Chapter 156 Space Captain (3)
The army he summoned was unquestionable, only moving with the intent to kill the enemy with all their might. And among them, the first to start was the Sword Saint Lee Hyun-hak.
“…Trivial enemies.”
The moment he swung his sword at the sky, an invisible blade crossed through the thousands of armored corps pouring from the ship. Yoon-seok, having been exposed to similar attacks several times, could see it now. But…
—It’s impossible to analyze the principles…?
Federal Space Defense Force Captain Vignumus had no such experience. He looked at the error code that appeared and screamed.
—What is this, what is this!
It wasn’t a skill that used magic. But right after the swordsman swung his blade, pieces of destroyed armor began to rain down. It wasn’t something he could understand at all, nor was it a situation where he could calmly think about discovering the answer.
Booooom! Boom! Hwioooooooooo!
That was only the beginning of the war. Hundreds of holy warriors flew up on pure white wings, and the crowd on the ground fired magic or arrows.
—These uncivilized hybrids…!
Everyone was insignificant. Most of the defense protocols mounted on the drones alone were enough to mow them down. However, given the sheer numbers, it was difficult to ignore them. To make matters worse, those who surpassed the armored soldiers appeared one after another.
Shineeeeeeeeeeeee-!
A series of rays fired from the robots.
—W-why isn’t the defense protocol working?
The insects on land slaughtered the drones using ordinary swords without magic, cutting through them like cheese. Not only that.
“This is the weakness!”
As he wondered, an assassin in dark attire walked among the drones in the air and cut off their receivers.
—There’s still more to come out…?
Something huge, reminiscent of a space monster, ignited a snowstorm and revealed itself through Hell’s Gate. Deus Koadunus, the ancient creature that Yoon-seok killed in the 19th-floor trial.
Cooooooooooooo-!
If the creature were a little bigger, it could’ve grabbed the ship. Immediately, the hundreds of drones that were transmitting signals above froze and began to fall. Vignumus bit his lip.
—Nuclear Plasma.
Although he used the battleship to counterattack as soon as the cooldown time was over, it wasn’t enough. The situation had already tilted. The armored corps, which appeared invincible no matter what opponent appeared, were being torn apart.
The way to overcome this crisis was…
—… Is that the only way?
As far as he knew, there was only one.
While Vignumus committed to using his secret weapon, Yoon-seok was looking for someone through the chaotic battlefield.
“…Are they not here?”
The Rank A effect of {Dark Knight} was simple. He opened the door to the nether world and called out those he killed to serve in his army for 10 minutes. However, contrary to his expectations, Cheon-ma was nowhere to be seen. The same went for any of the challengers he met in duels below the 10th floor.
‘Does it not count those who had coins?’
It was a plausible hypothesis. If it weren’t counted because they were still alive, then the reproduced beings he met in missions or duels wouldn’t have been summoned.
‘I don’t know why it was classified like that, but in the end, is it that the system does whatever it wants?’
Soon, Yoon-seok gave up looking for Cheon-ma and grasped the situation. The duration was 10 minutes, and the odds were stacked to end this duel, but he had one question.
‘Why is everyone so weak?’
If Vignumus, who was driven to a dead-end against them, had heard it, he would have freaked out. But Yoon-seok, who had fought each of them, felt so. First of all, the devil was an obvious example. It had become smaller from before when it was over 100m tall, and its attacks were somewhat lacking.
“…”
At first, he thought it was a simple illusion. But after he even checked his intuition was right. The range of the Unique Skill {Cultivator} was 300m in radius; this was certain because Yoon-seok verified it himself. However, the scope had been reduced to about a tenth of that.
‘And Sword Demon, he’s not destroying much…’
It was a fact that his sword, which cut down Judgment of the Ruined Monarch, also couldn’t meet his expectations.
‘I guess it doesn’t bring them to their full capacity in their past life.’
It was a little disappointing. But, even considering that, this was a good enough ability. Yoon-seok abandoned the thoughts and looked up to the sky.
