted.

“What are you suddenly saying?”

“How dare you say such low-level words in front of the lord… it is none other than the imperial palace who put the lord in this position. Insulting the lord is insulting the imperial palace. It is a crime of treason!”

Some showed hostility and even threatened him. Knight ignored them. As the figure of a giant death god with a scythe appeared behind him, he spoke again, “My lord, you don’t want to call Rebecca a son of a bi*ch?”

“…Why should I? Why are you suddenly asking me to commit the sin of blasphemy?”

“Why is it blasphemy if a follower of the Overgeared God swears at Rebecca?”

“What reckless words…! No matter how much we serve the Overgeared God, this is still a heavenly god! You will be punished for insulting a god of the beginning!”

“The heavenly gods who stood by when we were in danger will punish us as soon as we sin? What is the basis for this bizarre belief?”

“My lord, don’t deal with him.”

“He must face the charge of treason right away. I’m sure the imperial palace will understand.”

The vassals who turned red earlier slowly rose from their seats. There were four in total. The thing they had in common was that they possessed gold souls. They were Knight’s targets from the beginning. The death god pointed at them with four long, dry fingers and swung the scythe in the air. At the same time…

“Keok!”

Four golden souls were split in half. The souls’ owners died without any trauma, so it was a shocking sight.

In the silence, Knight quietly got up from his seat and approached them. He picked up the accessories dropped from the corpses with an expressionless face and examined them. There was a necklace and ring symbolizing the Rebecca Church.

“My lord, did these senile people deceive you or did you call them?”

“Get him!”

This answer was enough. Knight marveled at how the situation was flowing according to Lauel’s guess.

‘It is beyond foresight. It would be more accurate to interpret it as a situation that Lauel intended.’

In the first place, his intention might’ve been to place rebels in the lord’s position and deal with them when the time came. The reason for this was that the lord’s political power was needed.

Talents who would develop their territory quickly—even though Lauel knew he would someday have a dark heart, Lauel made him the lord and drained his abilities. Now that the lord was no longer needed, Knight was sent to deal with it.

‘It is thorough and cruel.’

This was the Overgeared Guild. The Overgeared Guild was seen as an invincible group, but the Overgeared Guild seen from the inside was also unique. It felt even scarier.

‘I should never betray them.’

Of course, he had no intention of betrayal from the beginning. It was just that he now made up his mind not to betray them even if the world was destroyed.

Knight clicked his tongue and pulled out his weapon. He slashed at the soldiers coming from all directions and blocked the knights’ attacks. People were impressed by the way he blocked any gaps in his defense and neutralized the complicated pincer attacks. Nevertheless, soldiers were constantly coming.

The lord’s expression was full of ease. He seemed to have judged that Knight would collapse from exhaustion before reaching him.

In fact, Knight’s armed force wasn’t overwhelming. The level of the knights was too high. They were also excellently armed as knights of the Overgeared Empire. The fact that he didn’t receive assistance from the death god behind him was serious. The death god was silent and didn’t take any action. Then it secretly raised one finger and aimed it at the lord.

“My homeland was Saharan, not the Overgeared Empire. How can you understand how I felt as an incompetent woman became the empress and I had to watch while crying tears of blood as she sold my homeland.”

The lord gained momentum and spoke as he saw Knight gradually being pushed on the defensive. The time he spent playing as a loyalist of the Overgeared Empire was so intense that he felt great.

There was the feeling of excitement, but he was convinced of victory. In fact, there was no such thing as victory. What victory was it to catch and beat a dirty hound running wild? This was just hunting.

Knight laughed. “Have you forgotten the Great Human and Demon War? Saharan wouldn’t have survived without the Overgeared God.”

“Bah. If the three churches were still strong, we would’ve been able to fight against the demons without the Overgeared God.”

“That is why you joined with the remnants of the Rebecca Church.”

