Above Your Head

Vol 2. Chapter 108: The Salvation of God (45)

The Level 15 Highest-difficulty stage was cleared without any significant victims in particular. And next week, the Level 16 Low, Intermediate, High, and Highest-difficulty stages were cleared. They were literally smooth clears. Then, again the next week, the Level 17, Low, Intermediate, High, and Highest-difficulty stages were cleared. And, just like that… November came.

"Wahh, if these were usual days, it would be time to take the College Scholastic Ability Test."

"College Scholastic Ability Test... Keke. Chul-soo, a Senior[1] together with us in high school, turned 40."

"Haven't you turned 30 too?"

"Whatever. The flow of time is a mess."

"I felt like I've spent my entire life in the stage, but it's only been two months on Earth's time..."

Kwareukkkkkkk!!!! There were blue flashes of light behind the lamenting players. Whoooooook--!

A cloud of dirt scattered and revealed the battlefield, a surreal scene of a 30-meter-tall giant holding a spear longer than his body. In front of him, bizarrely shaped monsters were seen frightened and faltering. No one would dare believe that each of those monsters were First-Tier Demons who could push a decent country into ruins in an hour. But of course, the giant was not really dealing with the monsters alone.

"Artillery! Fire!!!"

"Let's earn some points!! Fireeee!!!!"

Whooooosh!!! Mana Bullets rained down from the artillery units located inside the castle wall. They were not the only ones.

"Maintain the barrier!!! They're shooting long-range attacks!"

"Uwahhh! Why is it so heavy when we're fighting alongside, and assisting, Iron Mask-nim!!"

"Please switch rotations faster!"

"Ugh, my Mana is low... I'm going to rest now..."

"Go eat some bread and drink some water while resting!"

"Ughhh, it's bread and water again..."

Yells and screams came from all over the place. However, there were some of them simply resting in a relatively carefree manner. They glanced at the battlefield and had a chat amongst themselves.

"The First-Tier Demons are crazy. Really. They're really fucking strong."

"Fortunately, Iron Mask-nim is around. If he wasn't around, we wouldn't even be able to hold on and they would just break through. I heard that there are less than 10 players who could go up against them on a 1 versus 1, right?"

"What a relief it is that Iron Mask-nim is human..."

Among the players who were astonished, one of them suddenly said, "...But, is Iron Mask-nim really human?"

"In fact, it's just something I heard. I heard he's an Innate God or something. A being born between some God and a human woman..."

"This isn't some sort of Greek or Roman mythology."

"But it sounds...convincing!"

"Did you see when he first made Napoleon? It really felt like a scene straight out of a movie. It's like he awakened himself as a God..."

"Have you seen the Halo? The Halo? My legs really went weak when I saw that."

"That's too much. What do you mean your legs went weak?"

"Wasn't that the case with you too?"

"I shat myself a little."

"Screw you!"

Kruuukabooom!!!! The sounds of explosions did not stop even when they were in the middle of a conversation. Perhaps annoyed by the nonstop artillery firing, the First-Tier Demons blasted high-ranking magic and some of them ran towards the castle. However, none of them could break through The War Lord holding a huge spear.

Then, by the time the enemy's spirits were extinguished, the people who had been chatting all this time stood up.

"All right then, it's almost time."

"Come on, hurry up! Let's go farm!"

"Telekinesis Unit, go together with them too! We have to get everything while they're defeating the enemy!"

"Open the castle gates!"

Kriekkkkk--!! The players previously having a conversation were dispatched to the battlefield through the castle gates. They were not dispatched for the purpose of fighting, but to move to collect the bread and drinking water dropped by the demons that Dae-ha killed.

Kabaaang! Baaaaang!! Gigas that specialized in close combat invoked a single attribute at the same time.

"!"

"!"

"!"

The bodies of 10,000 Gigas that ran out through the wall shined at the same time. Then, they ran out while being led by a giant much bigger than them. The giant was at least 8-meters tall.

“-nim! Please use Bloodied Terrain!!"

