Chapter 263
Chapter 263
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 262
Chapter Title: Transcendent Weapon No. 991
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The emergence of Cerberus, Transcendent Weapon No. 991.
Grrr.
It was as if three heads were raising up at once, then Cerberus opened its [mouth], which was physically and mechanically entirely unnecessary.
[Kraaaang-----!]
Fenrir's roar exploded once more.
Kwaaang! Boom boom boom!
The result was on a completely different level from the roar used just moments ago.
In a single strike, hundreds of warships exploded. It had wiped out as many enemies in one go as we had destroyed from the outside up to now!
"Wow. It's insane, for real."
"We knew it, but... this is what numbering means."
Even the transcendents were sticking out their tongues at the sheer power. I grabbed space and charged toward Cerberus while thinking.
'Numbering. And among them, a colossal one....'
Not all transcendent weapons were the same; their power, output, and presence varied wildly. There were transcendent weapons like the homunculus I took from the Chernein, which ended with just one cheat-like function, but also sacred objects whose mere existence was divine, and monstrous things that granted power comparable to an upper god just by wielding them.
And among them, Cerberus was.
'The latest numbering.'
It was a creation by Game Master Gwandaeha for the elders' external activities. Due to the constraints requiring over 3,000 perfected crew members and at least three transcendents to operate, it was ranked 991st, but its actual output and power placed it within the top 200 massive warships!
'Come to think of it, the tech department completed the non-jamming process... I wonder if we could ever make something like a warship.'
With that thought, I approached Cerberus. Warlord, flying beside me, turned its head to look at me.
"Wait, what am I even flying on right now? You're going faster than a gigas's top flight speed bare-handed... You're not even touching the air? Telekinesis?"
Naturally, she couldn't comprehend my [Strength]. Powers stats were barely known even on the 34th Earth, where all sorts of info was out there. There were countless lower transcendents, but mid-tier ones were different.
Kwaaang!
We pierced straight through the space monsters trying to block our path no matter what. I unleashed Sky-Piercing Extreme Light and lunged at one of the charging space monsters.
-Grrrrr!
The thing screamed and tried to dodge, but how could it block a transcendent approaching at near-lightspeed from close range?
I easily destroyed its core and returned to position.
"I'm nowhere near lightspeed, so it's no big deal."
"I thought that was some kind of ultimate technique... Jeez. You're a weird one in all sorts of ways, no special gear or anything."
Hearing her stunned voice, the group arrived at Cerberus. We passed through the ether membrane covering the middle head's—Beagle's—mouth and completed boarding.
"Integrating energy! Etheric power reserves at 17%!"
"How's the barrier holding?"
"31%!"
"Charge to at least 50% first and keep high-speed maneuvering! Merging isn't the end; we have to think long-term! Avoid getting fully surrounded!"
The bridge was chaotic. Even after merging, we were still in combat, so peace was out of the question.
"Chief, are you alright?"
"I survived thanks to you. Those damn things knew and tried to interfere with the merge; it was close. Oh! Choco's here too."
"Get it together, Bear-boy. You think I wanna be out here field-running at my age, nyang?"
"Haha. Thank you, elder."
The tiny cat protested, and the three-meter polar bear groveled. Despite his fearsome look, he was good at social stuff, this uncle.
"Anyway, the enemies are stronger than expected. I thought they were just numerous."
"Yeah. Can't treat 'em like old-era warships."
RTS game warships and space monsters were barely scraping into tier-3 civilization level. They couldn't even mount Iron Hearts, and their fusion of ether arts and science was half-baked, barely qualifying as great space era warships.
The problem was the monsters aboard them.
Monsters fused with warships or space monsters in all sorts of ways, boosting their output and durability.
'Even space monster cores had dark wizards sacrificing monsters to amp the power.'
"What're your plans going forward?"
Heavenly Slaughter Sword Ghost Gwan Youngmin asked, and Chief Cheonhyeonil answered.
"First, recover Cerberus's etheric power to at least 80%. Wiping out all those crazy monsters is impossible... but we gotta clear the path ahead at minimum for Astral Drive to work."
Cerberus was surrounded, true, but the encirclement wasn't a perfect circle. If it were, no matter how efficient the etheric barrier, it couldn't withstand attacks from hundreds of thousands of warships. Ultimate spells and sword auras from transcendent-grade monsters mixed in shredded even the etheric barrier.
"Can't we speed up more?"
Cerberus was moving fast now, with monster warships chasing and pouring fire. Boosting speed further might let us shake them without fighting hundreds of thousands.
"Tough. Cerberus is a powerful transcendent weapon, but... its massive size means it can't outrun them."
"No Astral Drive either, then."
"With attacks pouring in? Obviously. Astral Drive shifts the ship to ethereal form in an instant; getting hit mid-activation takes massive damage and cancels astral entry."
Wooong!
While Youngmin and Hyeonil talked, the rest bustled, disembarking gigases into hangars or spatial rifts. Giving Iron Hearts a rest to recover etheric power. Those bare-handed like me or Lancelot sat in seats prepped by crew.
"Phew!"
Goldrian vanished, and Sarang leaped out. Soaked in sweat for some reason, she looked around, spotted me, and smiled.
Her face was flushed red.
"How was it?"
"Hungry! Wow, ultimate spells are harder to convert than I thought? But I succeeded on the first try! I... Ah! Right, earlier Replie...."
"Yeah yeah, calm down."
