Above Your Head

Vol 2. Chapter 125: The Salvation of God (62)

Then, just like that, time went by. A month, two months, three months, and four months...

The number of surviving humans decreased to 780 million from the initial one billion; 220 million casualties. Even when the number of human beings exceeded 6 billion in the past, the whole world would have been in an uproar if this number of human beings had died. Society collapsed, the law and order became nominal, then mass protests and civil wars broke out.

However, the current humanity did not even blink an eye. No, rather, they were delighted as they saw hope. Because the damage caused by the slaughtering of the Giant of Doomsday was gradually decreasing.

"It is crazy for there to be 100,000 transcendents..." The young girl with a cute appearance, the Primordial God, murmured. She was baffled. She knew for a fact that the number of transcendents who died now on the Earth had exceeded 95 percent of the total number of transcendents who died in the entire Great Universe. Even if they were mass produced fakes who were remotely controlled, how could transcendents die like animals in a slaughterhouse?

Half a year passed, and the number of surviving humans was still 780 million. The number of casualties remained 'only' within the 1 million mark. On the other hand, the kill count exceeded 300,000, since the player's battle against transcendents had completely stabilized. Above all, the fact that the location of Regen was now completely fixed at a spot was a huge advantage for the players' battles.

- You! You keep interfering! Stop forcing the location my character appears!

"Mmmhmm. No can do~ Just be glad I didn't kill you myself. You've done everything you want, so what are you protesting for?"

At the start of the Level 20 Low-difficulty stage, ridiculously enough, the Primordial Gods of other Earths had used the parallel world of Earth-34 as the location for the most decisive battle.

Needless to say, being the Primordial God, she had to struggle because she had to separate the aftermath from the humans of Earth-34. In the midst of all that, the incident where Project End assassinated Dae-ha had happened. It was a welcoming event to see Dae-ha's brother, who had gone to 'that side of Earth', return, but even so, it couldn’t compensate for the death of Dae-ha, who had the variable to become a disaster itself. It was an incident that even caused her heart to thump hard, despite her usual relaxed attitude.

'But it's shocking. I just thought he would recover the distant Divine Spirit by awakening Dekarma,' she thought.

However, unexpectedly, Dae-ha had acquired the Divine Spirit by himself and put up a fight for the upper hand with Dekarma. Moreover, he became a kid who had yet to even live a thousand years pushing Dekarma, who had lived for hundreds of thousands of years, back.

"I'm proud of him, so proud. He keeps giving me surprises." Saying that, she looked down at the players.

Boooom! The dimension was torn apart and the Giant of Doomsday appeared. As soon as it appeared, it kicked off the ground and ran without even looking at the scattered players. It moved as if wanting to avoid this entire place for now. However… Chwareukkk!! The chains of spiritual energy, filling the space, grabbed a hold of the Giant of Doomsday who were running away.

When the location of Regen was fixed by the Primordial God, the players were able to make all kinds of preparations to ensure that it was possible to use that place as a battlefield. After engraving a huge Magic Circle on the floor, one million players used themselves as part of the Magic Circle to invoke the ultimate magic that could inflict a strong pressure. They successfully constrained the Giant of Doomsday.

Just like that, the bombardment began. Boom boom boom!!! Baaam! Kaboom!!!! Artillery-type Gigas, each located at regular intervals from several meters to dozens of meters, fired off bombardments that were filled with the power of their core and their soul energy. It was literally a blow that was concentrated with their full power to the point where they had to rest for half a day after firing off one blow. However, the number of Gigas standing by, waiting to fire off such a shot, exceeded millions of units.

Kaboom! Boom! Boooom! The Giant of Doomsday roared and tried to escape from the bombardment through any means, but its power was extremely limited due to the oppression of the joint Magic Circle. It was unable to evade or bounce somewhere else. It could only defend, but if it began a war of attrition like that, it would not be able to withstand the rest of the enemy's bombardment.

Just like that, one hour, two hours, three hours… The moment the gray Aura surrounding the Giant of Doomsday disappeared due to the constant bombardment... Located a distance away and equipped with a sniper rifle that was much bigger than her body, Min-kyung's eyes lit up. "The Hot Heat that Burns off Your Soul." When she pulled the trigger by invoking King Sejong's Ability, , a firearm that was closer to the size of a building rather than a weapon shot out a bullet. A loud explosion could be heard.

Kruwanggggg! The bullet immediately pierced the Giant of Doomsday's head. It lacked power to penetrate through, but it did not matter. Bzzt bzzt zzt!!! Centering around the Giant of Doomsday, a radius of hundreds of meters froze up. It was not frost air that burst forth, but all the concentrated Heat in it.

