The grandmaster. He had never introduced himself. However, he existed 250 years ago, 170 years ago, 80 years ago, and 40 years ago. Every time the war between the half-draconians and the empire intensified and the imperial forces on the front lines were in a crisis, the half-draconians saw the man recorded in their history. The guardian of the empire—he clearly fought for the empire based on the way he saved the imperial army from a crisis and killed the senior warriors of the half-draconians.

The strength of the man who maintained the same title and appearance for hundreds of years had transcended that of a human and was comparable to the lord of the half-draconians. All the lords of those times had failed to kill him and they were humiliated by watching the war ending in either a draw or a defeat.

This was why the new lords aimed at the grandmaster. By beating the grandmaster, they would prove themselves to be the strongest lord of all time. This was the ultimate goal of all the lords. The same was true for Helena, who Jad served. The reason she came to the Chaos Mountains was to prove her worth by gaining the strongest power, recapturing the lord’s position, and defeating the grandmaster.

Yes, the grandmaster was truly special. So how could there be another person like him? It was also on the outskirts of this kingdom.

“You… Cough cough, what?”

The scales of the half-draconians alleviated both physical and magical damage. A big blow could never be dealt in one hit, yet the black-haired man in front of him inflicted great wounds by using two sword techniques that were like dances. The destructive power contained in the enemy’s sword made the flesh under his scales spasm. The magic performed together with the swordsmanship ignored the resistance of the scales and randomly cut it, making him afraid.

Jad wondered if he felt this fear because the aggressiveness, which should’ve become stronger in proportion to the strength of the opponent, was somehow suppressed. Grid was watching the residents below the stage. Tens of thousands of residents were staring at Jad with their eyes wide open. No one was terrified. It wasn’t a phenomenon created by the emergence of Grid.

Even before Grid intervened, the residents had overcome their fears. It was the miracle created by the struggle and triumph of the young hero, Laden. Frontier had become stronger. 

Grid opened his mouth, “I…”

At this time…

“Ah…!”

The residents below the stage exclaimed. They didn’t recognize the sudden situation properly but once they heard Grid’s voice, they woke up and belatedly recognized Grid.

“Your Majesty…!”

“King Grid has come!”

“Waaahhhhhhhh!” The shouts of the residents beat the snowstorm. The loud voices resisted the intense wind and the heat they emitted melted away the cold snow. At this moment, Frontier was as hot as the desert city of Reidan.

‘King?’

Jad’s eyes shook when he heard the roar of the residents and realized Grid’s identity. He couldn’t believe it. The rulers of humanity strong enough to leave a record in the history of the half-draconians were the emperors of the empire and the Undefeated King. The royalty of other kingdoms were mere losers who chose to live being ruled by the empire. How did such a monster emerge from them? It was a deformed result.

Jad’s fear grew stronger. Even Jad, who longed for slaughter because he was a half-draconian, didn’t dare underestimate how much blood the man in front of him must’ve spilled in order to gain the power he had now. In Jad’s eyes, Grid looked like a monster. He felt the true dark nature of Grid who was covered with the blood of tens of thousands of people.

Tremble tremble…

Jad started to shake. It was a variable caused by the contract with Hao that somewhat decreased the half-draconian’s aggressiveness. Jad was completely overwhelmed by Grid and misunderstood that he didn’t feel a sense of struggle against this person was simply because of terror. This illusion caused Jad to stiffen beyond the actual situation.

‘It felt like I was shaking hands when fighting Heltavon but this time it is the opposite.’

Now that Grid knew the effect of the contract changed depending on the situation, it was necessary to devise a way to deal with them more efficiently. Gazing at the residents below the stage, he opened his mouth, “I believe in you.” 

Grid’s gaze shifted to Laden.

“The common humans who live under the protection of the knights.”

Grid lowered himself. He spoke like he only existed because of the people of the kingdom. He wanted Laden and the people of Frontier to take pride in themselves. It was the hope that they would be reborn as beings who could stand firmly without relying on Grid.

That’s right. Grid wasn’t obsessed with his reputation. It was because he knew that even without reputation, the fact that ‘I am myself’ remained unchanged. It was possible because of his high self-esteem. The thing Grid wanted now wasn’t to increase his value. It was Grid’s dream and goal to increase the value of everyone who believed in him and followed him.

“No matter how many times arrogant invaders like you will threaten the land in the future, the residents of this land will defeat you and protect me with their own strength.”

It wasn’t just to Jad. He was talking to the people of Frontier. The hearts of the residents were pounding. They realized that they needed to be better and stronger.

[The people of Frontier are impressed by the king’s remarks and have become highly motivated.]

[The growth rate of all the people of Frontier will increase by 200% for the next month. The experience gain of Frontier’s players will increase by 1.5 times.] 

“…!!”

Since when did the people start to protect Grid? The players were stunned because they didn’t understand what Grid was talking about. They were deeply impressed by Grid’s intentions through the rising notification windows and the changes in the residents.

‘This isn’t the important thing.’

Satisfy’s system was very active. It was obvious just by looking at the quests. Unlike normal games, Satisfy allowed players to intentionally generate quests. This was one of the growth methods that had been widely known and favored by players since the early days.

