Chapter 312 – Rome is Burning (3)  

Whack.

Gi-Gyu thrust his fist toward a monster’s face. The monster opened its mouth to scream, but no sound came out. Gi-Gyu had punched it so hard that its head began to crumble down. As expected, it died within seconds. Even the most powerful monster with the best regeneration power couldn’t survive if its Root were destroyed. Gi-Gyu had learned this after battling the acid-spitting Colosseum monster. He had discovered that these monsters’ root was inside their brains.

“God’s Tears…” Gi-Gyu muttered. They had obtained a vial of this drug from one of the thugs that had attacked Go Hyung-Chul. Gi-Gyu had handed it to Paimon, who had returned with an answer not too long after.

Paimon had explained, “I’m certain of it. This is an improved version of the First Potion. Most of its core materials are completely different; still, it is undoubtedly the First Potion.”

As Gi-Gyu had suspected, God’s Tears was the First Potion the Caravan Guild had given to the Vatican. Its main ingredient was different, and so was its effect; consequently, they didn’t realize it at first.

Gi-Gyu asked, “So how are the non-players using it? Shouldn’t it kill them immediately?”

“They probably fixed the biggest weakness of the First Potion,” Paimon replied confidently. “Think about the identity of those who are behind this.”

Angels specialized in healing, and their power and sorcerous energy were on the opposite ends of the spectrum.

Paimon added, “If anyone can do this, it’s them.”

Gi-Gyu still had many questions, but it made sense that the angels had succeeded in creating this monstrous drug. They renamed it “God’s Tears” and used it to infiltrate Rome.

“Kwerrk!” The monsters—i.e., non-players under the drug’s effect—were still roaming the streets of Rome, destroying everything in sight.

Paimon knew the name of these creatures. He explained, “They are called the Grigory.”

“Grigory?” asked Gi-Gyu. Wasn’t this the name of the secret organization the KPA had created? Sung-Hoon led the group currently; in the past, President Oh Tae-Gu—one of the world’s first high-rankers—used to lead it.

Paimon continued, “I analyzed the monster sample you sent me earlier.”

Along with the vial of God’s Tears, Gi-Gyu had also sent Paimon the monster he had killed in the Colosseum.

“I’ve dealt with it once before… I read about them in ancient documents. When you mix the bloodline of a higher being with someone from another species, you get a Grigory,” Paimon said to Gi-Gyu.

The higher beings didn’t propagate the same way as humans. Different beings had different ways, and on rare occasions, the higher beings joined another species to form a new and different race.

Paimon continued, “The ancient document stated that different Grigories have different appearances. There are cases where they resemble their parents greatly, but most of the time, they hold qualities different from their parents.”

No one could guess how a Grigory would turn out. And Paimon stated that these new monsters had qualities similar to those of the Grigories.

“Then why…?” Gi-Gyu wondered why Oh Tae-Gu named his secret organization Grigory and why only Paimon knew about this ancient information.

Paimon had replied, “Grigory could also mean a guard, so I would guess that Oh Tae-Gu meant this when he named his group. But of course, I don’t know for sure.”

‘My father was also involved in creating this group,’?Gi-Gyu thought. His father, a Kronos clone, helped form this organization, so Gi-Gyu suspected there was a deeper meaning to it.

“Haa…” Gi-Gyu sighed deeply. Just what was it that the Vatican angels had created? Gi-Gyu looked around, deciding it was no time to be distracted by his past conversation with Paimon. Many people still hadn’t been evacuated, and they were staring at him because he had just destroyed a giant monster with a punch.

Gi-Gyu finally realized what he must look like to others. To get here, he had to kill several monsters, which ensured that he was now covered in monster blood and mucus. “I’m sorry, I…” Gi-Gyu said to the non-players who were eyeing him nervously. “Am Morningstar. I’ve killed all the monsters on my way here, so if you just follow this path, you’ll be safe. Ah…!”

Suddenly spotting something, Gi-Gyu raised his hand. When the non-players saw a skeleton militia walking toward them, their comfort from hearing his name disappeared, making them flinch. Also, the skeletons’ rattling bones sounded unnervingly ominous.

Before the non-players could scream in fear, Gi-Gyu quickly explained, “They aren’t our enemies. You just have to follow them.”

When Morningstar explained confidently, the people nodded. Before they could even thank him, Gi-Gyu jumped toward an explosion nearby.

Boom!

***

The burning flames in Rome destroyed everything on their path. But before they could swallow the entire city, many worked hard to put them out.

“Please evacuate immediately.”

“Everyone, please… go that way!”

The players yelled tirelessly. Thankfully, the situation was finally settling down. It was partly thanks to the large Italian guilds and their players, but they couldn’t have done it alone. After all, too many monsters here were more powerful than they could have ever imagined.

The Drake Knight’s order had actually helped put out the fire quickly.

A gloomy voice ordered, “March!”

