Hyunsoo’s eyes blazed like a feral beast that had found its prey.

But there was one undeniable fact he couldn’t forget.

Blood Demon Grout was in an even stronger state.

The moment it finished its complete descent.

[Appearance of Eternal Lord Grout!]

[Eternal Lord Grout Lv.532]

Only then did it make him truly realize why this was his greatest fear.

[Status ailment. You have been afflicted with extreme fear.

[Status ailment. You have been afflicted with the lord’s wrath.]

[All stats decrease by 24%.]

[Agility decreases by 35%.]

[All skill cooldowns increase by 50%.]

[Continuous bleeding occurs.]

[You are stunned for 6 seconds.]

“Cough.......”

Blood started pouring out of every opening on Hyunsoo’s face—eyes, ears, nose.

“BLAAARGH!”

[HP falls below 99%.]

With the bleeding that wouldn’t stop, and a body that couldn’t move, fear took root in his eyes.

Watching Hyunsoo stagger, Grout lifted its head.

“You. Are. The one.”

That voice.

That skin-crawling voice.

A chill, rapturous voice, like Satan’s.

“I have waited for the day I’d meet you in my Eternal Hell.”

STEP STEP—

Just facing it would be enough to kill any human.

Drunk on joy, Grout had seen it clearly.

“How strange, hmm? Just a moment ago, it looked like there was something like fighting spirit in your eyes.” 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

That was true.

For a split second, Grout had seen the fighting spirit lodged in his gaze.

“It went out like a lamp in the wind. Or was it arrogance you could only show because you killed me with your friends?”

From the start, Grout didn’t even recognize Hyunsoo as a “worthy opponent.”

Because it hadn’t been “Hyun” who killed it in the first place.

“They’re not here—those eccentric friends of yours!”

That was right.

The one who’d been like a mountain, the Sword King.

The one who wielded a spear like a god, Azure Sky.

The knight who had followed the young woman, or the Sword King.

None of them were beside him now.

To Grout, Hyunsoo was nothing but an unremarkable insect.

Still, it didn’t change that he was an existence with meaning.

“Because of you. Waiting for the day I’d kill you, I killed and killed—anything I could get my hands on.”

“.......”

“And so I became a new supreme one. No one calls me a mongrel anymore.”

Then, standing before Hyunsoo, pressing down on his shoulders, it spoke.

“You were my ‘driving force.’ Thanks to you, I fought like I’d gone mad, and I endured while waiting for the day I’d meet you.”

“.......”

“To you, will I be recorded as despair? Will you fall into fear and despair the moment you die, thrashing around?”

Despair.

A word that was more than enough to make Grout endlessly happy.

Then Grout’s brow furrowed.

Because Hyunsoo didn’t answer.

“......Bastard. Has fear paralyzed your tongue?”

Only then did Hyunsoo ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) raise his head and meet its gaze.

His pupils were slack, like he’d lost all will to fight—then they started to sharpen.

“Again......”

“Again?”

“Do you...... fall for it, Grout?”

“???”

Grout froze like that, and the image of Hyunsoo from the past—stabbing straight into its blind spot—surfaced in its mind.

But then and now were different.

Back then, he’d been threatening because he was with his friends, and his level had only been in the 200s.

Only six months had passed since then.

In that time, how much could he have grown—

RUMMMMBLE—

‘Th-this is......?’

Grout knew this source of power.

The power born from the Sword King had been rampage.

The power born from Azure Sky had been gentle strength.

And the power now pouring out of Hyunsoo was unbreakable, born from pride.

The common thread binding them all was—

“Y-you—have you become a legend!!!?”

[The Pride of the Master Blacksmith]

[You resist all status ailments.]

Human growth lagged behind demons and devils, and that was why they were called “insects.”

But six months.

For Hyunsoo, it had been time to do far too much.

He was glad he could show Grout the strength he’d earned during that time.

Hyunsoo had deliberately kept The Pride of the Master Blacksmith turned off, and lured it into close range.

With his competitive spirit burning hot again, he planted his feet and forced his collapsing body upright.