Boooooooooom-!
The wizard’s flame magic, empowered by b Great Magician}, went off like a fireworks display. It was slowly reaching the time to wrap up the duel. Yoon-seok held both his swords in the state of b Demonify} and bent his knees, tensing like a spring. When he was about to leap with his wings spread out-
—Last Command.
Something changed.
—Power Gathering.
The armored soldiers stopped moving and fell to the ground. The majestic spacecraft that floated in the sky followed after a second after. But before he could wonder if this was the last attempt of self-destruction.
Saaaaaaaaaaaaa-!
Magic so dense that it could be seen with the naked eye even without using a way to see began to gather above. He could tell at a glance his cornered prey was about to make a final counterattack.
‘I don’t know what it is, but there’s no need to wait.’
Yoon-seok immediately kicked off the ground and soared up. It wasn’t difficult to find his opponent as his armor had lost power and was collapsing. But…
—Quantum Invisible System.
When Yoon-seok was trying to reach him, he vanished. He couldn’t find him even though he was using how to see. However, only a robotic voice continued to speak, over and over again.
—External Fusion.
As the spacecraft crashed, the blue sky revealed beyond it was being torn apart.
—Gravity Line Adjustment.
Beyond that, a space like a gap in dimensions, dark except for the intense silver light radiating from afar.
— Orbit Interference.
The silver light began to intensify. Yoon-seok soon realized that the light was not getting stronger but that the point of its origin was approaching.
Whoooooooosh-!
The ground shook. Yoon-seok’s army, lined up on the ground, lost their balance and slowly floated up. The collapsed armored soldiers and the free-falling ship halted in mid-air, then began to ascend alongside them. It suddenly reminded him of a documentary related to zero gravity that he saw on TV one day.
Strictly speaking, that was wrong. It was not a phenomenon that occurred because there was no gravity. Rather, the force pulling at them from above became stronger.
“…”
The silver light revealed a distinct shape: it was a sphere with colorful bands like Saturn. As it approached, its pull became stronger. At this point, Yoon-seok realized what Vignumus’s last move was and went blank. He intended to destroy the arena.
“…”
No matter how innovative this space civilization was, this was too much. If this happened, he would die without a chance. His troops were meaningless in front of that. Even Yoon-seok it was impossible to block or evade.
What made the Tower come up with these ridiculous skills?
‘It’s probably not that kind of skill in the first place.’
Just as Yoon-seok realized the sword’s principles one at a time and mixed it with the system to create new techniques, he, too, researched and studied the effects of various skills based on his underlying knowledge to produce these effects.
“…”
Yoon-seok contemplated again and again about the best attack he could foster under the current circumstances. The first thing that came to mind was b Immortality}, but…
‘It’s too much of a risk.’
The duration was 10 seconds, and if that collided, the impact was unlikely to end in just 10 seconds. Of course, there was the battle of who died first. In other words, he didn’t know if this alien gave up and tried to gamble on a last-ditch effort without having a suitable way, but…
But it was unlikely, considering that he completely disappeared using a strange skill.
‘What should I do?’
Vajra Step, Skywrath Energy… in the end, there was only one definite way.
‘All or nothing.’
Before reaching that point, he had to kill Vignumus and end this duel.
‘Let’s do it.’
First of all, it wasn’t that difficult to find him. If they didn’t have an ability like b Non-verbal magic}, all challengers must memorize the commands, and Yoon-seok clearly remembered the commands he chanted before disappearing.
「By Lady’s Commandment, Quantum Invisible System loses its effectiveness within the area.」
A translucent black sphere covered the ground. However, contrary to expectation, no one appeared. Why? Was it a different skill that made him disappear? Yoon-seok selected the most plausible answer.
‘That means he ran away.’
Due to the exponential expansion of the arena, the law couldn’t cover the whole area. Therefore, it made sense if Yoon-seok assumed he was already out of range.
