Ep. 227
–
He had several names.
A being blessed by the stars, a wise man blessed with the wisdom of the stars, the strongest male, etc.
Among many names, this is his favorite nickname.
Great Odd Grad.
There is no expression that describes him better than the word ‘great.’
There has never been a creature so special in the world that was born with the blessings of a star.
He could read the future.
Sometimes as a dream, sometimes as a hallucination.
Thanks to the precognitive ability he had from birth, he was able to avoid the crisis that befell him.
He also actively used his abilities to protect the group.
Since the days of Aquascale, he has gone hunting with his compatriots and helped them stay out of danger. His fellow countrymen also trusted him, calling him a wise young being.
Over time, he became the strongest leader of the group. He was respected by many of his compatriots, and beautiful and strong females became his companions.
Everything was perfect.
Until I met ‘the dwarf’.
Before the stars changed dozens of times, someone sneaked into the nest and stole the eggs.
The identity of the thieves was that they were dwarves who had never been seen before. They came here in an aircraft that gave off a smell similar to minerals.
Enraged, he tried to attack the aircraft carrying the dwarves. If the future hadn’t warned him, it certainly would have.
I still can’t forget the future I saw then.
The moment he attacked, one of the strange-looking dwarves came to the forefront. He killed all of his compatriots, including him. The dwarves took all the eggs.
He tried to avoid destruction at all costs, but the future he saw did not change.
The strange dwarf on the aircraft is a completely different kind of being. This was an opponent I couldn’t beat no matter what I did.
If it were other compatriots, they wouldn’t have given up, but not Od Grad. Thanks to his ability to read the future, he has been able to think completely differently from his fellow countrymen.
Fear of death Anxiety about an uncontrollable future. Emotions that I had never felt in my life swelled up. The ability that made him great also consumed him.
The option he chose, consumed by fear, was submission. He bowed his head in front of the dwarf and prayed that he would do anything to save him.
Was it surprising that he came out with this attitude? The dwarf, or rather the ‘Transcendent’, seemed to like his actions.
The Transcendent did not kill him. Rather, he showed favor to Od Grad.
His secrets that not even Odd Grad knew about, what happens in the stars in the sky, and even the truth of this world.
The moment he started listening to the story of the transcendent, the world he knew was completely torn apart.
Beloved companions, young kin who sometimes played together, white-scaled kin who depended on you when you went out hunting.
Everything was worthless. They were no different from the lumps of metal lying around out there.
The Transcendent said.
Only Odd Grad is said to be ‘unique’. They say that it is a waste to kill them like this since they are worthy of becoming the incarnation of the stars.
I didn’t know exactly what it meant, but it didn’t matter. To him, the fact that the Transcendent would guarantee his life was much more important.
After a deal with the Transcendent, he survived.
The Transcendant even gave him a precious gift, saying it was a sign of becoming a friend.
But the young leader who loved his people was no longer there. Instead, only ‘Great Odd Grad’ remained.
The great Od Grad has awakened from its long sleep.
The fight against the cunning ‘black brethren’ ended unpleasantly. Because his kin attacked the nest, he had no choice but to return quickly.
Losing the traitor was a considerable loss, but there was more to it than that. This is because the future of being murdered by black people has not changed.
Only then did he remember the transcendent’s warning.
The monument given by the Transcendant spoke to him. That someone who might be able to kill him will come.
However, Od Grad could not follow those words. This was because the immediate task of organizing the group of deserters was more urgent.
The dream also did not warn him of an ominous future. Because of that, I ended up acting carelessly.
In some ways, this may be natural. Because he had only chosen a future that he could control throughout his life.
This time too, he decided to rely on his own abilities. Didn’t he survive without confronting the transcendent in the first place thanks to his ability to see the future? The power to see the future was sure to guide him down the right path.
Odd Grad woke up from a dream and let out a wave of thoughts.
「Finally」「Victory」「I Saw it」
After wandering through my dreams for several days to find the answer, I found a way to change the future.
Oddrad
「 Defense
」
‘All’, ‘Follow’, ‘Reject’, ‘I will not forgive’. Although
the companions cautiously raised opposing opinions, Ohd Grad did not listen.
