Above Your Head

"Deploy!" Once I roared, dozens of Gigas rushed out from above me at the stage. They were Azure Hawks, flight-type Gigas. 

Papapaaatttttt!! Along with the splitting of wind, blue light was emitted from the backs of the Azure Hawks, and the Gigas accelerated. I looked at the scene unfolding in front of my eyes with momentary worry. Fortunately, I heard no crashes as the ceiling was quite high.

"Genie."

Initiating Integrated Tactical Network operations. Connecting to all accessible Gigas. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1... Connection complete. The Gigas connected to the current Connection Network is 2,240 units. 

"Isn't it insufficient?"

There will still be people left in the Cradle of Justice. I'll connect with them as soon as they make a new entrance. 

I then took out a Justice Weapon, a Carving Knife of Justice. In fact, it was an ambiguous matter to call this a weapon right now. In order to change from a carving knife to a weapon form, additional consumption of power was required. However, as there was a limit to the Justice Points that I was supported with, it was used only as a production tool without changing its shape. In addition to that, it was also used to access the Cradle of Justice, and this was what I am doing right now.

- You are in the Diamond rank(Temporary)!

- Accessing the Cradle of Justice!

- 1,132,119,331 people are watching you!

The Justice Rank, which was once close to the Grand Master rank, ranked down to the Diamond Rank due to the constant consumption. 

- Welcome to the Cradle of Justice.

- You currently have 0 Justice Points.

- You have been granted 1,511,154,561 Justice Points.

- (Read Bulletin Board), (Watch a Play), (Check Comments), (Settings)

- Current number of users connected to the Cradle of Justice: 1,933,215,566 people

- External users: 4,423,331 people

The total number of users accessing the Cradle of Justice was about 2 billion, but the fact that 1.9 billion of them still remained inside the Cradle meant that most of them were still observing the outside situation from inside the Cradle. 

Shiiiiiinggg! While I thought so, a gray giant descended. Boom! The ground reverberated heavily. The gray giant carried a steel backpack, larger than its own body and so heavy that the Gigas who had a powerful output staggered. 

Pitter patter!! The steel backpack was divided and soon turned into hundreds of units of Goblin, pouring down. After that, I could hear a high-pitched voice from the gray Gigas, White Tiger, which came before me. 

"Wahhh!!! Wow! Woooww! I can really show up next to Iron Mask-nim!!"

"So-hyang?" I stared blankly at the gray Gigas. I was baffled, wondering where the little brat had appeared from. But her appearance was not the last of it. 

Shiiiing! Shiing! Shiiing! Shiiing!

"Wow! Iron Mask-nim! Wow, I can't believe I'm seeing you in person!"

"Uwaaaaahhh! I'm really appearing out of here! I guess this is possible because it's a team competition huh!"

As people began to appear near me in flocks, Genie watched on and said, It seems that the people who were in the Cradle of Justice are entering based on where you are, Captain-nim.

"H-Hhello! Iron Mask-nim! Kwan Dae-ha-nim! I am really a huge fan of yours! Si-Sign..."

"You birdbrain! It's a nuisance to Iron Mask-nim!! The war begins in five minutes from now, alright!"

"Don't show a poor sight and take part in the formation!"

"Ahh ughhh, let's not do this! How is this any different from a bunch of stalker fans breaking into a live studio?! If you're a fan, you ought to keep your manners!"

Some of the people attempting to approach me were dragged and dispersed all over by some new people who appeared.

Then, the huge White Tiger bowed at me upon seeing such a sight and said, "Well then, I look forward to your kind cooperation! I really really really like White Tiger! I'm using it well!" She stomped away to a distance. I didn't even see her face from beginning to end, but even so, it felt like I saw a girl smiling fast. 

"Yeah. So this is how it goes."

If they could freely set the access location like this, there was no reason to call them up persistently. Of course, the more power the better. However, wouldn't the number of Death Knights that simultaneously appear increase if they enter? It would be better to take advantage of the fact that they were able to access freely and put it in the necessary places. 