Yoon-seok quickly moved his body. Now, it was time to fight. He would find him first, or that would arrive.
Whoooooooosh-!
As the planet approached, the pressure on him increased astronomically, but Yoon-seok continued to run with all his might.
And he finally found him. It was the moment when the spaceship was pulled into the planet and exploded-
Booooooooom-!!
Through it, Yoon-seok smiled.
—T-this barbarian…!
His foe’s resentment was clear proof of his victory.
Boooom-!
So now…
「Victory.」
「The subject registered on the list has been murdered.」
「The cause of death matches.」
「Asura’s magic stat increases by +1.」
「15,000,000 APs will be paid as a reward.」
「Unique Skill {Predation} has been activated.」
It was time to collect his reward.
「Move to the waiting room on the 21st floor.」
After coming back to the waiting room, Namgoong So-so was nowhere to be seen. Still, it would be strange if she was already back as it had only been two days since she went to the mission trials. Yoon-seok quietly gathered his breath.
“Whoo…”
The fierce duel was over. However, he didn’t have time to celebrate his victory; there were too many things to do. Starting with checking the rankings, he then had to report his survival to Ashton and find out what had changed since the 21st floor.
However, Yoon-seok decided to check the rewards first.
{Commander Call}
Rank S – Last Command. When used, the performance of all general skills increases by 150x for 1 minute. 2/3 uses left.
Rank A – When purchasing mechanical equipment below Rank A, a further 25% of the AP is refunded.
Rank B – When mechanical equipment is used, all opponents’ resistance and attribute immunity are ignored by long-distance attacks.
Rank C – When mechanical equipment is used, the power of all attacks increases by 12x.
Rank D – Durability of mechanical equipment increases 25x.
Rank E – When purchasing mechanical equipment, half of the AP is refunded.
Rank F – All mechanical equipment owned may be registered and summoned from a subspace. The performance of summoned mechanical equipment increased by 3x.
‘Is it because of this…?’
The moment he saw the Unique Skill that reached Rank S, he was convinced. He had nearly 100 general skills. Power Gathering, External Fusion, Gravity Line Adjustment, and Orbital Interference were general skills. He didn’t know exactly what effect it had, but the rank was lower than he’d expected. Ranks B or C at best.
No matter how good the synergy was, was it possible to produce such results with these skills? He had to wonder, but things were different when the performance increased by 150 times.
‘It would only be twice, but it would be no joke if I used this with Judgement of the Ruined Monarch…’
Yoon-seok smiled with satisfaction. It was useless without mechanical equipment, but that ability alone was more than sufficient. Furthermore…
‘It’s not like I don’t have any mechanical equipment at all.’
Yoon-seok chose one of the thousands of mechanical equipment his foe possessed through b Predation}: the MTAE-014. The name didn’t help at all in choosing, but it had the highest rank at SS.
Pull.
Yoon-seok opened the bottom drawer out of habit. As expected, it was empty. Whatever it was, it wasn’t the size to fit in this drawer, and it was probably already registered in the subspace due to b Commander Call}.
‘As expected, it’s that, right? Well, looking at the rank, it’s nothing other than that.’
Yoon-seok was restless like a child on Christmas Eve. He couldn’t wait to check it out. But if what he looted this time was the object he expected now, it would be too much to summon it in this cramped waiting room.
“…”
After a moment of consideration, Yoon-seok returned to Earth.
“Cha-challenger Choi Yoon-seok?”
The agents waiting at the location where Yoon-seok left found him right away.
“I’m going to check just one thing and leave, so don’t mind me.”
“What? What are you talking about…?”
Yoon-seok roughly chanted the command.
“Commander Call.”
Whoooooooooosh-!
A massive shadow cast over the ground with a huge roar reminiscent of a rocket engine. There was even a mechanical sound in an announcer’s tone that penetrated his pounding heart and rang in his ear.
—Please relay your order, Captain.
It was the moment when the Earth’s first space captain was born.