World Collision - The Tenth - Part 5

One had to ask the question right here. In terms of overall weight class, there was no reason Dindinaron should have been at any disadvantage whatsoever.

Yet why was Biin's world devastating Dindinaron's territory while Dindinaron couldn't land a single meaningful blow on Biin's world?

The biggest factor was that Biin's current method of attacking Dindinaron constituted a form of asymmetric warfare.

The gum-based organisms, the gamchi, the plants, the heavy metal contamination—none of them could be handled through conventional means. Each required its own specific countermeasure.

By contrast, the overwhelming majority of Dindinaron's forces consisted ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of symmetric power. They represented the absolute pinnacle of medieval military capability. Using what seemed like an infinite supply of external resources, he had produced the most elite mystics imaginable, powerful hero entities, and a well-trained, disciplined army.

He had also fortified every island, city, and village. A perfect fusion of offense and defense.

But none of it mattered against asymmetric forces. Even his legendary-grade traits didn't introduce new variables; they simply provided massive boosts to existing stats.

So if one side had asymmetric power and the other had symmetric power, shouldn't the latter simply overwhelm them with brute force? In fact, that was exactly what they were doing.

Just as Ogolraeot's army had turned a corner of the Dessert Desert into complete ruins in a single day or two, Dindinaron's forces were converting ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ and into through their unique magic weapons. They advanced by smashing everything in their path.

The problem was that they couldn't break through even a single Shuc-rimmurath. No matter what kind of frenzy they unleashed, once she passed through an area everything was left shredded to pieces.

This was thanks to Biin's Tech Level 11 Uncommon trait: Devouring Mist. A powerful mystery that granted the mist surrounding Shuc-rimmurath predatory properties, allowing her to swallow enemies whole, restore her own energy, and produce even more of herself.

Since permitting infinite campsite construction had proven remarkably effective during the previous battle against Ogolraeot, Biin had attached several additional traits.

Industry Level 12 Excellent trait: City Disassembler.

Politics Level 8 Excellent trait: Pack That Follows the Mother.

Mystery Level 13 Excellent trait: Shuc-rimmurath Enhanced Offspring Split Production.

She truly was a legion commander—destroying everything in her path while leading thousands of bread creatures and their swarms. When you compared her to Yogur-tosoth, who wandered alone and made the title of legion commander seem meaningless, it was clear Shuc-rimmurath was utilizing the power of the pack to its fullest potential.

Shuc-rimmurath's current level was 12. She had gained a few levels while Yogur-tosoth was unable to feed.

To be perfectly honest, she wasn't impossible to defeat. Anyone who heard that the stat difference was literally tens of thousands to one and still asked what the problem was simply didn't understand the game's stat calculation formula.

In game terms, using the calculation method, a stat of 100 at Level 1 became 350,379 at Level 12. However, this didn't mean the entity became 3,503 times stronger in combat power. Rather, their overall capacity was 3,503 times greater.

In other words, if you calculated it as (attack power) × (attack speed) and derived each stat using the square root, the result was only about 59 times stronger. Add more variables with a formula like (attack power) × (attack speed) × (attack range) and use the cube root, and each individual field only came out to around 15 times.

The in-game stat formula had some rather mysterious quirks. During the third collision, for example, Yogur-tosoth's value was 879. Compared to a normal homo sapiens with 100 , that only meant it was roughly twice as strong, could fight twice as long, and had twice the range.

In short, something like a rather large bear that could fly and use ranged attacks.

Well, to the third-wave players who had to face it with stone-age civilization, even that was an unbearable monster. But if hundreds gathered to fire arrows, or if they had something like Mitomok's slingshots, Yogur-tosoth would have been pierced through and killed.

So why couldn't the current gathering of elite legions defeat Shuc-rimmurath?

Her current stat was 265,076. Using the (attack) × (speed) × (range) formula and taking the cube root gave a result of roughly 13.

Thirteen times stronger than a normal human, striking thirteen times faster, and hitting a thirteen-times-wider area. That was roughly the combat power Shuc-rimmurath possessed.

In reality the proportions were slightly different. Her attack power and speed were about half those values, while her attack range was perhaps four times wider.

What this meant was simple: unless you possessed at least 6.5 times the defensive power of an average bare human, you would be "one-shot" by Shuc-rimmurath's normal attack.

Against a creature that attacked simultaneously with mist and giant limbs across an area 52 times wider than a normal human, there was no chance to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠resist. You would simply be crushed. Confrontation itself was impossible.

And it wasn't just one hit. These strikes came at roughly seven times the speed of a human swinging a sword. Thick arms, crushing jaws, and devouring mist would tear you to shreds.

Her durability was even more hopeless. Shuc-rimmurath's health was 1,182,524. Even calculating the cube root of (health) × (defense) × (regeneration) gave 22 times that of a normal human.

In short, to even scratch her hide you needed physical force capable of marking steel 22 times tougher than human skin. To kill her, you would need to tear through that steel plate and land strikes capable of delivering fatal wounds to a human—22 of them simultaneously. Otherwise she would recover at 22 times a human's rate.

"This is a game?"

This was the game, and this was the game's mathematics. The stat calculation method was a simplification of far more complex formulas, resulting in these numbers.

