Above Your Head

***

The two giants were fighting fiercely as if they were going to destroy the whole world. As their images disappeared, the Inner World fell into silence.

“You were lucky…”

Milleon leaned against a nearby rock while breathing heavily. He had achieved victory against an Untouchable. Not just any Untouchable either, but against the Machine God Dekarma and Hawa.

It was inconceivable. No matter how much support they received, how could two beings of the emperor-class win against two beings of the Untouchable-class? It was impossible. In fact, one Untouchable possessed a power rivalling over 10 emperor-class beings. It was proven during the Great War.

But Milleon knew. The victory was not a result of their efforts alone. The sudden change in the flow of the battle had caused such results, but he had initially been aiming for escape rather than victory. If Dekarma continued to battle at his full power without being distracted, Milleon would have had no choice but to use his last resort at the expense of heavy losses.

“I got it!”

“Did you seal it properly?”

“Of course.”

Jenica returned to Milleon’s side with a pale expression while holding an object the size of a child’s head.

“…Well then. I was looking for an opportunity to run away. Who would have imagined that things would turn out like this?”

“Hahah! Isn’t this good though? Hawa is one of the worst named enemies of the Union. Moreover, we… Buwaaagh!”

Jenica chirped with excitement before suddenly vomiting blood. Milleon looked up.

“Are you all right?”

“What do you think? Transcendental spells are supposed to be used only once a day… Phew!”

Jenica plopped down on the ground and leaned against Milleon’s body. He frowned and glared at her, but soon relaxed with a sigh.

“I’m going to die.,.. I’ll have to take good care of myself for at least a few years.”

“I’m also going to have trouble casting spells… I’ll be strained to use even ultimate spells for a while, so maybe I’ll hide away.”

“Well, I guess there are plenty of people who would be excited to kill you.”

“Oh, come on. You’ve got a lot more enemies than me.”

The two of them bickered on.

Whoooong!

A light descended from the sky. MIlleon stood up while holding his claymore, and Jenica’s hair rose into the air as if it was submerged.

“Dad?”

“…..”

Milleon looked at Dae-ha with a nervous expression. He suspected that it might be Dekarma for a while, but the feeling was different. Dae-ha returned Milleon’s gaze.

“You’re not my father, are you?”

“Hmm.”

Milleon took on a troubled expression. He knew of Dae-ha’s existence, but it was the first time they met. The last time he visited Earth 34 was around the time when Dae-ha’s birth mother had been born, and he only heard about Dae-ha through leters.

“Hi!”

But before he could answer, Jenica interjected.

“You! You used me for quite a long time, didn’t you?”

Dae-ha laughed at her spirited tone.

“I saved your lives instead.”

“I guess you’re right, but couldn’t you have saved me first before asking for help!?”

“You were a bit too infamous for me to have done that.”

Dae-ha spoke in an extremely calm voice. His glowing eyes were dazed, as if they were staring at something far away rather than Milleon and Jenica.

“What happened to Dekarma?”

“We’re still fighting. What is your relationship with my dad?”

“I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Milleon, from another earth. You can call me Lee Geon-young… I am the same person as your father. I mean, at least that is how it was in the past. It’s a little different now.”

Milleon began to explain.

“I have been looking for a person. To be exact, a soul… Your mother was one of the candidates. Although she was a prominent candidate, she was not the only one, and I was very busy. I left one of my alter egos by her side.”

“And that’s my dad?”

Milleon nodded at Dae-ha’s question.

“Yes. He took on the name of Kwan Ill-han. But at some point, he stopped renewing.”

“Renewing?”

“The process of sending the experiences and memories he gained up to a point and renewing his body.”

Dae-ha knew that his father started to diverge from his main body after the death of his mother. He saw the Great Wizard’s arrangements, then began planning long-term in preparation for the coming of the End Project.

And his plans were probably.

Probably…

“Before anything, you can go to my dimension and recover from your injuries. It looks quite severe.”

Although they looked relatively fine on the surface, Dae-ha knew Milleon was seriously injured. Jenica fared a bit better, but she was in a state where she could not utilize her powers properly.

Jenica asked.

“Are you sure? If you accept us, many forces will pit themselves against you.”

“Who?”

Dae-ha asked, but it wasn’t really a question.

Who.

Would dare?

“…..”

Milleon gazed at Dae-ha without saying a word. The young man’s eyes were shining brightly. The light was so bright that a spectrum could be seen.

Pat! Pat!

Milleon and Jenica were transported into the Unique World. However, the object that was in Jenica’s hands failed to be moved.

Thud!

It was a heart. Naturally, it wasn’t an organic heart, but a heart of metal that was about the size of a child’s head.

“An Iron Heart.”

He could hear Jenica complaining about something in the Unique World, but he ignored her and observed the Iron Heart. Originally, Hawa did not possess an Iron Heart. But she had left behind the artifact after briefly taking on the form of a gigas before perishing. The rest of her metallic body, which had been hundreds of meters tall, had disappeared and only left behind the heart.

Boom!

I tried transporting it into the Unique World but failed. Unlike Milleon and Jenica, Hawa possessed a proper Divine Spirit. She was kind of a racial god who protected the existence of the Legion. Dae-ha had given up his position as a Machine God, so he could not do as he pleased.

“Genie.”

Captain!! Are you all right?”

Hey! Did you get it together?

As he transported his consciousness to the Unique World, the two voices urgently welcomed him. A smile bloomed on Dae-ha’s face in response to their worries.

