Space Battleship Nis Launches!
Just as Shasha had said, the 36th floor was blanketed in a raging blizzard.
We haven't even cleared all the personal zones yet, and we're heading straight to the 36th floor?
I looked up at the massive rectangular dimensional gate. This place, shrouded in a green protective barrier, was the giant safe zone marking the start of the 36th floor.
"It's cold! So cold!"
At Lee Ha-ryeong's grumbling, Park Choa from the 1st Army raised an eyebrow. She grinned at Lee Ha-ryeong with eyes gleaming with madness.
"I told you old folks don't have to come."
"What did you say! And a mage at 25 is plenty old!"
"What are you talking about? 25 is prime youth!"
At that, Lee Ha-ryeong grabbed my arm.
"This is what they mean by full of vim and vigor, you old hag!"
"……!"
Park Choa glanced back and forth between me and Lee Ha-ryeong, biting her lip.
"Argh! Old hag! Stay a kid forever and die that way!"
I shook my head, watching the two of them. After taking a hit from Lee Ha-ryeong, Park Choa turned her attention to the pile of ether containers.
The ether being steadily transported through the dimensional gate and stacked up had already reached the size of a small villa. Park Choa, clearly excited, asked me,
"But hey, with this much, we could probably try max firepower for a 7th Level spell, right?"
"……."
She's scatterbrained for a mage.
The woman rolled her madness-filled eyes and stroked the container in wonder.
"My god, this amount is high purity too? 95%? No, 98? I thought over 80% was impressive…."
Her eyes spun wildly as she clutched her cheeks.
"With this, we could even try a 7th Level instant-death spell? Can I give it a shot?"
"……."
I glanced uneasily at Tae-hyun, who nodded and grabbed the woman by the scruff of her neck.
"Gah! Gack!"
"Hey, Park Choa. Didn't I tell you no unnecessary crap during operations?"
"S-sorry! D-don't hit me!"
At her words, the 2nd Army mages and Lee Ha-ryeong shot uncomfortable looks at Tae-hyun. I narrowed my eyes and glared at him.
Hmph, childish lovers' quarrel.
Just as I figured WWE was always hanging around like usual—
Thwack—a sharp sound rang out, followed by a fist slamming into Park Choa's gut.
"Urk…. Tae-hyun oppa, i-it was just a joke…."
Another fist plunged into the giggling Park Choa's abdomen.
Thud—
"Urgh—! Sorry, I won't do it again! I'll stay way back!"
Everyone stared at Tae-hyun in shock.
"This is a battlefield where lives are on the line—why keep messing around? You wanna get beat?"
"Uh…."
As I stared, Tae-hyun averted his golden-cross pupils.
"My fists don't discriminate by age or gender~ Better than dying, right?"
You actually hit her, you psycho.
As I gawked blankly, Tae-hyun furrowed his brow.
"What, you wanna get hit too?"
"……."
As I looked at him like trash, he scratched his head.
"…There are a lot of weirdos among 7th Level mages. You gotta handle 'em like that or they don't get it."
Lee Ha-ryeong whispered in my ear.
"Tae-hyun's the current 1st Army discipline officer. And Park Choa… she's always been a bit…."
Lee Ha-ryeong twirled her finger at her temple.
"That's why they don't send a 7th Level like her to the front lines much."
"H-Ha-ryeong sunbae! I'm not crazy! But with this much ether piled up, any mage would wanna try it out, right?!"
"I'll handle that bitch, so stick to the plan."
At Tae-hyun's reliable words, I nodded and began preparing the massive portal.
"As discussed, it'll take 30 minutes from portal opening and ship deployment to wiping out the enemies."
Lee Ha-ryeong nodded and spread out a map of the 36th floor on the ground.
"According to our intel, the missing 1st Army is about 20 km northwest of the dimensional gate, in the great snowfield."
"Got it."
"That'd take 30 minutes even by car."
Lee Ha-ryeong shrugged at Tae-hyun.
"Can't you run faster than a car?"
"……."
