Chapter 1988

The Tomb of the Gods was a really large airship that was five times the size of Yeouido. Since it was made from Greed, it could become even bigger at any time.

The Tomb of the Gods consumed no power to operate and its maximum speed easily exceeded 1,000 kilometers per hour. This was an incredible feat, considering there was a city inside it.

Yup. The Tomb of the Gods functioned as a splendid city thanks to the hard work of Ke ong and other craftsmen. The necessary facilities had been completed in a hurry. Entertainment and recreational facilities were also in the process of being concluded.

There were seventeen warp gates on the airship, linked to the warp gates that had appeared in almost every city and town thanks to the latest update.

The Tomb of the Gods could instantly summon any reinforcements whenever and wherever they wanted. To put it simply, this was a moving base. Its defense facilities were also outstanding. Two hundred thousand cannons had been installed on all sides of the ship and nearly ten thousand of them were Overgeared Cannons with a Unique rating or higher.

The Tomb of the Gods was the result of the hard work of all the blacksmiths in the empire. Lauel guarded the center of the completed airship.

[Jishuka's unit has won. The coordinates are 139,001,9. Requesting cleanup assistance.]

[Euphemina's unit has won. The coordinates are 82,574. Requesting cleanup assistance.]

[Damian's unit has narrowly lost. There are fewer than seven survivors on the enemy side, including one Absolute. The coordinates are 722,644,121. Requesting appropriate reinforcements.]

[Ibellin's unit has abandoned its mission. The coordinates are 604,841. There are estimated to be at least three enemy Absolutes. Waiting for the right reinforcements to arrive.]

Notifications were popping up one after another in the guild information window.

Lauel reacted quickly. He remembered the troops map and summoned soldiers through the warp gate. He informed them of the situations at the designated coordinates and immediately dispatched them where they were needed.

There were two main types of troops that Lauel operated. One of them was a support unit that dealt with dismantling the formations of the Full Moon Fortress after the main forces occupied them. They remained stationed at the Full Moon Fortress for several days to destroy its formation. They took care of the cleanup so that the main force could move onto the next fortress.

The second type of troops were the elite ones led by Hayate and Biban. Their mission was to rescue the main force from danger or to capture the Full Moon Fortresses that were difficult for the main force to deal with.

So far, everything was going well. Grid had destroyed a total of forty-one Full Moon Fortresses, and the Overgeared Guild had also succeeded in capturing twenty-nine Full Moon Fortresses.

There were only thirty-two Full Moon Fortresses left. There was still a month left before the deadline for the quest to stop the erosion ritual, so the situation was a lot better than they had initially expected.

'This is all thanks to more and more people condensing their spiritual root.'

The benefits of becoming a cultivator were enormous. Of course, this only applied to players who learned techniques that synergize well with their class, but the Overgeared members who succeeded in condensing their spiritual root had become at least twice as strong.

Clearly, the goal of this update was for players to focus purely on becoming stronger. It was like they were being warned that the next update would be very difficult.

But things were chaotic in the world right now. Lauel was already worried about what would happen the moment Ghamid collided with Earth.

'...I should focus on the situation at hand.'

There was a good chance that the changes in the world were just Lauel's delusions. Even if his delusion turned out to be true, he couldn't neglect the events occurring in Satisfy.

'Because Satisfy is what matters most to the players.'

They had to defend Satisfy at all costs. Preventing the erosion ritual was their primary goal.

Lauel calmed down and rubbed his eyes. He was very tired.

[Cranbel's team has retreated. The coordinates are changing in real time.]

[Chris' unit has encountered Cranbel on the southern side. The coordinates are 106,98,684. A powerful enemy has appeared. ]

[Chris' unit has retreated.]

Lauel was in a position from which he could easily gather information from all battlefields and make decisions. Since too much information could easily overwhelm him, he was given brief and condensed descriptions of events.

However, since this was an emergency, the system made an exception.

"Tell me more about Chris' situation."

-They encountered an Absolute cultivator who was chasing after Cranbel, who was seriously injured. Five minutes into the fight, Yura and Chris lost their power. The rest of the unit members manipulating the formation of the Full Moon Fortress got ambushed and suffered catastrophic damage.

"Ruby is on Cranbel's team but her healing couldn't keep up?"

There were a number of debuffs in Satisfy that reduced healing. The cultivation world surely had something similar to that. However, Ruby was the Saintess. She had the ability to purify debuffs and keep healing the target.

-I think the opponent's attack power is too high.

As expected. Ruby's healing couldn't keep up. This was bad news considering that Ruby healed the target by a percentage of their total HP.

Lauel sent a whisper to Chris and Yura.

"I'm sorry but the two of you will have to play the role of bait. Please draw the attention of the enemy so that Cranbel's team can safely make it to the Tomb of the Gods."

-We are already doing that, but...It won't mean much.

There was no energy in Chris' voice as he responded. Lauel thought Chris was just discouraged and added, "I've already summoned Hayate. Hold on for a bit longer..."

-Our invincibility passives have been consumed.

"Huh?"

Already? Both of them?

Lauel was taken aback. Chris and Yura made the strongest team in the Overgeared Guild. Only Euphemina and Katz together could match their strength. No, considering how much stronger Chris and Yura had become recently, a tower member or apostle certainly had to join as well to replace the two of them.

But they somehow lost their invincibility passives in just five minutes? Lauel couldn't believe that, even though the opponent won against the top dragon Cranbel. The opponent shouldn't have been perfectly fine after such a fight.

'...There's no way.'

The opponent seemed to be perfectly fine even after a fierce battle that left Cranbel seriously injured. This enemy had managed to maintain the upper hand in a fight against a top dragon who was receiving heals from the Saintess?

This opponent was the most powerful one among all the Absolutes.

