Immortals used to be ordinary human beings. They had only reached their current state by giving up on their morals, cultivating their spiritual roots, studying thoroughly, not being afraid of having their body and honor stained by blood and filth, and repeatedly defying the natural order.
They were certainly as intelligent and strong as an Absolute, but most of them had somewhat human emotions. It was difficult to make rational judgments in front of the incomprehensible, even for those who had become as powerful as G.o.ds.
That was the case with the seven immortals now. They had ascended and become immortals to catch the old dragons, so they were only half-immortals because they had not chosen to stay in the immortal world after becoming immortals.
The amount of information they would gain after becoming immortals was as vast as an ocean, but they didn’t go through the process of acquiring it and acc.u.mulating their cultivation. They didn’t gain any new insights. Only their bodies became stronger, but they weren’t invincible.
To properly utilize the strength of an immortal, one needed to have a great deal of spiritual energy. The amount of spiritual energy flowing in the lower world was ridiculously insufficient compared to the immortal world. The immortals were heavily restricted here.
"Aghhh!"
The seven immortals rolled back their eyes in pain as the chain of sword dances slashed them. They couldn’t fight back. They couldn’t even get used to their status as true immortals, the weakest of the immortals, and couldn’t make it out of this dilemma.
The best they could do was blame their unnecessarily durable bodies that made them feel more pain than they should. They feared Grid and despaired that they had to go through excruciating pain instead of dying in a single blow. They were forced to experience being torn to shreds.
“The moment he gets on the dragon, his aura changes...! Is this a trick of the demon cultivators?”
The female immortal no longer felt hopeless and instead felt extremely angry. She used anger to dilute the fear and pain that she was experiencing for the first time in her life and narrowly avoided some of the waves of purple sword energy.
She fiercely swung her spear. Her opponent was forced to dodge her weapon so as to not take ma.s.sive damage. She gracefully thrust it in an attempt to separate Grid from Raiders.
[This idiot can’t figure out who she is up against.]
Raiders’ intent was carved all around them. He was angry, which was a rare occurrence.
[You ran away without ever looking back. You have no sense of shame...!]
The intent of the female immortal pushed back against Raiders’. It engulfed the old dragon’s anger with her even greater anger. She seemingly didn’t tolerate the fact that the golden dragon, who was supposed to be her prey, had become powerful by teaming up with Grid.
In response to their master’s will, the mystical characters went on a rampage. They spun tightly around the silver spear and let out a vicious roar. The stronger the rotational force, the denser the arrangement of mystical characters. The power of the silver spear increased with every spin. Its destructive force and speed kept stacking as it approached Grid.
‘This s.h.i.+t...’
Grid thought that one single strike from that spear would obliterate both his legs. He was a bit nervous because he had to keep attacking the other immortals. He instructed a few G.o.d Hands to transform into prosthetic limbs in advance. But he worried over nothing.
Grid had to keep in mind that the dragon he was working with was an old dragon.
[Get lost,] Raiders said.
The hundreds of mystical characters s.h.i.+ning in various colors around the silver spear shook violently. Everything around him remained the same. Only the mystical characters fluctuated like candles about to go out. It seemed like this kind of transcendent power was only affecting the female immortal.
A chill went down the female immortal’s spine and her eyes widened.
Flas.h.!.+
Golden magic power released from Raiders’ in the form of a thread. The female immortal took two steps back. She wasn’t retreating because she wanted to. She wasn’t pushed back by an external force. The girl was standing there as if she had been in that spot all along. What was even more surprising was that her silver spear, which was about to stab Grid, disappeared.
[...!?]
The girl looked at her hand incredulously. She stuck out her tongue in surprise. There was a silver bead stud on the tip of her tongue.
[Time regression...! I can’t believe you did something so ridiculous again...!]
The girl understood what had happened. She pulled out the silver bead on her tongue again and transformed it into a spear. The mystical characters emerged immediately, but it was too late.
Bright red blood was already splattering. Except for her, the other six immortals had been turned into mangled flesh. In other words, her surprise attack was no longer a threat to Grid.
The silver spear let out a sound similar to a scream as it bounced off the sword that Grid swung. Part of the inscription wrapped around the spear was torn apart. The numbness in the female immortal’s hands was unfamiliar and frightening. She felt as if she was sinking into the depths of the ocean. The girl frowned and gulped.
[When I saw the Full Moon Fortress, I thought it had been destroyed in a single blow. However, I was mistaken, right? I’m very curious about who you are, since you enslaved a dragon who is so powerful that he can use time powers.]
In the girl’s eyes, Grid’s cultivation was nothing more than foundation building. If the girl’s cultivation had been below the great ascension realm, she would’ve ignored him and let down her guard. However, the girl was an immortal. It wasn’t difficult for her to see that Grid was more powerful than what appearances dictated.
She thought she had seen through him, but she was still mistaken. Grid’s actual power couldn’t be measured by her standards. No one could touch him, and he was just like all the divine beasts that roamed the immortal world.
“I am an ordinary person,” Grid replied while swinging his sword at the girl again.