Tae-hyun stared at her before reluctantly replying.
"Considering we have to return here after linking up, 30 minutes isn't long."
"Right, right—can't you stretch it more?"
I let out a hollow laugh at the shameless pair.
"Well, with two 7th Level mages as batteries, we could extend it to 35 minutes maybe."
Tae-hyun and Park Choa both nodded at my words.
"30 minutes is plenty."
"Operation-wise, it looks solid. But seriously, a space battleship? Can I ride it?"
As Park Choa spoke, Tae-hyun clenched his fist, and she nodded vigorously.
"Yeah! I'll beg later!"
Lee Ha-ryeong pointed at the map and continued the final briefing.
"As soon as the bombardment starts, teleport out. Scatter and search for the missing 1st Army. Fire a flare when you find them. Rendezvous at the retreat route junction."
"Retreat route stays the same?"
"Yeah, we'll use the one the original 1st Army marked."
Tae-hyun nodded at Lee Ha-ryeong's words.
"Then 30 minutes is enough."
"Can't we teleport back too? You can do it, right, Ha-ryeong sunbae?"
"If you rush it, your head and legs might swap, or some organs might not make it. That okay?"
"Ooh, probability-based! I'm lucky!"
Tae-hyun quietly rolled up his sleeves at that. Park Choa, seeing him, nodded frantically.
"We'll run back! I'm good at running!"
With the briefing over, we split into search teams. Three 7th Level mages with two 2nd Army mages as support each. Everyone stood on the teleport magic circles, ready. I prepared to summon the battleship.
"As I said, it's not a normal battleship—more like a floating artillery platform…."
I continued as I opened the massive-diameter portal.
"But its firepower surpasses anything on Earth, so don't worry."
I put on my earpiece and started comms with Nis.
"Ahem, comms good. Portal ready."
[Ah! Mayor, portal status good. Confirmed.]
As the colony-sized space battleship emerged from the massive portal I'd opened, Tae-hyun frowned at its enormous size.
"What the hell? That's huge!"
"Uh…."
"Ha! That's a battleship…."
Up close, Nis looked less like a battleship and more like a world-covering ceiling.
"All ship cannons—open fire!"
I took a deep breath and bellowed.
"Full barrage—fireeeeeee!"
With my shout, Nis's missiles and lasers roared to life.
BOOM—KABOOOM—
"Super-science that transcends eras is just like magic!!"
The Abyss monsters swarming outside the safe zone turned to mush in an instant.
Then the teleport circles glowed brightly, and the nine rescuers vanished.
I pressed my wireless earpiece after watching them go.
"Alright, let's purify the front lines while we're at it!"
[Eh, this side's just pressing a few buttons.]
At Yupri's words, thousands of missiles launched toward the ground.
KABOOMBOOMBOOM—
The earth and snow flipped over, hot flames erupting skyward. No 6th or 7th Class creature could survive that environment.
Kang Seo-hee, who stayed to protect me in case of emergencies, shouted,
"Uh. This is okay, right?"
"It's fine. Those plasma missiles can wipe out 6th Class."
"Plasma…?"
As Kang Seo-hee looked dumbfounded, a brilliant flash—like a nuke detonating far northeast—engulfed the area.
"Wh-what?!"
Kang Seo-hee jumped in surprise, and a massive storm roar accompanied a rising mushroom cloud.
"E-Eunha? Is that a nuke?"
"Yeah, told it to blast any 7th Class Abyss monsters it spots."
"……."
Kang Seo-hee opened and closed her mouth, speechless.
"What about radiation…?"
"Not the time to worry about that, is it?"
"Th-that's true, but…."
Another flash erupted from the same spot, followed by a colossal explosion.
KABOOOOOM—
I gazed contentedly at the mushroom cloud.
"This is a 7th Level spell: Nuclear Explosion."
Ho-ya, the Dragon King, Lee Ju-hyeok, and Seong Dong-hun stared blankly at the massive something filling the sky.
They were carrying or piggybacking the wounded and running, but a sliver of unease lingered.