'I thought that the cultivators were powerful overall, but I didn't think there was anybody among them who could match the old dragons or the Gods of the beginning.'

That was what Lauel thought. An enemy as powerful as this one had never appeared while the Overgeared Guild destroyed seventy-five Full Moon Fortresses.

In any case—

"Then, please try to make it out of there safely."

Lauel had no choice but to make this request. It was regrettable that he had to make Yura and Chris retreat, but if they died a second time, they would get forcibly logged out, and that would leave them unable to train and get stronger for a long time. However, saving Cranbel was urgent.

Just then, Hayate arrived through the warp gate. "What's the matter with you?" he asked.

Lauel had previously sent a whisper to a guild member in Hayate's team.

"An enemy on the level of the old dragons has appeared. The location..."

Grid had said that their main goal was to eliminate the cultivators. Hayate agreed. There was no point in trying to negotiate with the enemy.

Lauel informed Hayate of how strong the opponent was and where to find them. Hayate immediately set out. He used Shunpo once to escape the magic detection net installed on the Tomb of the Gods. By the time he used his eight Shunpo, he met Cranbel, who was flying. By his fifteenth Shunpo, he got ambushed by an unfamiliar young man.

"So you are the one who did all that damage to the fortresses," the cultivator said.

He was a cultivator who had reached the peak of great ascension. After hearing the news that various Full Moon Fortresses were being destroyed, the cultivator Zhang Hui decided to take matters into his own hands. He investigated the fragments of the Full Moon Fortresses and tried to figure out how strong the enemies were. He shivered when he realized something.

A considerable number of Full Moon Fortresses had been cut in two by a single slash. It was impossible for the fortresses to be destroyed in such a way. It took time and effort to gradually weaken the formation installed inside before the fortress collapsed entirely.

But to destroy it in a single slash?

"This must be the doing of the master of the new Super Galaxy Treasure that appeared not long ago."

He was referring to the Treasure from the second row, the Falling Moon Sword. The owner of this sword was surely the one behind the slashing. Zhang Hui could tell this much.

He gathered the fragments of the collapsed Full Moon Fortress. By activating the dozens of broken formations simultaneously, he opened a door to the upper world, albeit an imperfect one.

He carried out his ascension, which he had put on hold for thousands of years for personal reasons. It was a painful experience, but it was worth it if he could get his hands on that specific Super Galaxy Treasure.

"Until I got to the top and carved my name on the monument, I kept wondering if this was the right thing to do. My name, which a lot of people know in the world of cultivation, will be just one of countless names in the immortal world."

Zhang Hui looked at Hayate's waist. There was nothing there. However, Zhang Hui could see a gathering of intangible energy with the eyes of an immortal. It took the form of a sword, though it looked incomplete.

"I was worried I would end up regretting ascending, but I see that there was no reason to worry. Seeing that you have appeared before me, I realize this must be the gravitational pull of fate. I assure you that your treasured sword was meant for me to hold it."

Hayate stared blankly at the cultivator who was chattering intently. "Uh-huh..."

It took him some time to realize that the cultivator had misunderstood something.

'This guy thinks I'm Grid...'

As he traveled all over the continent to lend his support to others, Hayate often saw traces of the destruction left behind by Grid—the Full Moon Fortresses cut down along with their formations. This was clearly the work of a sword. The man in front of him must've seen them too.

"Come on now, draw your sword. If you have such a high-quality sword, then it means I don't have to worry about damaging it."

Zhang Hui gestured to Hayate while hundreds of colorful beads hovered around him. Hayate didn't think there was no way he could escape from those beads. The total amount of energy contained in each one was immense, unfathomable even.

'This guy is just as strong as an old dragon.'

The opponent was just as strong as an old dragon. However, because he was not, in fact, an old dragon, Hayate could not take advantage of his dragon-killing energy that was effective against dragons. This was the most difficult enemy Hayate could have possibly encountered. He couldn't possibly gain the upper hand against this guy.

However, Hayate didn't back down and clenched his fists. That intangible energy manifested in his hands, slowly gaining a white color.

Before he knew it, a pure white sword was in his hand.

Hayate had been mistaken for Grid. The cultivator would soon realize his mistake, but Hayate didn't want to tarnish Grid's name for even a moment. He was determined to put up a fight.

Zhang Hui frowned. "...Huh?"

Hayate's sword was entirely made out of energy. He thought the sword was made of some special substance when it had no form, but he had been mistaken.

"There is no way that an individual's energy can be classified as a Treasure... You aren't who I'm looking for, are you?"

"I knew you'd realize that sooner or later."

"Bah, get lost."

Zhang Hui was greatly disappointed and waved his hand. Hundreds of beads stretched out like flashes of light.

The beads, each with a different attribute and effect, rushed forward in completely different trajectories, resembling falling stars in the night sky.

Hayate avoided the attack by using Shunpo, but Zhang Hui just sneered.

"Ridiculous."

The beads had already designated Hayate as their target and responded to his Shunpo by also using Shunpo. This attack could not be avoided. There was a reason Chris and Yura had not survived.

Hayate sighed and adjusted his dragon killing energy.

Suddenly, he thought of something. No matter how great these beads were, there was no way they were better than an old dragon's Breath. Right?

Right. Hayate knew that the most powerful creatures in the world were the old dragons.

As Hayate brandished his weapon, the elongated Dragon Killing Sword spun like a whip until it covered the skies and earth alike to intercept most of the hundreds of beads.

......

A series of deafening, colorful explosions occurred.

'Um.'

Hayate regretted underestimating the beads. He even felt betrayed for placing so much faith in the old dragons' strength.

It was only after the series of explosions engulfed Hayate that he heard the thunderous sounds which resulted from the blasts.