Kwaaatatak! Once I swept the floor with my hands that contained vibration, the floor broke and created five furrows. I muttered, "Fortunately, it's destroyed. Is it made of stone? It would've been great if it was metal."

Just in case, really, just in case, if it had a background like the Lake Stacy of Silence, it would seem that they would have to discard the build which could've been possible.

'Then again, it wouldn't turn out that good.' I kept taking out the Gigas from the Unique World and thought about it. 'What will be the size of the enemy?'

This was the announcement at the beginning of the Level 14 High-difficulty stage: 

- Warning: 2,212,114,331 people are outside the area.

- The system will be partially updated.

- Difficulty Highest will be added. 

- The quota of people outside the area until the end of the stage will be added to the group battle as enemies. 

And the announcement of the Highest-difficulty stage was like this:

- Level 14. Difficulty is set to highest.

- No time limit. Wipe out the Death Knights and Death Knight King.

It was a pretty kind announcement, giving us a rough idea of what the upcoming large-scale combat would be like, who the enemy would be, and what the numbers would look like. 

'It's a good thing that only Level 14 enemies came. I was worried that Level 13 monsters would also come since the Highest-difficulty stage was held in the same week… The Level 13 stage was held on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, whereas the Level 14 stage was held on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.' If so, then we could rule out Evil Spirits and curse countermeasures. Although it wasted the effort we had hastily put in to prepare, this was the best case scenario since our preparation wasn’t perfect. It was better to not rely on whatever we had done.

'The announcement said that the number of people outside the area was 2.2 billion, but that number finally decreased.' Because as other players, So-hyang included, did a while ago, there were many people who additionally participated in the stage after looking at the situation in the Cradle of Justice.

'The final number of seceders was about 1.5 billion during the Level 14 High-difficulty stage. In other words, the additional number of enemies would be 15 billion Death Knights and 1.5 billion Death Knight Kings. And during the Level 14 High-difficulty stage, a Death Knight King would be summoned for every 10 Death Knights killed.' It was a huge number, but that was only added to the Level 14 Highest-difficulty stage. 

'And this time, we have to note that there will be two billion seceders, with the additional 500 million flown into space while riding Eden. They didn't even participate in the High-difficulty stage, so it would be difficult for them to challenge for the Highest-difficulty stage.'

If I could, I wanted to let more people get on board Eden. However, it was physically unreasonable to do so. Not only were people not properly controlled, but it also took a considerable amount of time to get on board Eden. In fact, the act of bringing 500 million more people on board of Eden in one day was almost a result at random. I just put humans in, and would have to bring them back down on Earth once the stage was over, so supplies were to be supplied first. 

'Well, anyway.' As I was thinking so, a total of 20 billion Death Knights and 2 billion Death Knight Kings was added. Also, I was mindful that additional enemies would appear as well. 'In other words, there must be enemies hidden in the Highest-difficulty stage, but I can't figure it out. 5 units had to be defeated in the Intermediate-difficulty stage, 10 units + 1 boss unit in the High-difficulty stage... The Highest-difficulty stage would only be worse than that, and would definitely not be any better.'

As I roughly grasped the numbers, my eyes spun from the huge number. At the same time, it was said that 'The number of enemies regenerated is proportional to the number of players gathered', so it was probably safe to expect that those numbers would not charge in at once. 

"It's starting! Stay in formation and stand by!"

"Uwaaaaaah! There are so many people!!! No, there are people scattered all over the place like a baduk board, so does it make sense for each group to be about one million people?"

"Don't cause a commotion. Just go to the inner side of the formation if you're not confident!"

Five minutes passed in a blink of an eye, and...

- 1st wave.

- Start.

The enemy appeared. Whooooosh-! In an instant, a black storm surged forth and countless Death Knights appeared among the flock of players. From the vision of the Azure Hawks looking down from the sky, it was like a black baduk stone placed between the baduk stones which were initially separated. 

Scanning completed. There are currently 1.07 billion people progressing with the stage. The number of Death Knights that appeared is the same, and there isn't any Death Knight King sighted.

Appearing approximately 2 kilometers away from the players, the Death Knights did not raise their voices or emit their Aura to threaten the players. They were just carrying swords imbued with a jet-black Sword Qi, surging like waves. 

