Above Your Head

After school, a crowd of students poured out from the school gate like a flurry of clouds.

“Hey! Let’s go to the arcade! Let’s goo!”

“Ah, I’m so hungry! Yo, let’s eat!”

“Are you crazy? School literally ended after we had lunch. Why are you hungry again?”

“So you’re not going to eat?”

“I never said that!”

It had been over a year since the stage ended. Earth was recovering quickly. Although the stage was an unprecedented calamity in which 90% of humanity died, fortunate, the damage to Earth itself wasn’t so great. It was because most of the stage took place in an alternate dimension in stationary time rather than on earth itself.

Of course, the large whales, or rather, the space monsters caused massive damage to structures and many cities, but the damage was relatively small compared to the entire planet.

“Grandma! Grandma! I will have one serving of Tteokbokki, please!”

“I would like red bean shaved ice!”

“Uahh! I’m so hungry!”

Many of the students flocked to a snack bar located in front of the school. The old lady served food to the hungry students with a kind smile.

“You boys! You’re speaking like elementary students! You should act more like high school students!”

“Maybe it’s because we did not get to go to elementary school!”

“Why are you suddenly talking about something so heartbreaking?”

The snack bar was full of chatters and laughter.

It was then,

Wooong!

Space opened up without any warning, and five or six fully armed men appeared. They were armed to the teeth as if they were soldiers.

“Huh? What’s going on?”

“Who is it?”

“Spatial movement…??”

The students in the snack bar stopped what they were doing and turned their gazes toward the split space and the armed men. The man who was standing at the forefront of the soldiers looked at a display hanging from his arm. After checking that Earth 34 possessed a suitable atmosphere for breathing, he took off his mask and shouted.

“Hahaha! Nice to meet you! I am Cancfridet, the squadron leader of Basara’s 811th ship, Ash Tree.”

“Canc…fridet?”

“Vassar…?”

The students were clearly confused by the man’s words. A smile appeared on the face of Cancfridet in response.

“How~ peaceful! I would have never imagined that no one would scream in terror after hearing the mighty name of Basara. Ha~ I really can’t hold myself back when I smell newbies!”

“Heheheu. It’s no wonder. How would country bumpkins of a backwater planet like this have ever heard of our name?”

“Well, the name of Basara will be engraved in their very bones starting now.”

The other men took off their masks while smiling grimly. Still, the students maintained their silence with wide eyes.

Cancfridet spoke once again.

“Now, now, little friends! It is very nice to see that you are all faithful to your studies.”

Guoooo!!

Cancfridet pulled out a splendidly decorated sword. Then he laughed.

“Congratulations on your entry into Type III Civilization, you little brats!”

Just as he said, Earth 34 was now considered a Type III Civilization. Perhaps it was only natural, considering all the technologies and equipment bestowed to humanity by the great Game Master, Iron Mask.

Fwoosh!

With a single swing of his sword, Cancfridet slashed apart the sky and hundreds of fully armed men appeared from the opening.

That was not all.

Boom! Boom!

Whooosh!

Small drone-type aircrafts, tool-rank gigas, and even beast-rank gigas could be found amongst their ranks. They were slave traders of Ash Tree, a ship belonging to the Space Pirates Basara.

“Now, then.”

He charged at the students.

“Get them!”

It was rather uncommon in the Great Universe for a civilization to be completely conquered or colonized by another civilization.

It was due to their Primordial Gods.

Although the Primordial Gods were known as the most commonly found Untouchables, they could be considered to be on the stronger side among the Untouchable, since they possessed almost all authorities possible. If a planet’s Primordial God was alive and kicking, pirates, emperor-class forces, and even cosmic-level powers such as the Union or other equivalent forces could not hastily invade the civilization.

“But it’s a different story once you become a Type III Civilization!”

It was the moment when a civilization was most vulnerable to external attacks. Once a civilization crossed the threshold to type III, they would become independent from their Primordial God. This was the opportune moment. The Primordial God’s protection would be stripped, but they would still be inexperienced and weak!

Discovering such a civilization was as elating as discovering a mound of buried Gallats for slave traders like them.

“Now, now! Those who are abilities users or those who have potential! Capture them all! Kill all those who resist and rip their limbs apart and put them in bags!”

“Yes!!”

The pirate shouted vigorously, then took out gauges before activating them.

The work began.

“This little brat, he’s qualified!”

“Take him away!”

“This one as well!”

“Good start! Take him away!”

“This brat is as well!”

The pirates grabbed some of the students before putting them in handcuffs. For some reason, the students did not resist. As such, the entire process was quite smooth.

“Oh! This one’s qualified too? Was this some kind of a famous academy? What a find!”

Ring!

Cancfridet took out a device of his own and pointed it toward a student who was eating Tteokbokki. The measuring device indicated green, and Cancfridet placed metal restraints, also known as Dog Necklaces, on the student.

“He’s qualified!”

“This one too!”

“This guy here is qualified as well!”

“This one here…”

The pirates captured the students excitedly, then began questioning themselves soon after.

“How could this… All of them are qualified. There’s no exception. There’s no way that all of them are gifted.”

“Hey, don’t you know that the only thing captured by the device is either the gifted or completer-class ability users? Are you trying to tell me that all of them are completer-class ability users? Huh?”