Although his voice sounded dark, there was an odd confidence in it. With his command, the knights riding undead drakes began moving. They roamed the streets to kill all the monsters with incredible ease.

“You must evacuate to that place over there…” Hal now looked almost human, but his shockingly pale skin and gloomy energy made the non-players shudder.

“T-thank you.” Some of them managed to thank him, but they couldn’t hide their discomfort.

Helion, the deputy chief of the order, wasn’t as human-like as Hal, but he could still speak fairly well. He reported, “I think this area has been cleared, Chief.”

While there were no monsters in their immediate surroundings, one could still see monsters rampaging around in Rome. Gi-Gyu’s creatures and the players had already killed many of them, but their number was still increasing constantly.

Hal ordered, “We’ll move on to the next street.”

They aimed to push out as many monsters as possible to rescue the non-players.

Hal muttered, “I don’t see any of the creatures our grandmaster is looking for.”

They were asked to look out for the angels, but they haven’t seen any so far.

One of the knights shared with Hal,

-Chief. I found a suspicious-looking creature. I think…

A smile spread on Hal’s lips as he realized one of his knights had found something useful.

-I believe he’s controlling the monsters…

The smile on Hal’s mouth widened, and his eyes began burning with ambition.

‘This could be a notable accomplishment. I can make Grandmaster proud,’?Hal thought happily. And even more importantly, he could get his revenge.

“It’s time to avenge our allies!” Hal screamed, and his knights roared. “Kwerrrr!” roared the two giant drakes, indicating they were also excited. Their drool spread everywhere as they munched on the monsters.

It was time for vengeance.

***

“Just how many are there…?” Gi-Gyu stood on top of St. Peter's Basilica and looked down at Rome. The flames, which had started to die down, were blazing again, ready to take down the city. Gi-Gyu’s creatures and the players were fighting well, but the problem was that there were too many monsters.

“It’s just like what happened before…” Gi-Gyu muttered sadly. When Eden was attacked, the sheer number of their enemy’s forces had made it impossible for his creatures to defend their home. The same was happening in Rome. Whenever they killed a monster, it would regenerate and rejoin the fight.

Gi-Gyu gritted his teeth, remembering the identity of the monsters that had attacked Eden. A noticeable number of Chinese citizens had gone missing, and there was a rumor that they were being used for human experiments. Tao Chen had later confirmed the missing number, which had been more than anyone had ever expected. Paimon had guessed that the monsters that had attacked Eden were probably these missing Chinese citizens.

“How could they think so little of human life?” Gi-Gyu whispered. Andras, the Vatican, and Kronos all appeared to believe that humans were just toys that could easily be replaced.

The air around Gi-Gyu began to burn from his anger. He tried his best to remain calm.

‘They attacked Rome despite knowing that I’m here.’?

This meant that they had a way to deal with him. Gi-Gyu had already defeated Andras’ best weapon, Ha Song-Su, so what else had they prepared?

‘I refuse to be trapped like the last time.’?

When he had fallen for Paimon’s trap last time, he ended up putting everyone in danger. Gi-Gyu knew that the Vatican beings weren’t stupid enough to believe that he would fall for the same trick twice.

-Chief Hal from the Death Drake Knight’s order reporting to the Grandmaster. We are battling someone we believe to be the monsters' leader.

Gi-Gyu heard Hal’s voice in his ears.

-I do not believe he’s an angel.

Others have reported similar things. No one had so far spotted an angel, which was expected.

“Our enemies here are too weak,” Gi-Gyu mumbled. The monsters sent to attack Rome were much weaker than the one that had appeared in the Colosseum earlier. They suspected all these monsters were non-players who had ingested God’s Tears.

Did the Vatican send such weak monsters because they didn’t have anything better, or could they have a secret plan?

Marchetti had explained that the purification by fire method included three steps. This meant that what was happening now had to be the first step.

“Whatever. It doesn’t matter. Just show yourselves.” Gi-Gyu was ready to make his enemies regret underestimating him.

Just then, a sudden awkward silence fell. All the monsters stopped moving briefly. When they paused, it almost felt like the whole world had gone silent.

Gi-Gyu sensed a massive amount of energy from a particular direction, so he turned toward it.

“Dammit!” he swore, realizing that the energy originated from the Colosseum. A giant group of light floated down from the sky, giving off unusual energy. Gi-Gyu was about to head toward the Colosseum in panic when he heard a voice in his head.

-Grandmaster. Please do not worry.

Even as he began moving, Gi-Gyu grinned because he knew whose voice it was.

-I will ensure no human is harmed until you arrive.

The voice was filled with overwhelming arrogance, but Gi-Gyu knew this creature had all the right to be confident. The once barely noticeable angel had now turned into something entirely different.

‘I don’t even know how powerful he is now,’?Gi-Gyu thought in awe and pleasure.

“All right, Hamiel,” Gi-Gyu replied and headed toward the Colosseum leisurely.