Patting Sarang's back, Sohyang soon gathered everyone for briefing.
"Alright, here's the schedule. Our job is buying Cerberus time to recover etheric power fully, so we'll split into three teams and rotate handling the monster warships approaching."
"Nyang! It's just grinding after all."
"Haha. Life's like that."
"I'm not human?"
Choco protested or not, teams formed. Team 1: Sohyang, Lucky Strike and her adjutant, Grand Summoner Heindel and two transcendent undead. Team 2: Lancelot, Kreuze, Choco, Sarang, and me. Team 3: Youngmin and eight transcendents.
Kwaaang!
Boom!
Transcendents' combat power was insane; our three teams swiftly cleared monster warships nearing Cerberus. With us intercepting, the rain of barrages and ultimate spells dropped sharply, and Iron Heart production outpaced consumption.
Of course, it wasn't easy.
Thud! Grind... Clank!
A returning In-Grade gigas landed roughly, and a masked transcendent tumbled out.
"Huff... huff...."
Ragged breaths and warped skin from repeated ultimate spells. Bare-handed Youngmin approached.
"You okay?"
"...Fine. Got elixir."
The masked transcendent downed a legendary drop item, Elixir, to recover.
The rest were luckily unharmed, but not totally fine.
"Ugh, exhausting...."
"Etheric reserves at 47%. Consumption's higher than expected. Like getting soaked in drizzle...."
"Uwoong! How many more days of this?!"
Transcendents voiced fatigue. We'd fought barely 50 hours, but warships body-slamming in and hidden transcendents who didn't value their lives weren't negligible.
Good thing enemies lacked transcendent weapons or gigases; numbers alone could've crushed us.
But naturally.
I wasn't tired.
"Forerunner's Mask! Found one!"
"Forerunner's Mask! Found one!"
"Here too!"
"Elixir here!"
Cheers rose at the piling legendary items.
'Legendary jackpot!'
As emperor, I screamed inwardly, but the joy was real.
"Gah! Dark wizards sacrificing monsters at giant monster cores dropping masks!"
Plus, Forerunner's Masks and Elixirs were legendary, maxing farm efficiency. Even the rare mask was stacking in Ardania!
"Log out!"
Back to reality, hands up.
"Tired? I'll head out again!"
"...Wow, your stamina's nuts. Not exhausted?"
"Bio-stamina cultivator's gotta do this much."
"I'm a bio-stamina transcendent too!?"
Ignoring Sarang's baffled words, I thought.
'Transcendents... have lower endurance than expected.'
Overly harsh, sure. They weren't lacking stamina or mana; the intense combat—ultimate spells for mages, sword auras nonstop for absolute experts—tired them fast.
'Stats aren't enough.'
Even transcendents had maybe one or two stats at transcendent level, usually ether-related. Martial artists maxed internal energy, mages mana to transcendent realm, but even that was mid-900s, not 999.
Other stats barely hit 500. Species limits are cruel; non-ogres or giants couldn't reach 900 Strength or Stamina as transcendents.
"Anyway, heading out!"
Ignoring the transcendents' baffled looks, I leaped from Cerberus.
Hunting was too fun.
'Mob farming efficiency is insane!?!'
Even better, monsters mobbed endlessly without herding. Elixirs stacking in Ardania enough to reward disabled imperials!
20 more hours like this, and the Human Empire might have no disabled.
Of course, I wasn't the only one looting.
"Avenger's Longsword, huh...."
"Ooh, another elixir. Sigh, why no mana recovery on these?"
"Ah, this the famous Forerunner's Mask? The resurrection one?"
"Tons of junk too. Gotta cherry-pick useful stuff."
Other transcendents brought loot too. No farming skills like mine meant abysmal drop rates, but sheer monster numbers made it substantial.
'I'll buy the cheap ones.'
Wishing for a week more of this mob farm, grinning—
Thud!
"Hm?"
[Bad event occurred.]
[...What?]
Vision blacked out; I floated in space naked. No warning whatsoever; startled, I circulated internal energy—no response.
Calming down, checking myself, I saw the watch on my arm: Transcendent Weapon [Fate's Choice].
[Outta nowhere?]
The moment I wondered—
Whoooosh----!
A massive planet appeared before me. Too vast for "planet." Land, seas, clouds, but dwarfing stars.
I'd seen this before.
[This is... from Cheonwon.]
Much clearer than before. I saw its countless cities, kingdoms, jungles.
And the [monsters] filling them.
[What the—]
As I panicked.
Text floated before me.
[Choice]
'Choose... what?'
Puzzled briefly, then realized [Choice] pointed to a spot.
Not land—sky.
"Insolent! Mass-produced freak—!"
"Damn. Too, too many...."
"I, called a god, in a place like this...."
Semitransparent dragons, stonekin, humans, etc., clustered in the sky. Each with formidable karma and presence.
As they got sucked into the sky [mass].
[811]
[812]
[813]
'...Numbers changing on the mass?'
As I wondered.
Crack!
Irresistible force compressed the mass slowly.
Crack! Crack! Crunch!
The mass was huge. Nearly a thousand semitransparent lives absorbed—obvious. But compressed to incomparable size.
And it became.
[...A person?]
Yes. A person.
Sturdy black-haired man wielding a single sword.
[Ah.]
I groaned at the familiar face.
Above his head: [Level 30]
Cosmic Heavenly Demon Dokgo Hyeollyeon