Chapter 262
Chapter 262
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 261
Chapter Title: Mythic Grade, Not In-Grade?
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But isn't this mythic grade, not in-grade?
I felt somewhat betrayed by that realization.
I hurled my unarmored body straight into space.
Boom boom boom!
Rumble rumble!
The welcoming cheers aimed at us as we appeared were ferocious. Every warship that had been madly shelling the three warships of the 34th Earth—and that was within range—immediately switched targets, unleashing a barrage of cannon fire and missiles.
'There sure are a lot of them.'
Even a thousand students from a typical school would be intimidating when gathered together.
But what if it were not ten times that, but a hundred times—a full hundred thousand? It would be a force capable of shaking the earth and commanding the world.
And right now, the enemies assembled here weren't even human. They were space warships of various forms and space monsters that were no smaller—often larger. Tens of thousands of foes, each ranging from 300 to 450 meters in size!
It was as if the entire world was collapsing, as if the whole universe had turned against us—an overwhelming army.
"I knew it was huge, but this is on another level."
"If you think about it, they've gathered the monsters scattered across deep space, so this is actually a small number."
Yet even in the face of such enemies, our group remained calm. Not one of us flinched under the malice of this massive host.
They were transcendents.
Everyone here—even Sohyang, who hadn't reached the transcendent realm, and the prisoners who'd suffered the humiliation of defeat against the elders—was a monster capable of crushing a minor civilization single-handedly.
One against a hundred.
One rider against a thousand.
Could we even dare to describe them with terms like "foe of ten thousand"? They might seem a bit less valuable all clumped together, but each one was a historic existence.
"Ah, my head's already spinning at the thought of all this grinding, nyang...."
"Oh please, Choco Grandpa. Tone it down."
"Grandpa!? And us Choco folks all think this way of speaking is cute?"
"Alright, enough chit-chat. Let's get started!"
Even in the vacuum of space, our conversation flowed without issue. We were linked through the tactical network of the Galaxy Express.
"Man, there's a lot of antique stuff here."
"What era are we in for them to still be using outdated missile systems?"
"It's been forever since I've seen particle cannons...."
Boom boom! Kaboom!
Attacks rained down like a storm, but contrary to their ferocity, they fizzled out against the Gigas units' aether force barriers.
It wasn't without consumption, but the drain was negligible, and...
Thung! Thung!
With heavy thuds, the Gigas units opened fire. Massive guns, cannons—even aether force arrows launched from aether power—pierced the enemy warships' barriers and crumpled their armor.
It was the power of [Penetration], so commonly used it was called one of the three great abilities.
Boom boom! Kaboom!
We advanced rapidly. Beyond the thousands of warships and space monsters loomed the Tera-class warship, Schnauzer.
Youngmin shouted.
"Head for the Schnauzer first! Primary objective: clear out the surrounding enemies to disrupt the enemy warships' convergence!"
Dodging the incoming barrage amid his words, I threw myself forward.
Whoosh!
I easily evaded the photon cannon blasts. To be honest, they wouldn't have been a problem even if they hit, but there was still an oddly potent force to them.
'What is this? Way stronger than what I saw back in Ardenia.'
I'd already destroyed over a thousand warships and giant monsters with my own hands, so I could tell for sure. Their output had more than quintupled.
Space monsters aside, it was blatantly suspicious for technologically built warships to be stronger.
"Well, I'll find out when I check."
Great Vessel Late Bloom. Heaven-Shattering Extreme Light.
I shot forward at the speed of light.
Crash!
I bulldozed through the blocking barrier with my body, tearing it apart, and pierced the armor.
[Alert! Alert! Intruder detected! Intruder detected!]
[Warning. Warning. 29th-grade psionic detected. Warning again. 29th-grade psionic detected.]
[This pattern? The Emperor! It's the Emperor!]
"Oh? You guys know me?"
Crunch! Thud! Thud!
Ignoring the screaming crew scattering in panic, I charged to the center of the warship. For some reason, its durability was tougher than I remembered.
[Enemy! Enemy! Enemy! Enemy!]