The fragments of the shattered silver spear scattered with the broken mystical characters.
“I hope to keep living alongside the people you are trying to hurt.”
What Grid was saying didn’t tell much to the female immortal. However, Grid was serious. He meant what he said.
“That is why I fight.”
Khan, Irene, Lord, Mercedes, Marie Rose, Basara, and countless others, including the subjects of the empire and the Tower members... They all mattered to Grid. He had known them for a long time. Grid wanted them to live peacefully in a safe environment, even if that environment wasn’t ideal. Even if something changed in reality and he would never be able to access Satisfy again, he wanted them to live happily ever after in this world.
The female immortal had a glimmer of hope that she could survive this encounter.
[If so, please reconsider. I don’t usually harm mortals...] she said.
Grid interrupted her by cutting her in half with Defying the Natural Order and Twilight, which he had combined.
[You!!]
The nascent soul emerged from the immortal’s body and glared at Grid. Of course, she was just acting ferocious. She didn’t dare to attack him. She turned into a beam of light and tried to escape.
Grid chased after her.
“Now...!”
The nascent souls of the six immortals, who had been hiding in their torn apart bodies, flew out in unison. Six beams of light of different colors scattered in all directions. They saw an opportunity and timed their escape perfectly. Their smiles widened as they were fleeing.
Nevartan sneered. [Do you think you can run away?]
He had been tied up the moment he appeared. Now he was shamelessly talking as if that didn’t happen.
The dwarves snorted. ‘Does this fool believe he can hold us?’
The nascent soul was the essence of a cultivator. It combined their source of energy, soul, and determination cultivated throughout their lives to grant them a second life. In fact, the nascent soul was a cultivator’s main body.
As long as the nascent soul was alive, the cultivator could resurrect at any time. They had to make sure they would survive no matter what. They had all types of safeguards put in place, such as stacking techniques that increased movement speed, so they could easily escape in case of an emergency.
Thus, the six of them moved so fast that they could only be seen as beams of light, and ran away in different directions.
Not even a golden immortal could catch them all. Maybe one of them would get caught if they were unlucky, but only after a relentless chase.
“......”
This was the reason the six dwarves had remained silent. n.o.body wanted to be that unlucky one. They kept their mouths shut and didn’t make eye contact so that Nevartan wouldn’t target them.
It was all in vain.
“...What?!”
The six dwarves yelped at the same time. They heard what sounded like friction of metal and they stopped in their tracks. Something grabbed them and wouldn’t let them go.
“No...!”
The six dwarves were shocked and looked back with trembling eyes. Black chains were keeping them from escaping. This was one of the Treasures that cultivators of a sect refined throughout their lives to hunt large monsters. The thing they had used to suppress the black dragon was now holding them back.
How absurd! Treasures attacking their master? That was impossible...
They were shocked and turned their attention to Nevartan. Their hearts chilled. Nevartan was holding the black chains.
The huge black dragon was now using the chains that bound him like he was an expert.
[You didn’t actually believe you could do anything to me with these chains, did you?]
This was why Nevartan hadn’t avoided the flying chains and allowed himself to get caught. This was all thanks to Grid’s clone sending him a sound transmission before the fight, saying that he was concerned about the large number of immortals, and that they needed to be prepared in case their nascent souls escaped. He had asked Nevartan to give him time to dismantle the chains, a.n.a.lyze them, and change their purpose.
For the first time, the clone demonstrated his blacksmithing skills. He was certainly inferior to Grid because of his lack of relevant t.i.tles, but he was better than a Legendary blacksmith thanks to his skills and dexterity.
The result was a success.
“Meteor.”
Dozens of huge meteorites fell toward the dwarves and Nevartan fired a pitch black Breath shot. This was the chain attack of two Absolutes. The protective s.h.i.+eld that the dwarves hastily surrounded themselves with didn’t last long and shattered.
Nevartan’s tail and claws ripped the dwarves apart.
“Good.”
Grid gave a thumbs up as he returned after destroying the female immortal’s nascent soul. After all, he had received a big favor from Raiders. Now that he was cooperating with the old dragons, he wanted to improve their relations.h.i.+p. Nevartan was also Nefelina’s father, so there was no awkwardness when it came to using honorifics with him.
[...Good work.]
Nevartan didn’t dare to not acknowledge Grid’s favor either. The atmosphere was quite friendly thanks to the fact that they had killed as many as seven immortals.
“It’s my turn, nyang.”
Thanks to this carefree atmosphere, Noe wasn’t intimidated by the old dragons either. He set out to devour the remains of the immortals with great dignity.
However, Noe ended up missing the opportunity to eat because of the white divinity that suddenly brightly shone around him and engulfed all the remains of the immortals.
“W-What, nyang?!”
Startled, Noe leapt into Grid’s arms.
“Nice seeing you, Grid.”
Soon, the divinity dissipated and a handsome man with black hair appeared. He had his signature twisted grin on his face.
“I desperately wanted to see you.”
Garam.
The greatest genius of all time, who had inherited the power of Hanul, a G.o.d of the beginning, had been resurrected. Now he came to visit Grid.