“PFFFT!”

He spat the blood in his mouth, blotting Grout’s vision.

A single massive power that synergized with that momentary confusion and fear.

No one else could stack achievements like his, and at last, by becoming the lord of the one-and-only great territory, Atlas, he reached true “legend” class—charisma so heavy it pressed down on Grout and made it recoil.

[Overwhelm]

Overwhelm was power that inflicted the right status ailments for the situation.

[Status ailment confusion activates.]

[Status ailment fear activates.]

The status ailments weren’t especially strong.

But—

“T-this is impossible.......”

[You are staggered for 1 second.]

Grout couldn’t even wipe the blood off its eyes, caught in shock.

For Hyunsoo, it was enough time.

He drew a sword Grout hadn’t seen from his inventory.

A massive greatsword reflected the tower’s lamp-light, stealing Grout’s sight for an instant as it narrowed its eyes.

“That isn’t that sword!”

Grout felt relief instead, because it wasn’t the Supreme Sword.

The Supreme Sword it had seen months ago had carried a bizarre power—power that let that weak human unleash tremendous strength.

And a greatsword—wasn’t it a slow blade that the current Grout could resist with status ailments and stop in a single breath?

But its expectation was wrong.

‘Fast......!’

The speed of an ordinary longsword.

And something even more shocking.

KRAKAAAANG—

“G-ghaaaagh!?”

[Grout’s HP falls below 99%.]

The damage was twice—no, more than four times—stronger than the Supreme Sword had been back then.

‘That can’t be......!’

Watching Hyunsoo chase it down at terrifying speed, Grout swallowed hard.

This wasn’t the speed it remembered.

Still, it reassured itself one more time.

What made the Supreme Sword dangerous was that unknown power that cut eight times in a row.

That sword didn’t have that power—

KRRRIIING—!

[Nine Slashes]

KRAKAKAKAKAKAK—!

“Ghaaaaagh!”

Endless screams poured from Grout’s mouth as it was ruthlessly carved apart.

It couldn’t believe it.

That power from another artifact had been transferred to yet another greatsword?

And the cause was the Dagger of Desire.

The Dagger of Desire could attempt skill absorption, and not long ago, Hyunsoo had succeeded in transferring the Supreme Sword’s Nine Slashes onto the Twin Dragon Sword.

Of course, that meant there was even less reason to use the Supreme Sword anymore, but that was fine.

Right now, there was no reason for him to use it at all.

I prepared.

Hyunsoo kept cutting forward, remembering.

Transferring the Supreme Sword’s skill.

And everything he’d built up until now.

All of it could be called a foundation for one thing.

He had never once forgotten his promise with Gremory.

He had said that on the day she returned, he would welcome her as a king.

He had achieved it, one by one.

And at the end of that achieving, Hyunsoo had been preparing to face her.

Today, he had found an opponent to spend the power he’d saved, cherished, and piled up.

And still, it wasn’t enough.

Hyunsoo knew that at this level, he couldn’t beat Gremory.

But if he stepped over one more thing.

If he crossed one more threshold, he knew it would be different.

And the opportunity placed before him right now—

“I’m your driving force?”

KRAKAAAANG—!

Hyunsoo laughed as he cut down the one that couldn’t regain its senses.

“Then you’re my rain after drought.”

Rain after drought.

Rain that fell during a drought.

Like a drought, Hyunsoo had been stagnant lately.

He hadn’t had time to grow stronger because he’d been maintaining and developing Atlas.

He hadn’t been able to build the strength he needed to stand against Gremory.

But Grout’s appearance became rain after drought, falling onto his parched self.

The proof was what he’d seen the moment he first encountered it.

A vast black light.

That light filled Hyunsoo’s thirst—Hyunsoo, who had been drying out, unable to find any more outstanding materials, and starving for them.

[Gathering activates.]

[Transcendence grade. You can obtain regenerative blood.]

[Transcendence grade. You can obtain the lord’s horn.]

[legendary grade. You can obtain mongrel blood.]

[legendary grade. You can obtain mongrel bone......]