"What if that's not our rescue team?"
At Seong Dong-hun's words, Ho-ya muttered,
"Even if it is ours, it's scary as hell. Gotta figure it's not normal, right?"
The Dragon King, carrying her on his back, groaned in response.
"No mage I know uses magic like that."
"Magic… is it?"
"Summoning a space battleship…."
Then Lee Ju-hyeok, levitating two critically wounded with telekinesis while running, narrowed his eyes.
"Come to think of it, Yoo Eunha did say something like 'We've even got a space battleship.'"
Everyone looked up at the sky-engulfing flying behemoth.
"That's a battleship?"
"That's bigger than a city."
At the word "city," Lee Ju-hyeok recalled Yoo Eunha's tale of visiting a space colony and let out a hollow laugh.
It was real.
As the three ran for their lives, a familiar silhouette appeared in the distance. An unbelievably compact build for her forties. And that pink hair visible even from afar.
It was definitely their senior, Lee Ha-ryeong.
"Ha-ryeong sunbae!"
"Ah, Sister Ha-ryeong?"
"Guysaaaa! You're safe!"
Lee Ha-ryeong ran up, stopped, and immediately fired a flare into the sky.
Behind her, a flash burst, and a massive mushroom cloud rose.
"……."
KABOOOOOM—
The mages, battered by the wind, gaped at the distant cloud.
As far as they knew, only one type of bomb made clouds like that.
"They used a nuke too?"
"Did our country have nukes?"
The two 2nd Army mages who'd linked up with the 1st Army excitedly guided them toward the safe zone, chattering about the battleship.
"Amazing, right? It's Yoo Eunha's magic!"
"I was so shocked the first time, I couldn't speak!"
Lee Ju-hyeok frowned at their words.
"The nuke—was that from the country?"
Lee Ha-ryeong chuckled and shook her head.
"From the battleship Eunha summoned. She said it'd fire about ten nukes in 30 minutes to hold off 7th Class Abyss monsters."
"……."
Which meant that necromancer was probably at the center of that mushroom cloud.
Ho-ya shouted from the Dragon King's back.
"Besides that, there's another 7th Class Abyss monster! Tougher than the field boss!"
Lee Ha-ryeong's face twisted at Ho-ya's words.
"What? Two field bosses?"
Visibly flustered, she stammered,
"Th-there's no way? Abyss fields never had more than one f-f-f-field boss!"
"But I saw it clear as day! That thing was 7th Class or higher!"
Lee Ha-ryeong coughed.
"W-well, nothing we can do! Head to the safe zone first!"
BOOM—BOOM—
As they neared the safe zone, more missiles rained toward the 1st Army. It seemed every Abyss monster on the 36th floor was chasing them.
BOOM—another missile strike turned pursuing 6th Class monsters to dust.
"Even if the field boss is held by nukes, K and unknown Abyss forces will show soon."
"Hmph, don't worry. I smashed that guy's main body."
As Lee Ha-ryeong boasted confidently, other rescue teams began linking up in the distance.
"No way, we found 'em! Dragon King sunbae! Ehehehe, I win the bet~"
At Park Choa's appearance, the Dragon King and Lee Ju-hyeok's faces crumpled simultaneously.
"They put that psycho on a rescue team?"
"Tch, knew things were going too smoothly."
"What! You didn't miss me? Your reactions hurt my feelings!"
"Wish Yoo Yeon was okay instead."
Park Choa, her light green hair whipping as she ran, suddenly started hopping and screaming.
"Aaaah! Ether incoming! Insane ether density! It's the boss! Boss!"
As she shrieked, everyone began gathering ether.
"Damn."
"K?"
"Seems like it."
"Stubborn bastard."
Lee Ju-hyeok hurled a dagger, sparks flying from the blizzard.
I have a story to tell. Such persistent fools. Who knew normalization would be this tough?
A black android appeared before the 16-member 1st Army party. It emanated 7th Level-grade ether, its red eyes glinting.
You must die here. For the blood sacrifice.