Grid just took advantage of this. Using his position as king, he dramatically increased the city’s growth rate with a few words. The crisis caused by the emergence of the half-draconians turned into an opportunity. He was the first ranked player for a reason. The players felt like they had been taught a lot.

“Kuk… Kukukuk, they are very touching remarks.” The stiffened Jad slowly woke up. He regained the aggressiveness that had been controlled by the contract and realized the fear he just felt was just an illusion. “If you raise a bug, it is still a bug after all.”

Jad looked at the ridiculous humans who were motivated by their king’s words and started to relax. The person who seemed like a monster just a moment ago now looked ridiculous. He thought it was trivial for a human who took the path of slaughter to care about bugs. He was embarrassed at himself for thinking this human was in the same class as the grandmaster, who slaughtered senior warriors without changing his expression.

‘Of course, he is a strong person. However, I won’t lose to a human who isn’t even part of the empire.’

Jad was one of the top 10 powerhouses among the 30 half-draconians who followed Helena. He was above the intermediate level and on the verge of the senior level. After thousands of battles, he had reached the peak of combat experience. Jad had confidence that he could fight the arrogant human who buried his natural talent to look after bugs.

“I was just surprised for a bit. From now on, it will be completely different. I will show you the difference in experience.” 

Flap. Jad opened his wings wide and soared high into the sky. He deliberately put the sun at his back to interrupt Grid’s field of view before shooting a Breath. The Breath wasn’t aimed at Grid but at the residents gathered under the stage.

“Kuahahaha!” Jad laughed loudly at the sight of the chaotic residents and gathered magic power to aim at Grid this time. He planned to shoot the Breath again, aiming at the back of Grid who would fly to save the residents.

“…What?” Jad’s eyes suddenly widened. Grid was flying toward him while ignoring the Breath fired at the residents.

‘It was all a pretense?’

Just then, the scent of blood caused the tip of Jad’s nose to tingle. A dome of red magic unfolded on the ground and blocked the Breath fired at the inhabitants.

“…!”

A silver-haired boy was standing alone. The one who seemed to be the master of the magic looked directly at Jad in the sky.

‘You terrible son of a bitch.’ This child was clearly saying so. 

However, Jad wasn’t easily provoked. He wondered why a high-ranking vampire who disliked the sun would be here and why he was helping humans but he focused on Grid in front of him. The combat experience of thousands of battles kept him composed. The second Breath headed for Grid.

Meanwhile, Jad was chasing right after the Breath. He planned to deal a surprise attack the moment Grid dodged the Breath. He might’ve fought against the imperial army and monsters thousands of times but even he didn’t predict that the Breath he fired would come back at him.

“Ugh!”

Jad was hit by the reflected Breath he was closely following. Then he read Grid’s intentions and swung his claws. The claws pierced Grid’s chest but it was pointless.

“Transcended Linked Kill Wave Pinnacle.”

Grid used Open Potential, ignored the blow, and narrowed the distance with Jad. His ultimate sword dance literally dominated the space as it slammed into Jad and turned the half-draconian to grey ash. It wasn’t until the final moment that Jad realized—his experience, skills, and even physical abilities, they were all inferior to Grid. He realized that the fear he first experienced was real, not an illusion.

“…!!”

The last survivor of the half-draconians had been watching from below the stage and hurriedly fled. He was a half-draconian who liked to fight but he didn’t want to die. Then Duke Steim and the knights blocked and surrounded his way.

“Get lost!” The half-draconians resisted but it was relentless. The knights of the north had accumulated a lot of experience and training and were capable of withstanding the half-draconian’s strikes. They earned a small amount of time for Grid to arrive and overpower the half-draconian.

Grid grabbed the half-draconian’s head and whispered, “Guide us to the place where your leader is.”

“U-Understood!”

It was an order that he had no reason to be rejected. There were 28 half-draconians at their base, including Helena and five senior warriors. Once Grid led all of Frontier’s forces, it was death that awaited them. The disbelieving half-draconian started to take the lead. 

Then he was suddenly filled with doubts. There were only three people following him. It was Grid, a vampire, and a woman who joined at some point. ‘Are they crazy?’

They were entering the tiger’s cave with only three people? [1] Well, it didn’t matter. He wanted to quickly see their faces twisted with fear and pain…

After speeding up the pace, the half-draconian arrived in the Chaos Mountains and guided Grid’s group deeper. The half-draconian was busy guarding against the monsters in front of him and Grid behind him. Therefore, he didn’t notice that lights kept falling from the sky. Every time the light dropped, the number of people in Grid’s party increased. All of Grid’s knights including Braham, Piaro, Mercedes, Asmophel, Jude, and the 10 meritorious retainers participated in the procession.

‘I have to level up.’

Grid’s purpose wasn’t just about the half-draconians. This was a top-level hunting ground where even Grid couldn’t hunt alone. This was the Chaos Mountains so he planned for a group hunt.

[1] Based off a Korean idiom: If you want to catch a tiger, you have to go to the tiger’s cave. Meaning: If you want achieve a goal, you have to go to the source, work hard and overcome difficulties. 

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