"Don't be a fool and just follow me! And don't call me Lee Sun-shin-nim! Call me by my name Jae-seok!" Jae-seok, on board the Human-rank that had finally begun production, led the Farming Team and dug through the First-Tier Demons in groups.

Boom!!!! The Gigas, which used Overload to instantly exhibit more than five times the power, struck and crushed the First-Tier Demons with immense force. They occasionally killed the monsters, and farmed the bread and water that fell on the floor. Their battle was not long due to the time limit of Overload.

"Come on, let's get out of here!"

"Uwahhh, Overload is so tiring! My lower abdomen feels like it's burning up!"

"My core is going to explode, explode I tell you! Look at my Red Bear gasping in pain!!"

Each and every one of them shouted and bawled while turning around to retreat. The breads and drinking water farmed by the Telekinetic ability flew alongside them like a flock of birds.

Impertinent!!! Where the hell do you think you're escaping to on your own will, you human bastards!!!

Kill them!!!

The First-Tier Demons rolled their eyes and chased after the players. However, as usual, they failed to achieve their goals.

Kabooooom!!! The javelin that was shot tore hundreds of First-Tier Demons to shreds. The War Lord, who threw the spear once the First-Tier Demon faltered at the unbelievable force created just by throwing one spear, kicked the ground. Kaboom!!! Half of the demons, who broke their formation to catch the humans, died. The demons screamed in despair.

"Damn it!! Isn't this a transcendent?! How can a Star-rank Gigas create such powerful...!"

"What the hell is that spear?! Why can't we block it?!"

It was a chaotic battlefield, but they felt a gaze looking at them.

"That's amazing. It's my first time seeing a group of First-Tier Demons that numbered to 100,000 in one place... I didn't expect that the number of combat units would increase as the level went up."

Considering that First-Tier Demons were nobles among the demon tribe, it was actually a scene that did not make sense. It was a scene that couldn't be reproduced unless it was an Unnamed that broke the logic of the world.

A great hero renowned throughout the universe. The Human God who represented the Physical Realm. Million, an omnipotent superhuman called the All Master, was mixed among the people and he stared at the whole scene unfold. He did not participate in the stage to watch it like this, but the situation was completely different from what he expected, so he couldn't make a move recklessly.

"At Level 17... There are 3.5 billion survivors," he muttered. It was ridiculous even when he thought it was 2.5 billion people, so it was literally baffling that there was an additional 1 billion people in the place called the Unique World.

400 years ago, when the Great War broke out and the Great Universe fell into a time of chaos, the Project End had driven countless civilizations to extinction. Among them, there were civilizations that were destroyed by the hands of Project End, and even those who somehow Cleared the stage and subjugated civilization. Some even broke away and escaped from Project End. However, no civilization had ever protected such a huge number of survivors.

"Moreover, this particular Project End was done in a game form..." He murmured. This was a different level from just clearing the stage, or breaking away and surviving. This was because, with the power of Project End, players could level up, eat spiritual pills, and even buy skills and purchase resources. After all, the Settings of the Project End were permanently being consumed.

What more if there were billions of people surviving? No civilization thus far had ever done so. Its power was so great that even Empire-class civilizations with a number of transcendents were in a hurry to abandon the planet and run away when the Project End broke out. However, Earth-34, which had failed to even enter the Stage III Civilization, was clearing the Project End smoothly.

"Now there are only three levels left."

Moreover, at the current momentum, the settings that they would consume would simply be beyond the imagination. If that were to happen, if they succeeded in the Clear, it would be the moment when the Project End with a huge Epic, which was able to momentarily defeat all kinds of divine beings, disappeared from the face of the world.

"Where the hell is my clone in the midst of all this? It’s a problem I was worried about, but... Don't tell me, did he really go into hiding?"

Decades ago, Million created a clone of his and attached it to a baby girl born with the power of a special destiny. However, surprisingly, she then met Dekarma, the Ruler of Legion who was defeated by the Martial God, Dark, and disappeared without a trace. While his whereabouts were unknown, she gave birth to his child.