In his dream he saw
He was standing on a mountain peak with an unusual appearance. A black, scarred figure of his kind was seen lying beneath his feet. He decapitated his compatriot with his sharp claws and drank its blood.
The great Od Grad has won again.
–
I flew quite far from the nest and landed on the peak of one of the vast mountain ranges.
You can see a nest made of broken tree remains and sparkling jewel pieces. This is Twin Peaks, where I visited recently to catch Crystal Wings.
I laid down on the nest that had lost its owner.
‘You’ve probably seen him by now.’
Since I left the group, Od Grad’s vision of the future must have changed. They don’t know when an opportunity like this will come again, so they’ll try to attack me right away.
There are not many twin-shaped peaks around here. This is especially true if it is where the crystal wing nest where I lie is located.
‘If you saw me in your dream, it won’t be hard to find you.’
There’s still time left before they come.
I unpacked the bag I was carrying and took out the equipment inside.
‘Blood River Demolisher Controller…’
These are all trophies obtained from the enemies he has fought so far. There are more loot bags in the nest than the ones I took out.
The priest’s golden spear is not in this bag. This is because it was originally in there, but was deliberately removed and thrown into the pit.
‘Heavenly Mother would know what I mean.’
I believe they will soon realize my intentions, but I prepared insurance in case they fail.
She knows very well how useful the priest’s golden spear is. If you check the spear hidden in the hole, you will immediately see what I mean.
‘I left, but there’s no way I’m going to eat right away. I’ll probably find it tomorrow morning.’
This is the first time I have ever implemented a plan with so many variables. Still, this is the best way to keep Od Grad from finding out.
I replayed the fight with that guy.
There are two main types of things we can be sure that its crisis detection ability has been activated. This is when the Rod of God was used and when the ‘Color of the Abyss’ was activated.
‘It’s not accurate when the cruiser explodes, but…’
Considering that the guy didn’t suffer fatal injuries, there’s a good chance he could have peeked into the future and avoided it.
Simply put, all the attacks he avoided by seeing the future were ones that had the potential to cause fatal injuries.
‘The Enhanced Fear Watcher is slightly different, but it is the same in that it is directly linked to death.’
The ‘Watcher of Fear’ with the color of the abyss applied causes the target to continue to experience the most terrible pain. In that state, it would be impossible to fly, let alone fight, so it is not unrelated to death.
‘But he didn’t show anything like that in other attacks.’
Even though Black Gallagon’s skin is hard, it is not invincible as a living creature. If you keep getting hit by regular psychic breath or other attacks, you will get scars. In fact, he was bleeding after being hit by a main gun fired by a cruiser.
‘It didn’t seem like I was predicting the future back then.’
The Cult Cruiser’s main gun can injure Black Gallagon. However, it is impossible to kill it with one hit.
Therefore, it is highly likely that its crisis detection ability is limited to ‘one-shot attacks that kill the self or inflict fatal injuries to the point of death.’ All the colors of the abyss of God’s whip fall into this category.
‘The super-powerful reflective gloves are still unknown.’
I looked down at the equipment I had laid out.
‘His abilities and God’s whip do not go well together.’
‘God’s Rod’ is very powerful, but because of its power, it is not good in the current situation. This is because it is affected by its precognitive ability.
‘Then we need to change our tactics too.’
I enabled a semi-transparent textbox.
「Predator’s Irregular Polyhedron: Devours a piece of equipment and specializes its unique abilities. It can only be used once per piece of equipment, and when you feast on another piece of equipment, the characteristic effects of the previous piece of equipment are lost.
‘Predator’s Indeterminate Polyhedron’ is an ability obtained by killing the cyborg player Muriel a few months ago. As a result of feasting on the cult’s orbital weapon ‘Rain God’ at the time, it acquired the characteristics of a divine whip that uses the power of the Thunder God.
And I plan to feast on new equipment here.
Among the equipment in front of me, there are a total of three items worth feasting on.
It is a Blood Reaver obtained from Muriel, a Demolisher obtained from the Orchestrator Temple Guardians, and a cruiser.
‘Demolish it.’
I picked up a firearm that resembled a rectangular pencil case.
