Chapter 2030

The universe unfolded everywhere they looked. Planets of all shapes were beautifully decorated like paintings on a canvas. The mysterious constellations that rose beneath them served as landmarks for each area. If they walked along the water bottle tilted by the constellation of a goddess, a golden river would spread.

The size of the galaxy that lined both sides of the river was also overwhelming. The little angels, who used the galaxy as their pillows and blankets, blew their trumpets and played their harps. Golden clouds stirred, forming a ground for Grid and Marie Rose to step on.

"Is Hexetia happy and doing well?!!" a baby angel asked.

Looking back on memories from a long time ago, this was the child Grid had met when visiting Hexetia's smithy.

"Yes, he is smiling every day."

"I'm so glad! I miss him so much, but I will suppress my longing and support him!"

Baby angels had an innocent side. They were different in many ways from humans who had been turned into angels.

"Were they born as angels...?"

"That's right. I heard that the goddess created them around the time when Metatron was active. Perhaps they are what Rebecca wanted the angels to be like."

They were kind and gentle to everyone. Rebecca surely hoped that the archangels would learn from the inherently good baby angels. However, the baby angels had a serious disadvantage. They were weak. They were bound to be insufficient in many ways to influence archangels like Metatron and Raphael. Coincidentally, these archangels weren't impressed by the baby angels and continued to covet the skilled people on the surface.

"Like Baal, the archangels turned their backs on the wish of a God of the beginning."

"I think it's a bit too much to compare them to Baal, but... To a certain extent, yes. Don't trust Metatron. They always claim to be a loyal dog, but they aren't as loyal as you might think."

"Yes, I made a deal with Dominion. There is no need for me to trust Metatron."

"Hehe, my dear husband is wise after all."

'She said not to trust Metatron, but she didn't say much about Dominion. As expected, I think he can be trusted.'

Marie Rose's advice helped Grid greatly. He now trusted his own discerning eyes a bit more.

The sound of trumpets from the baby angels faded. The golden river and galaxies that flowed overhead disappeared, and the temperature around them dropped.

There was a deafening noise.

Thousands of spiraling air currents around them repeatedly ascended and descended, tearing apart the golden clouds in the area. Lightning flashed through the torn clouds and hundreds of millions of red lights flickered in all directions. The eye of a snake appeared.

They came to the right place.

"Is there a temple of serpents beyond this place?"

They were in one of the danger zones marked on the map of Asgard. This was the residing place of Jormungandr, the God of serpents, who was said to be so huge that he could swallow an entire continent in one go with his mouth.

According to Dominion's brief description, Jormungandr was a divine beast raised by Yatan, but he had been on a rampage ever since Yatan left Asgard, endlessly inflating his body.

'Once his size grew out of control, he sealed himself away here.'

This was why Dominion wasn't suspicious of Jormungandr. Dominion only advised them to be careful because this was a dangerous area. He didn't really think that Mumud and the demon cultivators had set up a base here. He believed that the divine beast, who had sealed himself away out of fear of harming others, wouldn't collude with evil beings.

It was a reasonable belief under these circumstances. However, Grid was suspicious because Mumud's group included Asura. It wouldn't be strange for Mumud's group to collude with the Serpent God since that evil guy Asura did whatever he wanted.

'...Baal.'

The moment Grid died in the Blackening state and visited hell for the first time, Grid had seen the landscape that wasn't much different from the surface. This was because of the neutral zone protected by Yatan.

Of course, Grid didn't know it at the time. He had thought that the red moon that watched over the entire hell with blinking blood-lined eyes and the river of flames that prevented ordinary life from surviving were the reality and essence of hell.

But things weren't like that. The horrific scenes of hell were all evidence of Baal's sins. Baal, the absolute evil who distorted the wishes of his father Yatan and tormented countless souls and humans, had said that Asura was his masterpiece. Asura was the worst evil acknowledged by the absolute evil.

'The final boss...'

So far, Grid had encountered and gone through too many final boss candidates—the knights and nobles who lost their faith, the corrupt church members and churches, Emperor Juander who didn't recognize anything other than the empire, Baal and the demons, Hanul and the yangban, Rebecca and Yatan, and the old dragons and Refractive Dragon.

The latest conclusion he arrived at was that Satisfy was most likely a game that didn't have a designated ending. There would be no boss that led the players to the ending.

In fact, none of the final boss candidates Grid had met so far were real bosses. All of them had flaws and lacked enough influence to put an end to the story. In Rebecca's case, the S.A. Group didn't view her as part of the story, but a bug that could end Satisfy itself.

In any case, that wasn't a strange thing. Satisfy was an MMORPG. Was there an ending to the story of the world that players were creating? It was rather strange and wrong for such a game to have an ending.

That was what Grid was thinking at some point. However, now that he remembered Asura, he changed his mind.

The final boss existed. He wasn't a boss to end the story. It was a harm that Satisfy had to eliminate in order to achieve peace. Grid determined that this was the concept of the final boss. In other words—Asura was that final boss.