Knight recalled that this place was extremely remote. They couldn’t have directly experienced war in the Abyss and the Behen Archipelago. They simply dealt with the demonic creatures which came through the portals and couldn’t know how terrible the Great Human and Demon War was. Hearing it a thousand times was less than actually experiencing it once.

“Every time you talk, there will be more than one person who feels upset. You should die here.”

Originally, Knight planned to arrest the lord and take him to the imperial capital. It was because he would receive bigger contributions for capturing the lord alive. However, his thoughts changed at this moment. His death god, who had been standing silently, pointed to the lord with the finger that had been secretly raised.

At this moment, the lord experienced the horror and killing intent as if the world was falling apart. He sensed his inevitable death and turned his back to the wall of soldiers he had built in front of him as he tried to flee.

It was meaningless. The moment the death god wielded the scythe, the lord died and collapsed like a broken doll. The knights and soldiers lost strength in their body. They were confused and stepped back.

‘I have to kill them all.’

Saharan was their nation and they were loyal to the rebel. There were too many of them to capture alive. The eyes of Knight’s death god flashed. It swung the scythe directly and started to assist Knight. Knight was alone but also two. He cooperated with the death god to overwhelm the soldiers and knights, unlike before. It was a level of power that made the concept of numbers useless. He was able to handle hundreds alone.

At this moment—

“A cruel death ghost is on the rampage. You must’ve sold your soul to the devil.”

A man entered the scene. A paladin armed with white armor carved in the shape of light—it was reminiscent of the days when the Rebecca Church flourished. His name was Winter. He wasn’t a named NPC. Knight only thought there was one more opponent to kill and didn’t take it seriously. This was until light flickered at Winter’s fingertips.

“I will purify you with light.”

The light spread and took the shape of a hilt and blade. It was a sword with divine power, not magic power or sword energy. Damian once loved using it, so there was no way that Knight didn’t know its identity.

“A holy sword…?”

Knight felt a great sense of strangeness. It was because the form of the sword, which was revealed through the flickering light, was very familiar. It was like Grid’s…

Puhahahak!

The ferocious light cut through Knight’s body as his eyes widened.

***

It wasn’t just Knight who was hit by the holy sword.

The remnants of the three churches armed with holy swords started to appear all over the continent and established strongholds with powerful force. They attracted believers scattered throughout the continent with the miracle of light caused by the holy swords.

Coincidentally, it was around the time when the hell elevator became popular. It wasn’t just the top powers of the Overgeared Guild. There were also a considerable number of players who started to travel freely to hell to invade hell. At this time, an unexpected ambush appeared on the surface.

‘At this point, it feels like heaven is deliberately disturbing us.’

The owners of the holy swords ran rampant with the goal of reviving their religion.

Lauel’s expression gradually distorted as he sifted through the papers containing the information. There were weapons that came to mind when people saw the description of the holy weapons.

‘Failure, Sword of Self-transcendence, Thorn of Deep Grievance, Sword Ghost, and the Red Phoenix’s Bow… the form of the holy weapons resemble the works that His Majesty created a long time ago?’

What was the intention behind it?

The blacksmithing god, Hexetia—assuming that he was imprisoned and made holy swords to receive a pardon, he had no reason to plagiarize Grid’s works. Grid had said that Hexetia’s skills were beyond his. Hexetia would’ve made better weapons. Even if he plagiarized Grid’s works, he would’ve plagiarized the divine swords. It was unlikely that he would plagiarize the old works Grid had made a long time ago.

‘A new blacksmith god was born in heaven and his skills were still low, so he started to hone his skills by plagiarizing His Majesty’s words?’

It was just a guess because there was so little information.

Lauel was unable to draw a hasty conclusion and had to report the incident to Grid without identifying the truth. He added that the enemies didn’t hide their appearance due to their strong momentum, so he would send apostles to help quell the situation and try to retrieve the holy swords.

Just then, there was a world message that a new divine object of Grid’s had been born.

-Don’t send the apostles. I will go there myself.

Grid replied immediately.

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