Million’s clone had yet to show abnormal behaviors until then, so Millon himself was also aware of that fact and kept an eye on it.

"..." Million looked at Dae-ha, slaughtering the First-Tier Demons while riding on a Star-rank Gigas. He knew that Dae-ha was a child born between the Machine God, who possessed the Highest-rank Divinity, and a human being. That was the major reason why Earth-34 declared this unbelievable war against Project End.

"And...there is also one more Unnamed Divinity."

At first, Million thought it was a variable added to Earth 34, but the Three Gods were giving off the strong scent of the Unnamed's unique Rule Breaker.

"Originally, I'd have to get rid of it."

However, it would be a foolish act to move hastily at this point of time when the Unnamed's action was currently hampering the Project End.

"Pheww. I'm so busy, it's killing me." Million sighed and saw a giant wielding a spear with a crowd following behind. He witnessed very smooth progress, but… ‘The Project End would not want such progress to continue. They would somehow try to retrieve the settings they had consumed by devouring the players.’ He disappeared among the people while mumbling softly, "Let's wait and see for a little longer."

***

- Congratulations! The stage is completely cleared! Compensation is given according to contribution.

- Your ranking is 1st-place.

The Level 17 Highest-difficulty stage was over. The stage that was noisy from all the combat units, which increased from the initial 10,000 to 1,000,000 in the end, quickly fell into silence.

Poooof! Then, the gacha machine appeared in front of me.

- You earned 4,057,753,671,875,012,230,000 points as a clear reward.

- Points are a means of transaction and you can purchase Awakening Potion, Experience Potion, Equipment, Tools, and Materials.

The rewards went beyond quintillion[2] and reached sextillion[3]. I tried to compromise as best I could, but it was a really crazy standard to actually reach such a level.

'Project End, is it okay to spread it like this?' I wondered. There was nothing to buy now. I had reached a stage where my body would get sick if I ate spiritual medicines, and the equipment I made or the ones produced in the Unique World were much more powerful than the equipment I could buy from the gacha machine. In the end, I tried to buy a lot of rare metals, rocks, and lumber. However, a new phrase was added.

- The store will be updated.

- Tools will be added.

"After coming so far... They're adding something? And only a tool?" I checked the contents while frowning at the creepy feeling. There was only one item in the update; Spiritual medicine in the tool slot.

Ten Thousand Years Immortal Pill: A spiritual medicine made for the purpose of living ten thousand years. When taken, the life span is extended by one year. Can be consumed up to 10,000 doses.

"…No, no, what is this?" I stuttered and was at a loss for words from the absurd content.

Genie, too, seemed quite surprised. A pill to increase life span... Of course, it's not like something like that doesn't exist in the world, but this is ridiculous. There has never been an instance in the Great Universe where a spiritual pill that could extend one's life span to 10,000 years was confirmed. This is something that goes against the rules of the Great Universe!

However, Ares spoke seriously, Screwing with the Great Universe's rules… That's what an Unnamed unique feature is all about, isn't it?

No, that is... Even so, if this is spread like this, the Nether Realm will not stay quiet. Genie now sounded baffled.

I got my act together and looked at the explanation more closely. It was a Non-tradeable Item, just like the other spiritual medicines. And the price was...literally crazy. I muttered, "500 billion points." It was a colossal price that could buy 500 billion kilograms of iron ore.

However, at this point, it was also a price that could be possibly affordable. This was because 152.5 billion points could be earned just by killing a single unit of a Level 17 monster, the First-Tier Demon, and 762.9 billion points could be earned by killing the Level 18 First-Tier Demon.

It was a serious problem in human society that the High-level players were growing old and dying, so this item was like a welcome rain in the drought. At least, from the perspective of humans.

However…I questioned just why did the Project End add such an item. I frowned at the uncomfortable feeling that hit me. "This fucker, what is it trying to do?"

1. This is a term commonly used to address 3rd Year High School Students. Freshman -> Sophomore -> Senior is how it goes.

2. Quintillion has eighteen 0's.

3. Sextillion has twenty-one 0's.