'Since Judar died, the one being who could control him has disappeared. Cultivators have also appeared in the world.'

The worst developments were happening behind the scenes. Asura was collaborating with the demon cultivators. This was truly a serious issue since Asura had the ability to acquire the target's skills.

By now, Asura had surely condensed a spiritual root. He would've mastered the cultivator's mystical arts and treasures perfectly.

'Come to think of it, there are three Absolutes with a copying-type ability.'

Marie Rose copied the abilities of the target with her blood absorption, Hanul could do it with his divinity, and Asura through what he saw and experienced. Did this mean copying-type abilities were common? Not at all. Just like in other games, copying-type abilities in Satisfy were incredibly powerful. They weren't common at all.

'It's just that Asura's birth was too much of a fraud.'

Baal had used the corpse of King Daebyeol to create the hell moon, which functioned as a womb to conceive Asura. In the process, it was likely that King Daebyeol's power had been transplanted to Asura. King Daebyeol certainly had the power of copying others' abilities from his father, Hanul.

'...The result must've exceeded Baal's expectations.'

Asura claimed to be a God of fighting. He revered only fighting and learned from battles. This meant he could copy the abilities of a target without the medium of blood absorption or divinity. He could even copy Chiyou's techniques.

Naturally, mastering the skills of the demon cultivators had surely been easy for him. Worst case scenario, he might have learned the abilities of the Asgardian gods to a great extent.

"Marie Rose, you need to immediately leave if there is any danger."

Invincibility—this was the word that came to mind when Grid thought of Asura. He was nervous, especially since Mary Rose was pregnant.

Unexpectedly, Marie Rose nodded obediently. She picked up on the way Grid was anxiously glancing at her belly. "Sure," she said.

She wasn't arrogant despite how powerful she was. It was just that she had no opportunity to be humble because of her impressive abilities. She was actually a wise woman who could make rational judgments.

Relieved, Grid took a step forward upon hearing her answer.

Just then—

Flash!

Tens of millions of snakes lurking beyond the clouds shifted their gazes to Grid. The spiral currents raging in all directions bombarded him. All the joints in his body twisted under tremendous pressure. His whole skin was about to peel off. He was worried that he might lose all his hair and become bald.

[You aren't strong enough to keep advancing.]

[You aren't strong enough to keep...]

[You aren't strong enough...]

The more violent the air currents became, the more difficult it was to move. Finally, as his HP started to decrease, Grid took Marie Rose into his arms and activated Multiple Weakening Barriers.

Marie Rose examined the barrier and smiled. "This is cozy."

Grid blushed, spellbound. He felt as if the surrounding landscape had been transformed into a bedroom. It reminded him of the cozy bedroom where he had spent his first night with her. If he had been in a relationship with Marie Rose in his early twenties, he wondered if he would've been able to control his boiling desire. His ranking would've probably dropped...

'Focus, focus.'

Grid dispelled the futile delusion and invested all his stat points into Strength. He started to make it through the heavy and sharp air currents.

Thump, thump, thump...

The ground shook with every step taken. Grid's Strength reached almost 100,000 points. This was enough to render the natural disaster in Asgard's most dangerous area useless. Thanks to this, Grid was able to reach his destination.

He found himself before a terribly large mountain range. Grid examined it for a moment. He wasn't able to recognize that it was a door due to its seemingly endless size. The spiral air currents that had been increasing their rotation speed with the intention of piercing through Multiple Weakening Barriers stopped and dispersed at once.

Now that Grid had a clear field of view, he could properly examine his surroundings. He was overwhelmed when he realized that the huge mountain range in front of him was only part of a picture embossed on the door.

"Isn't it bigger than Reinhardt?"

No, he didn't dare guess. He wouldn't be surprised if the door in front of him was bigger than a continent, not just a city.

Marie Rose expressed her displeasure after trying to use her blood magic to find the doorknob. She had never reacted this way before. "It's impossible to open it using force."

Grid realized how much more imposing the door was because of her reaction and finally found the keyhole. At first, he didn't think it was a keyhole. It was a huge hole that couldn't be filled even if the entire Tomb of the Gods was inserted there. Grid stared at what seemed to be an endless abyss before pulling the Master Key out of his inventory.

Would that little key fit in that huge keyhole...? Marie Rose's red lips parted slightly as she smiled. She found Grid's innocent idea cute and adorable.

"My dear husband, you have a surprisingly cute side."

Click!

The moment Grid inserted the key into the hole, a completely unexpected ringing sound occurred and the ground shook.

The door opened.

[You have become the first visitor to enter Jormungandr's Place.]

[You have acquired the Only One title 'No Permission Required.']

[No Permission Required]

[Rating: Only One

No barriers or seals can restrict your entry.]

'This is why this is scarier.'

Getting such a title just because he opened this door? Grid gulped nervously and walked in.

He was mesmerized by the huge snake biting his tail. It was bigger than he imagined. The perspective was distorted. Even though the snake was located far away in the middle of the universe, he was perceived to be bigger than the planets around him.