“Obviously that’s not possible, but this is definitely strange. No matter how many times I look at it, there’s no way that all of them could be gifted. This could be some kind of trap.”

Cancfridet frowned at the words of his subordinate.

“You morons! Who would set-up a trap like this? What if we take these guys as hostages? Don’t you know that the gifted are valuable to any civilization? Besides, if this is a trap, we should have run into an ambush already! We even cut off all their communication!”

Cancfridet pulled two nearby girls towards him while shouting. Only then did he realize that something was wrong.

“…What?”

Hundreds of departing students were staring at him. The students in handcuffs and Dog Necklaces were also staring at him, as well as the plump snack bar owner.

“What’s wrong with their gazes?”

Fear was nowhere to be found int heir eyes.

“Huh? Why? What’s wrong with my gaze?”

“Maybe he’s referring to the ugly colored contact lens you’re wearing?”

“What do you mean, old lady! This is so pretty! Come on!”

A female student and the owner of the snack bar suddenly started to argue. Killing intent appeared on Cancfridet. It was as if they were ignoring his presence.

“You old hag!!!”

Flash!

An enormous power rose from Cancfridet’s bracelet. A sword of energy appeared and slashed through the air like lightning. It was a fatal blow aimed at the neck of the snack bar owner! However,

Jjang!

“…What?”

The old lady blocked his attack with a kitchen knife she held. She had been cutting seaweed rolls just moments ago with the same object.

“Get in position!”

“Ready!”

The pirates instantly prepared for combat. They pulled out their weapons and some of the gigas walked closer to the snack bar.

Cancfridet smiled with a crooked expression.

“Whew~ What’s this? Old hag, are you a reclusive master or something? These little brats are unafraid because they believe in you? Is that it? Hmmm?”

“A hidden… master? Are you talking to me?”

The snack bar owner appeared flabbergasted. The aura emitting from her kitchen knife disappeared. She spoke while shaking her head.

“Well, thank you. Treating me like a hidden master, although I couldn’t even be a foot soldier.”

Fwoosh!

She started frying pork cutlets in oil after speaking. The pirates pointed their guns at her with dumbfounded expressions.

“Is this hag senile?”

“Hey! Don’t let your guard down. Call for help from the gigas! Something seems off about this old hag!”

“Are you sure we’ve cut off their communication?”

A siege was organized around the snack bar, and a beast-rank gigas, Black Bear, was among their ranks.

“Wow. Is this the Iron Heart I’ve heard so much about? Is it possible to transplat it into my Blue Hawk?”

“You idiot, the core of a gigas is literally its identity. If you place an Iron Heart inside your Blue Hawk, your Blue Hawk is as good as dead.”

“Hmm… I guess it can’t be helped. But I heard Iron Hearts are five times stronger even if the gigas are in the same class… What if I sell my Blue Hawk and just take that one instead?”

“Are you a nut job? Look at how many people are around us. Don’t talk like it’s already yours.”

“But there are only four people in our school who are riders of beast-rank gigas!”

“And one of the four is me, you bitch. What about the teachers?”

“Ah, why do you keep swearing at me? You idiot.”

The pirates had been nervous because of the snack bar owner. As the students kept bickering with each other, one of the pirates shouted with a frown.

“You bastards. Open your eyes! Are you that dumb? Can’t you see what’s going on?”

Puck!

He threw his fist towards one of the bickering students. It was a violent attack that would certainly destroy the student’s nose bones and knock out at least half of his teeth.

But,

“Ahk!”

The pirate retreated with a scream. When he turned around in surprise, the student’s face returned back to normal after turning into metal. The student next to him seemed envious.

“Ah, I’m so jealous of your metal aura.”

“Why? Because I can get a good job in the production industry?”

“That too, but isn’t it cool to have the same ability as Iron Mask-nim?”

The pirates had only been wary of the snack bar owner until now. They finally realized the strangeness of the situation and turned their guns toward the students.

Dudududu!

Kakakakakang!

They fired without hesitation, but no victims emerged. It was the power of the skill, Emergency Defense.

“I guess the police aren’t coming! Let’s take care of it on our own.”

“Ah, I shouldn’t have been spacking out.”

“Skill Book! Gigas Call! Huh? It’s not working.”

“You moron, take off the handcuff and the neck restraint first. Skill Book! Liberation!

Click! Click!

The handcuffs and Doc Necklaces restraining students were released and thrown to the floor.

“What the hell! Kill them!! Kill them all! It doesn’t matter if they’re gifted!”

“Rip them apart!”

The pirates and the gigas began unleashing their attacks. But… it was way too late.

“Skill Book! Gigas Call! Come!! Barbarian!”

“Come! Warrior!”

“Buckler!”

“Swordsman!”

“Magician!”

“Hahahaha! You pathetic tool-rank gigas bastards! Come! Blue Hawk!”

“Ugh! Don’t show off just because you got one a few years early! We’re going to take the test later and get our own beast-rank as well!”

Gigas started to appear. It wasn’t just one or two either. All of the students – hundreds of students – began calling their gigas.

All of them.

Boooooooom!!

Hundreds of gigas appeared in all directions and filled the road. No one could even stop the students as they boarded their gigas with fluid movements, as if they had done it hundreds of thousands of times already.

“No, no, no… What is this…?”

Cancfridet was shocked speechless.

He felt like he was losing his mind.