[Evade! Block! Kill!]
"It was weird how sturdy it was... so it's got metal spirits inhabiting it."
I was dumbfounded by the dozens of spirits rising from the warship's frame and armor. Absurdly, spirit-type monsters had possessed the warship, boosting its strength.
Of course, this wasn't an RTS game with monster units. Monsters from another game had combined, creating synergy!
Naturally, it was useless against me.
Crunch! Crack!
Crashing through walls that shattered like snacks, I headed straight for the ship's engine.
And as expected.
[Enemy! Scary enemy! Must kill!]
[Monster! Die! Human!]
Light and electricity spirits were clustered thickly around the engine. They'd reinforced it with spirit power.
"What kind of freak hybrid is this?"
No need to overthink it.
Kaboom!
I burst out through the warship amid an explosion. Out at the speed of light, same as when I entered.
The battlefield was so vast it wasn't as dramatically fast as before, but everyone was still shocked.
"Wow, he's really zipping around at light speed. No, even so, how's he moving without any footholds or anything?"
"Not even a proper Gigas, no real gear... fighting in just a suit like that. It hasn't been that long since he was a rookie, so what the hell happened?"
Sohyang and Lucky Strike's incredulous voices were followed by Choco's.
"I can't lose to the maknae! Time for me to step up, nyang!"
"Advancing."
"Barrier at 94%. Pretty fierce, but no problem at this level...."
That was when the main assault was about to begin.
Bang! Crunch!
A spear of light shattered the lead Gigas's barrier and embedded itself in the machine.
"What!?"
"All units, defensive abilities! Ultimate magic incoming!"
At Youngmin's command, the masked transcendents piloting Gigas erected walls in front. The one hit by the ultimate magic fell back momentarily.
Sohyang's Warlord approached the retreating unit.
"Don't move. I'll repair it."
Wooong!
A white Gigas appeared beside the Warlord.
In-grade Gigas, Nightingale.
Creak creak!
As Nightingale's hand glowed, the dented Gigas's armor restored itself in an instant. The key point was that Nightingale had no pilot.
'That's the ability.'
[The King of Bachelors]
The transcendent-grade ability that earned her the title Lion Queen. It applied the effects of [her piloted unit] to multiple Gigas she wasn't riding, and while it couldn't chain—the affected Gigas reactivating King of Bachelors—it was cheat-level power that turned her into a one-woman army.
Flash!
Then an immense light engulfed us. Another ultimate magic blast, but Goldrian blocked it.
Pop!
The light that poured down vanished upon hitting Goldrian. Goldrian charged ahead and smashed into an oncoming warship.
Wooong---!
With a deep resonance, the warship's hull rippled violently before bursting like a water droplet.
It didn't destroy the warship in one hit, but with the outer hull gone, the crew and monsters inside were flung into space.
"Light into vibration...."
"Energy conversion, huh. So if it touches in energy form, it just steals control of the ultimate magic."
Boom boom!
Kaboom!
Amazed by each other's techniques, we pressed the fight. By now, Sohyang had summoned ten in-grade Gigas and was unleashing barrages, while Lucky Strike and her adjutant rode one together, firing ultimate magic.
A giant monster pierced by Choco's void spear died, and Grand Summoner Heindel mounted it, resurrecting the corpse as an undead before it vanished.
Other warships and monsters howled and attacked him, but a Death Knight—undead yet piloting an in-grade Gigas—blocked them.
"Replie."
With a soft whisper, a pitch-black phantom dragon appeared.
It wasn't for combat.
Rustle!
Using the mythic-grade recovery ability that ignored distance to collect drop items, the loot flying through space poured into my inventory.
Naturally, my inventory filled instantly, and items rained down over my head.
"Log in."
I entered Ardenia.
"Sort into consumables and gear!"
"Some gear has curses! Don't touch them—check item info first! Use telekinesis to sort anything dangerous, and report special items!"
I dumped the items on the ground, and soldiers and mages swarmed to sort them.
"Vanguard Mask! Found one!"
"I didn't see ShimGon die... did another one drop it?"
