Vol 2. 85: The Salvation of God (22)
My biological father, the God of Civilization and Information, fell and became the Machine God Dekarma. Looking back, it was a strange story. How could having fallen made him a First-Tier God? First-Tier Gods were existences that were hard to find, even if the entire universe was searched all over, and the Absolute Gods, said to be the Rulers of the Six Realms, were ultimately existences who could be considered First-Tier Gods if authority and status were excluded. 'In other words, it means that he was an existence originally above all that.'
Kwareukkkkkkk!! I received the flood of lighting and changed it into a pattern. The lightning’s massive voltage turned into just one word of information. Whoooooooooh-- One of Raffley's rib bones blew in and swayed. I received that, changing it into a pattern as well. Tens of tonnes of mass were also replaced by a single word of information.
'I see.' My eyes had already stopped functioning to receive light and transmit visual information through the optic nerve. After all, there was no longer any need to do so, since only information was needed. My transcendental cognition was reading everything around me.
Raffley's spine, which I laid on the floor and sat on, the surrounding buildings, and the collapsed Chimera that laid beneath them.. All of them converted to light. All of them became a single word, or a single line of text. It wasn't the world that changed. My perspective of the world was the one that changed.
Kwareukkkkkkk! Groarrrrr!!!
Die! Die! Dieeeeeeeeeeee!!!!
Kkiiiiyaaaaaakkkkkk!!
I could see a pitch-black malice. I could feel the huge masses of Chimeras flocking over like crazy. Their numbers were impossible to even measure. It was truly a terrifying force, but..their struggle was absolutely meaningless. Pooooof! Instead of fighting arduously, I turned them all into chunks of information. Most existences in the stage were not real anyway, so it was impossible for them to withstand information substitution.
Pssssshhhh! They all turned into powder and dispersed. Even though I said they turned into powder, there was not a speck of dust left where they used to stand. It was unsurprising, since they didn't exist in the first place.
'I got it.' That's right. I understood. What was the world made up of? 'Information.'
I thought the title I had seen so far was a product of my ability to read the world, but it was only a rough understanding. It was similar to a blind man touching an elephant. That's right. The title I had seen so far wasn't a mere name tag, but the existence of a being itself. And I, who could edit that was.. I was...
Swanggg!!!
"Ackkk!" My vision rapidly changed along with a great deal of pain. All the transcendental cognition disappeared and my human senses returned. It felt like a tremendous sense of loss was eating away at the soul.
historical
"NOO!" Instead of being angry and outraged, I closed my eyes again and concentrated. There was a sense of urgency that alerted me to the fact that I should not let go of the sensation I was currently feeling. However...
-Kruuuwangggg!!!
Along with the powerful roar, I felt something like a huge pillar swinging with a speed that far transcended the speed of sound. I did realize the fact that I would die if I was hit by it without any sort of defense. "This, damn it all!!!!!" I had no choice but to open my eyes wide in the end.
Brilliant Heaven Seven Lights. Green. As soon as the tail and my right hand collided, an intense Green exploded and seemingly enveloped the entire world. After I tightly held on to Raffley's tail, which was already in my hands, I transformed the immense vibration that I instantly created into power and threw the Specter Dragon, Raffley, into the ground.
Boooom booom kabooom!!!! The Specter Dragon crashed throughout the city and rolled. However, instead of feeling exhilarated, I screamed, "This trashy game management, really!!! You said the Specter Dragon won't come out anymore!!!!"
My head was spinning from my absolute anger. No, they even released an announcement about it, so what kind of pain in the ass was this? Of course, even before that, Evil Spirits and Chimeras were sent haphazardly. However, this was different. The Specter Dragon, which was created with a completely different mechanism from the monsters of the stage, was an existence that was not subjected to the influence of information substitution.
"Agh, ahhh damn it." I could feel the transcendental cognition that I had missed out on disappearing quickly, like waking up from a dream. I desperately tried to catch it, but it was as pointless as trying to catch a mirage.
Grooooarrrr----!