The characteristics created by the Marauder’s irregular polyhedron follow those of the preyed equipment. If you eat the plasma launcher and eat the plasma heat ray god, you will use the power of the thunder god. If you eat Demolisher, you will be able to shoot a beam with a material manipulation effect.
‘Of course this won’t work, right?’
Demolisher’s bullets can break down even the hardest materials. Because it is a similar effect to the psychic breath enhanced by the color of the abyss, it will be within Od Grad’s detection range.
‘Next is the coordinator.’
The cross-shaped halo headband tuner is a trophy obtained from killing Muriel.
Originally, Jason also had an Attuner, but when his body teleported, the equipment disappeared along with it, so he couldn’t get it.
‘The coordinator ability isn’t bad either.’
The Orchestrator is a reward that can be obtained by clearing level 9 of the cult’s unique system of quests.
If you wear this headband, whenever you receive a fatal injury, you will automatically be teleported to a nearby location. Since the setting involves transforming the body into particles and moving it, there is also the terrifying effect that all injuries on the body are healed after instantaneous movement.
The number of instantaneous movements is 5 times in total. In other words, it’s like having five lives.
‘Teleportation is good, but it’s useless here.’
What I need is an attack method that can inflict moderate damage without activating its abilities. It would be nice to have the ability to protect myself, but it’s hard to say it’s useful at this point.
‘What remains is the Blood River.’
I looked down at a spider-shaped machine as small as my finger joint.
At first glance, it looks small and cute, but it is actually a very dangerous machine.
‘After all, it is Star Union’s only top-class war weapon.’
In terms of grade alone, it is on the same level as Thunder God. In fact, the production costs for the two are almost similar.
In the game, the Blood River is often used in many situations, such as battles between players, capturing rare creatures, and weakening powerful raid boss-level creatures.
When you activate Blood Reaver, it attaches to a specific target and absorbs their life force. The absorption rate is very fast, so the combat power of even the strongest enemy is greatly weakened.
You may think that you can detect it in advance and avoid it, but that is impossible. This is because the metals and paints that make up the Blood Reaver have the effect of nullifying detection. Thanks to this, even my auxiliary organs can’t read it.
‘I almost died when I fought Muriel because of this.’
At the time, I was able to neutralize the Blood Reaver because I had already activated the ‘Gremlin Moss’ trait that makes the machine stupid.
Anyway, considering the effect of Blood River, it is appropriate for this situation. Because you’re getting an attack method that can steadily accumulate damage without killing him in one hit.
As I was looking at the listed equipment, I raised my head and looked up at the sky. It was hard to tell the time because there were still a lot of dark clouds, but I could roughly tell that it was night.
‘There’s still some time left, so let’s think about it slowly.’
In addition to the three types of weapons, there are other equipment in the bag.
I took out each piece of equipment and thought about how I would use it.
Actually, I have already decided what to write, but the reason I do this is because of anxiety.
This is an enemy who can read the future. Can I defeat him?
What if he changes his goal?
What if they attack Adhaya or the others first instead of me?
I realized it too late and went back to find the nest littered with corpses. Number 26, mortally wounded and dying, curses me. Abandoning us and living alone…
‘Stop.’
I hit my head hard on the floor.
Is it because of the cold snow? The ominous thoughts disappeared in an instant and my head felt clear.
‘I won’t lose.’
Since coming this far, there have been very few things that have gone perfectly according to my plan. Variables that I was unaware of always popped up and unexpected crises arose.
But I survived. No adversity, no strong enemy, could overpower me.
The same goes for Od Grad.
He will come here and I will feast on every last bit of his genetic essence.
With that in mind, I waited.
As time passes, the location of the clouds changes. The dark clouds became thicker, and a blizzard and lightning came together.
Weather conditions continued to be so harsh that it was difficult to even describe them with the word bad weather.
My accessory organs sensed something.
A very large number of large objects are rapidly approaching this place.
‘You’re here.’
I took the equipment out of my bag and put it in my mouth. The predator’s irregular polyhedron was activated and the structure of the body was changed.
I looked up at the sky, feeling the rod of God that had been with me for a long time leaving me.
Black wings are visible behind the curtain named Blizzard.
The long wait is over.
The time to hunt has come.