Shuc-rimmurath's self-owned recovery mystery, her super-regeneration active skill, defense enhancement, the mist that reduced most mystery damage—remove all of those and calculate only her bare specs, and you could see exactly how durable she truly was.

So how did you solve this? You had to pierce the opponent's weaknesses and overwhelm them.

If your defense was so ridiculously high that Shuc-rimmurath's attacks didn't even hurt, you could tank the hits and push forward.

Or you could use weapons with extreme attack power—something like a ballista with high penetration and destructive force capable of piercing that tough hide in a single strike.

Failing that, you could prepare means to weaken her. Pour down an enormous rain of arrows to at least deal damage by striking her hide, or apply weakening-type mysteries. A , for example.

There was no need to look far. Mitomok's Irsan had fulfilled every single one of these conditions.

He possessed evasion high enough to dodge Yogur-tosoth's attacks and a powerful slingshot that fired cursed projectiles capable of bursting Yogur-tosoth's eyes.

Had it not been for Biin's interference, Irsan and his slingshot corps would have easily hunted Yogur-tosoth. Shuc-rimmurath would not have been difficult either.

The real frustration was that none of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠these conditions applied to Dindinaron's army.

First, they had no "monster-type" or "tank" creations with high defense. They relied entirely on defensive mysteries deployed through faith. While their sustained defense was decent enough to endure attacks, that was the end of it.

Their attack power was certainly high, but even after applying every possible enhancement mystery and delivering their strongest strike, they could only punch a single hole in Shuc-rimmurath's hide and cover her in blood.

That wound, mind you, healed naturally in ten minutes. And the strongest strike Dindinaron's army could deliver required a full hour of preparation.

Weakening methods? They had them. The previous record was the result of successfully landing that weakening mystery.

Dindinaron's army had an extremely high floor but a terribly low ceiling.

In reality, they could completely grind through anything below legendary creations, all the way up to bisyakheet and bisyakheet-enhanced cracker-level forces.

That was why they had advanced with unstoppable momentum, creating maps, gathering materials for camps, building fortresses, and turning an area several times larger than their own world into a wasteland.

That had been the situation until that mist demon appeared. She devoured every destroyed region and creature, then restored the land to its original barren state. The iron-wall fortresses they had barely managed to construct were smashed apart simply by her charging into them. She rendered all their efforts meaningless, tanked every attack with her body, did whatever she wanted, and left.

It was unfair.

It was heartbreaking.

It was infuriating.

It made him want to lose his mind.

But what could he do? Their capability simply wasn't enough. Shuc-rimmurath was the type of boss who dealt zero damage if you failed to meet the designated DPS check. They needed to prepare extreme high-attack-power heroes, but Dindinaron had failed to do so.

"We're not weak either, damn it!"

In reality, Dindinaron's army did possess high attack power. Facing Yogur-tosoth would have been far better. Yogur-tosoth was surprisingly fragile and allowed attacks easily. Even if Dindinaron's forces took catastrophic damage, they might have been able to shoot him down.

But Shuc-rimmurath was the complete opposite. The army took no damage, yet they couldn't kill her either.

And without killing Shuc-rimmurath, Dindinaron's army could not advance even a single millimeter into the Dessert Desert. Were they supposed to charge blindly and get surrounded by Great Nature and wiped out overnight?

"Ten years! Ten years! Does it make any sense that we haven't found a single solution in ten years? The dimensional rift will open soon! Then that monster will come to our world! Then... then..."

Dindinaron shouted at his subordinate gods.

"It's over!"

All the subordinate gods closed their mouths. Their silence didn't come from having nothing to say. Their expressions clearly read, So what do you want us to do about it? This is your responsibility.

Naturally, not all of them had agreed to Dindinaron's brilliant plan of crowdfunding points to hunt the Meteor Cartel. Far more had opposed it. If they lost, their souls would be annihilated. Why take such a risk?

Yet Dindinaron had boldly pushed forward anyway. Moreover, failing the DPS check wasn't the subordinate gods' fault.

Dindinaron preferred pushing with many elite entities rather than a small number of high-ceiling ones with strong individual flavor, so they had managed the world accordingly.

Above all, Dindinaron was a player who barely paid attention to . What were they supposed to do about the lack of high-ceiling high-tier entities?

It was Dindinaron himself who had repeatedly declared, "In this game is useless. Once gets high enough you can do everything those high-tier entities can anyway. It's a truly unnecessary stat."

So while the rules prevented the subordinate gods from openly rebelling, they could only send contemptuous glances. Because of your terrible judgment, we're all going to die. That was what their eyes said.

There was no one who could offer a solution. How could anyone possibly solve this hopeless situation? If there were someone who could magically resolve the current crisis, that person would be a god.

And it was around this time that one final piece of despairing news arrived.

Biin's main plan—the strategy of accumulating heavy metals to kill off all the opponent's fish—was finally bearing fruit.

Once they entered the dimensional rift phase, it would be the countdown to destruction. They couldn't even hold out. If they remained passive, the Dessert Legion commanders—especially the most troublesome Shuc-rimmurath—would cross the sea, spreading monstrous creatures as they advanced. And that would be the end.

Dindinaron's vision gradually blurred.