"Euckk?" The frightening storm of Mana that could be felt from the ground struck my spine, supporting my body all this while.
Kroooarrrrrr---!! The jet-black breath blanketed the place where I stood and even drew a line to the sky. I knew that I would be swept away by it if I was a little late. Needless to say, if that were to happen, it would result in death.
"Darn it, no matter how pissed off I am, let's focus on the situation first." For the meantime, I got down to the ground.
-Kreukk...
Then, as I got down to the ground, a Specter Dragon the size of a 15-story apartment building descended in front of me. I did not know the circumstances of how he was murdered by Project End, but it was an Ancient Dragon that would have snorted amongst the Noblesse when alive. He was dead and became Level 19, but he was still one of the most powerful monsters. To be honest, winning was only a possibility because I discovered a bug. He wasn’t a typical enemy I could win again. That's right. That was how it was yesterday.
Shiiiinggg! I pulled Dragon Knight out of the Unique World. I did not use Gigas Call, which was not just the ability to summon a Gigas from the Unique World, but rather, the ability to program the whole process of summoning and empowering the Gigas. In the current situation where I only needed a shell, Gigas Call was not necessary.
-Kruuwanggg!!
At that moment, the Specter Dragon flapped his huge wings and attacked me. I boarded Dragon Knight in an instant and moved back, but the strong gust of wind that came from the movement of his wings blew Dragon Knight away.
Baaaang! As I rolled around the floor after smashing a building on one side, I raised my right hand. Baaaang! Something that flew in like a bullet grabbed my hand. Shining with a silver ray of light, it was Raffley's Dragon Heart.
"I'm running out of time. Time, I say." I wanted to take my time with production, but there was already a pitch-black energy gathering from the Specter Dragon's mouth. As I felt all the Mana surrounding me being sucked into the dragon's breath, I inserted the Dragon Heart into the place where the Lightning Heart was made.
Whoooong---!! Of course, this alone would only lead to the effect of increasing Dragon Knight's power output. Coincidentally, the name of this Gigas was Dragon Knight, but it was still only a Beast-rank Gigas.
"In fact, other Gigas creators would scoff if they saw this. How could anyone attach the name Dragon to this level of machine?" I muttered to myself. The only case where the name of a transcendental species or a fantasia species were attached to a Beast-rank Gigas was when the Gigas had an exceptionally strong or intense individuality. That was the case with Thunder Dragon back on Albatross, and also why I decided to take advantage of the already existing blueprint of the Gigas.
"Book." As I spoke.. Flap flap flap--! The book that appeared in front of my eyes automatically spread opened and turned its pages. There were no letters on its cover, but the subheading Napoleon was written on the opened page. Whooooooong! The book blurred and melted into the Dragon Heart.
Then, at the same time, the breath gushed forth. Kabooooom!!!!! It destroyed everything in its way. The breath of a Specter which simultaneously inflicted both devastating physical and spiritual damage was unleashed, but...it didn't work.
Groooooarrrr---! The soul energy shield that swayed around my body glimmered once and disappeared. It was the Ability, .
"Phewww." I took a deep breath gently. Then, I commanded, "Rise."
Woooooonggg---! The Dragon Heart began to fiercely emit Mana, and the book that was absorbed had the formless Iron Heart which now pulsated.
"Napoleon."
Pushakkk!!! A silver-ish flow of water poured out of Dragon Knight's chest plate like it was an exploding dam. The silver ray of light that gushed out enveloped around Dragon Knight's entire body and then it began expanding..
Dragon Knight, which was only a few meters tall, expanded to 30 meters in height in a blink of an eye. Whooooooong----! Cluunk! Clankk! The outer armor was covered. The headpiece, armor, the thick glove, and boots were formed. Inside the headpiece, the eyes were instilled with an intense brightness which almost appeared to be an optical prism.
Damn it. I'm supposed to be here.
At the grumbling voice of Ares, I smiled as I looked at Napoleon that lightly moved. "Give me a break. It's because I'm not skilled enough yet."