And that wasn’t all.

Rain after drought was nothing more than rain that fell during a drought—but that single rain fell even harder, soaking the dried land.

Just like that, the moment he encountered it, the notifications told him.

[A new story begins.]

The tower had acknowledged it.

That the Grout he met again was enough to ignite a new story.

DING!

[Sudden Quest: Win Against the Existence of Fear]

Grade: SS

Restriction: One who proceeds with a new story

Reward: All rewards X3

Penalty on failure: You will be unable to ascend the Tower of Honor permanently.

Description: We look forward to you, facing the existence of fear. If you meet our expectations, you’ll receive the greatest reward. If you do not, you will be unable to ascend the tower permanently.

[The tower grants a privilege.]

[Gathering’s activation rate increases by 3x.]

Gathering’s activation rate tripled, and the absurd reward of tripling all rewards was applied.

Still thirsty, Hyunsoo walked.

“Ghost Step.”

SHNK—!

THUNK!

THUNK THUNK!

THUNKTHUNKTHUNKTHUNK—!

“Ghaaaaagh, you—y-youuuuu!”

The rain pours.

What sprouts from the soaked ground was strong, fierce, and tall.

Enough to fill a long thirst in a single stroke.

Gathering’s activation rate tripled.

And on the 11th pass of Ghost Step’s mystery, after he raked through it dozens of times—

[legendary grade. You obtain mongrel blood.]

A few drops of water slid down his throat and eased his thirst a little.

And on the 28th—

[Transcendence grade. You obtain regenerative blood.]

He could drink a full cup.

But rain after drought—precisely speaking—was sweetness that fell after a long time.

“Rain after drought!? Rain after drought!? Even if rain falls, it doesn’t change that it’s a desert—and do you not know it will become hell again!”

[Grout’s HP falls below 35%.]

When Ghost Step ended, the blood-soaked Grout seized the moment to counterattack.

To mock and trample that talk of “rain after drought,” it began preparing a massive compression of power.

FWAAAGH—!

Dozens of blood-red spheres extended outward.

The omen of a blood festival.

“Don’t forget that I’ve grown stronger too!”

[Restraint]

[You cannot move for 1 second.]

[It is an absolute skill that cannot be resisted.]

It sought to pass judgment on the one who dared treat it like mere rain after drought.

The one it remembered had been so weak that five droplets of blood tore his limbs apart.

Even if he’d grown stronger now, Grout knew he wouldn’t endure fifteen droplets.

“Ghah... g-hahahah—rain after drought? Rain after drought!?”

Mocking and ridiculing what he’d said, it finally fired the blood-red droplets at the one who couldn’t move—simultaneously.

In that moment.

FWAAAGH—!

The Dagger of Desire on his necklace rose up, exploding with light.

[Emergency Save]

[With a 3% chance, it stores the trait used by the enemy and returns it.]

Every blood-red sphere it had fired was sucked into the necklace.

Grout denied it.

‘How can an artifact like that exist?’

This couldn’t be happening.

It was one of Grout’s strongest attacks.

A power that had helped it sweep away five hundred enemies in Eternal Hell and reign as king.

And that power—

“.......”

Was sitting inside one small necklace of his, while he wore a sneering smile at Grout.

He stretched his arm forward and aimed at it.

“I’ll give it back.”

In that moment.

[It manifests 70% of the effect of the trait the enemy used.]

Dozens of blood-red spheres burst out of the necklace all at once.

KRAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAK—!

“GHAAAAAAAGH!”

It was being destroyed by its own power.

[Grout’s HP falls below 11%.]

Reeling from the massive explosion, it denied it.

Impossible.

Not only had he reached legend in six months.

His sword, his necklace—and even powers not yet shown.

Then the one approaching spoke.

“Now that I think about it, rain after drought might not be it. Using a pretty word like that for trash like you is a waste.”

Grout felt humiliation at the words that followed.

“Let’s call it a storm.”

A storm of growth pours down on Hyunsoo, who had been drying out.

And that rain would not stop for a long time.