Dumbfounded, I still pocketed the Vanguard Mask. You could never have too many resurrection items. Even with my Emperor-class Allmaster power pushing HP to 999 and multiple survival skills, instant-death mechanics and such in the game meant I had to stay cautious.
"Log out."
"Log in."
I rapidly shuttled between reality and Ardenia, collecting everything. After a few times, I got the hang of it, sorting items before my inventory overflowed while still fighting.
"Jaeyeon! That's Replie, right!?"
"I'll get an autograph later, so focus now."
"....Fine. Later!"
Our group charged straight for the distant Schnauzer. Warships, giant monsters, and occasional transcendent-grade monsters among them blocked our path, but they weren't enough to stop our elite-of-elites.
Kaboom!
Like arrows piercing through, we advanced, destroying hundreds of warships. Items our group missed flowed into my inventory after the one-minute ownership timer expired.
"Log in."
Into Ardenia, dumping the items.
And I realized.
"This... is insane."
I turned to see mountains of items piled up, with soldiers diligently sorting them. All drops usable even in reality—not common junk!
'Massacring monsters with Luck 999 stat is beyond imagination.'
I'd never properly seen Luck stat effects before, but it lived up to the hype. Sure, reality's drop rates were lower than in-game, so this was excessive—but there was a reason.
"My Luck gear's working at full potential too."
The group thought I had no real gear. Not wrong. Hyperion was the only thing boosting my combat power.
But they didn't know.
Two rings on my left hand, three on my right.
[Looter's Ring (Level 19)]
[Golden Stack][Golden Stack][Golden Stack]
My new farming set.
For reference, the Looter's Ring's base trait was this.
[Killer's Loot]
+50 gold per Champion, Elite & Boss monster kill.
Effect ends after 10 kills; adds socket (max 2).
Farming's pinnacle was Hyperion with its five sockets—a cheat item.
But that's atypical. Hyperion wasn't a normal drop. Regular items had one socket max.
This Looter's Ring was a gold item socketable up to three times, hand-picked by me from the government's stockpile to complete my farming set.
And thanks to that.
"Damn... legendary items pouring in."
Satisfied watching the soldiers sort, I returned to reality.
"Log out."
Kaboom!
An explosion and shockwave slammed into me. I brushed off my suit.
'By the way.'
I glanced at Lancelot far off, casually swinging his spear to support the group.
Unlike Kreuze blasting away in the in-grade Gigas Einstein, he was passive.
'He's not going all out.'
Even I, equipped for farming not fighting, was holding back. He must've judged watching the situation was better than full power now.
"We're here!"
"Break through!"
We'd reached the Tera-class warship, Schnauzer. And we'd done more.
As we punched through from outside, the encirclement collapsed, opening space for our warships to maneuver.
[Graaaaaah-----!]
A massive wave from the Tera-class warship Beagle repelled all foes blocking them.
"Ugh... incredible. So this is the transcendent machine Fenrir's Roar...."
"Cheonhyeonil Commissioner's signature cry. Simple yet intense."
Fenrir's Roar inflicted heavy damage on the vast enemy horde, pushing them back. No warships destroyed in the chaos, but the gap it created was crucial.
The Tera-class warship Cocker Spaniel exploited the loosened encirclement, barreling forward with its massive hull.
[Well done!]
Cheonhyeonil Commissioner's voice boomed through space, and the three warships closed in as if to ram.
"What? They're gonna crash?"
Youngmin smiled broadly at Lancelot's puzzled question.
"Watch. It's not something you see just anywhere."
"Hm?"
In that moment of confusion.
Gooooong-----!
With aether waves shaking space, the three warships—Beagle, Cocker Spaniel, Schnauzer—made contact.
Weeeing--! Clang!
Thud! Click!
"W-What the hell?"
Kreuze's shocked voice rang out.
"Combining!?"
"Haha. These are the forces we're sending out from 34th Earth—not just any warships!"
Amid proud laughter, the fused mass extended their prows forward, rearing up like heads.
Transcendent Weapon No. 991.
The arrival of Cerberus.