'If there weren't any interference, maybe...' I frowned at the thoughts which appeared in my mind. I shook my head, since they were all meaningless nonsense after coming this far.
Tchh...
I looked straight ahead, disregarding the grumbling fellow. I could see the Specter Dragon Raffley holding his black breath again. I commented, "You. It seems you don't have any other attack skills stronger than that, huh?"
Kruugrawrrrrr!!!! The breath was shot forth. I charged towards him instead of avoiding it. . . I went head-to-head against the dragon's breath and charged in.
Raffley, who was still blasting out his breath, wasn't able to even turn his head. Bang!!! As I swung an uppercut and hit him on the chin, the shockwave itself destroyed all the buildings surrounding us. A black ray of light soared through the city to the sky. I grabbed him by the neck with my left hand and raised my right hand high up in the air.
Brilliant Heaven Seven Lights. Blue. My right hand, which received an immense magical power and soul power, began to shimmer in blue. Then, at that moment, Napoleon's Signature Move was activated. .
Bzzzappp! I swung my right hand down with a brilliant blue light. Kaboom baaaaaam!!!!!! A huge crater was formed, centering around Raffley.
"It's a given, but this doesn't end in one shot!"
Bzzzappp!! Kaabaaaaaam!!! Bzzzappp!! Kaabaaaaaam!!! I hit him again and again. I continued striking until Raffley was completely destroyed. Raffley, who was still alive, struggled like crazy, but he couldn't flip Napoleon's body around, as Napoleon had a similar mass to him.
"You piece of shit!!! Does it make sense to interfere there?! Huh?! Do you not even know the code of the underworld[1]?!" As I thought about the opportunity that flew away, I could feel my heart burning up. Of course, I believe that I could reach that level at the end of the day, because I had already tasted a glimpse of enlightenment. However, no one could guarantee when that would be.
Crackle! Just like that, I kept hitting him for some time. Ultimately, Raffley's ribs were smashed in as he could not withstand the onslaught of punches, revealing his internal structures. Even the Dragon Heart shining within him was revealed.
'Of course, just devouring this Iron Heart would not recover the loss from the enlightenment that slipped away from me, but...'
Dae-ha!! Watch out!
“What? What the hell is it again this time-"
Boom! In an instant, something flew in and struck my body. I could not disperse the devastating impact and rolled on the floor several times. As I raised my hand in bewilderment, I saw another Raffley shooting his breath towards me. "No, wait, this crazy---"
Kabooboooooom!!! I hurriedly invoked and blocked it. I felt nauseous due to the fact that I was using a Unique-grade Ability too often.
"Exactly how many fucking times does this bastard want to shoot his breath?!" I gritted my teeth and got up. Then, I mustered all the available magical power and soul power to prevent the next attack. But...it was not an attack that broke through the thick clouds of dirt.
Flap! The two Specter Dragons flew up into the sky. Among them, one was holding on to the body of the destroyed Specter Dragon. It was in such a hurry that they didn't manage to grab the head and wings of the destroyed Specter Dragon. Baaaaam! In an instant, the Specter Dragon moved a distance away as its speed exceeded the speed of sound. I stared blankly at their disappearing figures.
"R-Run," I stuttered as I was baffled. "Run, run." I couldn't help but laugh. "They're running away...?" I stood in a daze and looked up at the sky. There was no such thing as an artillery system in Napoleon, which was made in a hurry. The Specter Dragons that flew a distance away disappeared the moment they crossed a certain line.
I stood still like a mangbuseok[2] and stared at the sight of them disappearing.
-2,090,437,777 people are admiring you!
-21,284,429,961 Justice Points have been accumulated!
Only the admiration of the tactless people belatedly popped up. It was something that happened on an autumn day.
1. This is a reference of the Chinese Wuxia code of the Jianghu, which is 江湖道義 in Chinese.
2. Mangbuseok is the story of the legendary faithful wife, who turned to stone while waiting for her husband. Figuratively, it refers to a person who waits with great longing for someone else. But in this instance, it just means that Dae-ha was staring at the sky without moving for some time until the Specter Dragons disappeared.