But he didn’t have time to exchange pleasantries and catch up with them.

“Genie, draw my blood.”

Your blood?

“Yeah. And…”

Dae-ha transmitted a certain design to Genie. Genie confirmed the plan before asking.

Captain, a gate…

“It’s structured normally except my blood. Make it within 3 hours if possible.”

After speaking, he went into his room and sat down on his chair. The shape of the chair morphed as he sat.

- You are Challenger rank.

- You are challenger ra…

- You are challenger r…

- You are cha….

- You…! @[email protected]#$!$

Right after the text became distorted.

Flash!

This is…

Genie, block the perimeter. This is an important moment.

As you wish.

Ha. I never thought I would see a scene like this again…

As the two expressed their surprise, Dae-ha moved his consciousness back to the real world and sat on a nearby rock. Then he took out the Carving Knife of Justice. All he needed now was time. Time would solv everything.

‘But there’s someone who would never let that happen.’

- Stage will be opened!

- Level 20. Difficulty is set at intermediate.

- Defeat the Giant of the Apocalypse.

- The stage will begin in 10 seconds.

- 10. 9. 8. 7…..

“I knew this would happen. So there’s not even any delays between the stages anymore, huh?”

Dae-ha entered the bulletin board with a bitter smile while holding the Carving Knife of Justice.

- Please protect me. (Iron Mask).

He filled in the contents.

- I am going to be in production. When it is finished, we will be able to complete all the stages and begin our new lives. However, I will be defenseless during the process. As such, I need people to stop the attack of the End Project. It is highly likely that the enemy will be a transcendent, so  it will be extremely risky. I implore you.

I uploaded the post. I had also turned on the broadcast after cutting it off for a little while, so I didn’t need to explain in detail.

“Genie.”

Yes, Captain-nim.

“Deploy the combat personnel around me… Help me with all of Albatross’s power.”

Leave it to me.

Dae-ha lifted the carving knife after hearing Genie’s answer.

And slowly, he started carving the heart of Hawa.

***

Boom!

The Giant of Apocalypse descended to reality, then tore apart dimensions to enter the Parallel World. The End Project could not produce a being of transcendence. Of course, civilizations that were destroyed by the End Project encountered transcendental enemies at the end, but they were not monsters produced by the End Project. Rather, they were the End Project itself. In other words, they were the avatars of the Apocalypse Monster.

There was a limit to the number that could be summoned because the End Project needed to control them directly for them to exert sufficient power. It had been smooth-sailing thus far. By the 20th stage, there were usually only very few survivors.

But it was different now.

Over a billion survivors!!

It was much better for the End Project to send 1 billion enemies who were level 19 than to send one transcendent. Although the difference between level 19 and 20 were often compared to the difference between gods and humans, it wouldn’t matter if the transcendent was outnumbered 1 to 1 billion.

But the End Project had already broken too many rules. It could not send out any monsters with differing levels from the stage. As such, it could only send five level 20 monsters at a time until they reached 1 billion.

“Here they come! Fire! Fire!”

“Flight squadron! Go! Protect Iron Mask-nim at all costs!”

Countless shots were fired towards the Giants of Apocalypse. More than 10,000 gigas were flying in the sky like a swarm of bees.

Boooom!

Countless bombs exploded against the giants. The earth splits due to the physical and spiritually destructive power of the attacks.

But at that moment,

Kiiing-!

Boooooom!

“Scatter! Scatter!!!”

“Dammit! All of them are dead in one attack!?”

Numerous gigas fell from the sky as if they were insects hit by insecticide. But the players were not pushovers by any means.

Kiing!

A gray of light shot towards the group of artillery. But unlike when it struck the flying gigas, the piercing light was blocked.

“Uuu….ahhh!!!”

A large gigas stood in front of the beam. The pilot of the human-rank gigas Yi Sun-shin, Jae-seok, converted the light energy into vibration energy.

Woooong!!!

It was transformed into a devastating energy that was incomparable to anything else he felt before. Jae-seok tried to bring it under control with desperation but it was as if he was being swept away by a storm.

“Keugh!”

“Jae-seok!”

“D, don’t make a fuss… Here it comes!”

Yi Sun-shin’s unique ability, One Strike to Devastate, activated. It stemmed from the engravings of Admiral Yi Sun-shin’s swords – a single sword strike to paint the rivers and mountains with blood! An enormous power crushed space itself as it shot forward.

Kuaawarrrng!!

The space in the attack’s trajectory was shifted and transformed along with a loud roar. However,

Puck!

A gray shield appeared on the giant’s chest and casually blocked the vibrations.

“Maintenance!! Look after the machinery! Healers! Take care of Jae-seok-nim!”

“Swap out! Swap out! Get the wounded out of here!”

“My god. What a monster…!”

“We can’t even stall for time…?”

Screams could be heard from all over the place.

Thud.

Space shifted and a boy appeared out of nowhere. He was a beautiful boy. He had black hair and pale skin that made him look like a cartoon character. The world itself would brighten with his smile.

“Huh? A human? Is the freaky haunted house thing finally over? Or are they NPCs?”

The bewildered boy saw the giant standing far away and thousands of gigas attacking it.

From the boy’s point of view.

It was a scene straight out of a science fiction movie.

“…Is this really Earth 34? Maybe I accidentally came to Earth 43 or something? But I was certain that I entered the Parallel World.”

He started walking while grumbling.

Before anyone noticed, he held a cutter knife in his hand.