"Stop them!!!"

"Everyone on board the defense-type Gigas, to the front!!!"

"Ah, damn it. I've only tried doing it in solo play, but what's with this large-scale war?! It wasn't even a party play!"

Along with the screams that resonated from all over the place, swords and swords collided. Arrows were also fired. Magic materialized, and telekinesis as well as spiritual energy raged like typhoons.  And like that...the Death Knights were starting to get wiped out.

"Huh?"

"Oh, what? Where's all the Death Knights?"

"Waahh. I didn't even swing my blade."

Bang bang!!! Kaboom!!!! I nodded, looking at the bones that were smashed to smithereens along with the roar. "It's a good thing that I only made the Azure Hawk and the Blue Elephant. It's working well."

Because it's a situation we were prepared for to a certain extent.

The gunfire-specialized Gigas, the Blue Elephants, which were firing long-range artillery, cooled down the heated port. 

In military terms, the Death Knight unit was a unit made up of 100 perfect melee troops.

As soon as the branch of military unit called Firing Troops intervened, the capabilities to carry out the war began to rise to an incomparable extent. As the artillery was fired in the middle of a heavy force of 1 million Death Knights, the crowded Death Knights were swept away without being able to use their amazing swordsmanship. 

"Wowww! What kind of Gigas keeps shooting endlessly? Moreover, I've never heard of such a model before… An artillery-specialized model, huh." The people around kept looking at the stage situation while listening to these words. "Its form was inefficient in the initial stages, so they probably didn't pass it to others."

A group of one million people, including me, ended the battle with only a few hundred wounded and no casualties. Needless to say, the battle supported by the Unique World was that overwhelming. But...not all human beings could obtain that kind of support. 

"Napoleon." As I took out a Dragon Heart and tossed it up into the sky, the Dragon Bones released as if a water bomb exploded. They solidified into a pre-designated form. Then, what showed up was a 30-meter-tall giant with a silver body and a red cape. 

Exclamations could be heard from all over the place. 

"It's Napoleon!!"

"Wow! I never thought I'd see it in person!"

"It's big! It's really huge! Wow, was it this big?" 

"So cool!" 

As the battle finished up to some extent, I kicked the floor while leaving behind the cheering crowd. As I had said before, Napoleon had all the functions of the Four Guardian Beasts and the Golden Dragon. Flying, of course, was included in those functions. 

Kroooarrrrrr!! The cape fluttered and soared. The speed quickly exceeded the speed of sound in an instant and, just like that, it flew past tens of millions of people. 

All the Death Knights in the north, south, east, and west group, mine included, received devastating damage by the artillery of the Blue Elephant. Therefore, all the other groups around easily completed the battle. However, after flying a few kilometers, I saw a group that had yet to finish their battle. Then, after flying more than 100 kilometers away, I even saw a group who were being pushed back by the Death Knights. 

*Abilities of the Day!

Acceleration

Pressure

Flash

Sniper

"It's a relief that at least Sniper was included at the end. If this is the case, it would be better if we had Artillery-specialized Abilities." It was regrettable but I targeted every Death Knight that came into view. Eight ports that were attached on Napoleon's hands began to shoot out soul energy bullets.

Dududududu!!! Kabooom booom booom boom boom!!! A bombing attack was unleashed. Every time I flew in a line and passed by, the Death Knights underneath were blasted away without being able to put up any proper resistance. It was literally a brutal massacre, but nevertheless… It was impossible for me alone to completely cover the battle lines that were intertwined with hundreds and millions of troops. 

The battle is over. The time taken was 35 minutes and 11 seconds. Death Knight fully annihilated. Player Damage is 320,000 deaths and 6,211,000 wounded. 

"On the first wave?! And that's when we only fought for half an hour..."

It's a large-scale war, Captain-nim. A billion fought against another billion, so it's considered a landslide victory if it's a battle ratio of this extent. 

"Even so... If it's the players who have survived so far, aren't they basically survival experts? How did they even clear the stage until so far?"

As I was baffled, Genie said, That's because they couldn't clear it. 

"..."