Pushakkk! The Giant of Doomsday's head was carbonized, as it was unable to withstand the concentration of the violent heat. The giant stood there, momentarily motionless as people were looking at it. Soon, its huge body collapsed along with a thundering noise.

"Thank you for your hard work!"

"Thank you for your hard work!"

"Thank you for your hard work!"

"The next battle is estimated to begin after four hours! We still have time, but we ask for everyone to quickly rotate your shifts!"

"Maintenance Unit! Check the condition of the machines!"

A lot of people were moving busily along with the sound of applause. It was a stable extermination and it was a situation where even casualties did not occur very often. However, the Project End was not just a fool who would sit tight and be screwed. When the Level 20 Intermediate-difficulty stage had progressed for about a year...

Kabooom!!! Along with a brutal explosion, the barrier was destroyed and all the players tangled up with it died instantly. Moreover, even after doing so, it still had enough power to cover the surrounding Artillery-specialized Gigas.

"Kuwackkkk!!!"

"The battle formation! Form a new battle formation!"

"This crazy motherfu-!!"

The Gigas that were killing the Giant of Doomsday as always were crawling through the shattered ground.

"Contact the other side! Tell them to not kill the Giant of Doomsday yet..."

"We were the last ones this time!"

Skriekkk! With the screams coming from all over the place like background noise, the dimension was split apart and a Giant of Doomsday appeared. However, its appearance...was different from what was seen so far. The gray giant was swollen, like a mass of flesh full of tumors and like a balloon full of wind.

It had already been a long time since the restrictive group Magic Circle was destroyed.

The swelled up Giant of Doomsday exploded just like that. Flashh! Everything was destroyed along with the blinding light.

"O-Oh my God." Due to her being a long distance away, Min-kyung was able to get away with it safely, and her face turned pale. She could see a mushroom cloud was rising in the distance. "The Giant of Doomsday...is being used as a bomb?"

As it abandoned all its combat capabilities and focused its transcendental power only on destructive power, the force generated by the Giant of Doomsday was simply beyond imagination. Just with a single blast, one million players who formed the barriers were annihilated, and the second blast blew away millions of Artillery-type Gigas. It was literally a devastating outcome. Moreover, if another attack came flying when the battle lines were broken down like that...

"Call the standby units! We need to activate the group Magic Circle again!" Min-kyung rushed to command the people. However, the situation was at its worst, because the Giants of Doomsday did not blow themselves up in the area she was in charge of. "Bring in the extra troops! What's the situation with the other teams?!"

And as the Giant of Doomsday self-destructed...a new Giant of Doomsday was immediately regenerated. The materialization and death were simultaneous. A cycle that could not be handled by the current humanity was formed.

Skriekkk! A Giant of Doomsday appeared as the space was split apart. The players, who were planning a new battle formation, had a desperate look on their face. They looked at the appearance of the bloated up monster.

"Stop, don't move!"

The bullet imbued with the and the Command of the Soul of Language struck the Giant of Doomsday. It could not damage the giant due to the inability to penetrate through, but the power of the Soul of Language bought a bit of time, albeit a short one.

"Remember the first battle! Back off and bombard at it! We have to burst it before it can fly in!!" After shouting like that, Min-kyung immediately poured all her spiritual energy into it and began to shoot at the giant. Then, in came the bombardment that was shot following her actions!

However, the Giant of Doomsday was a monster whose defense could only be breached after hours of bombardment even when suppressed by the group Magic Circle. Although its defense had dropped after turning into a suicide bomber, it was impossible to destroy it just by bombarding it for a while.

"NOOO."

"This is the end..."

The moment everyone was in despair… Poooof! A young boy appeared before the Giant of Doomsday.

"Huh?"

"What the?"

"A bare body! A young boy with no armor is standing in front of the giant!"

"No, wait! That person is..."

While everyone was screaming in panic, Min-kyung just stared blankly at him, a beautiful boy. He had white skin that appeared almost transparent, and delicate features that made him look closer to a beautiful woman than a man. He was standing in front of the giant, who was trying to explode, while holding a sword.

Min-kyung knew who he was, since the boy looked the same as the one in her memory. A young boy whom she was prepared to lose her status, duty, and oath to love when she was still young. "Yeong-min..."

In fact, she had been able to meet him. He had already appeared a year ago and she, the head of the Unique World's largest force, had definitely heard of that news. However, she couldn't do so. She couldn't stand in front of him, who remained the same as the one in her memories. 'I, I've become too old...'

While Min-kyung was lamenting, the boy pointed his sword at the sky. Only did she realize that he looked slightly different from what she had remembered. His innocent expression and bright smile was nowhere to be found. He was smiling just like how he had used to in the past, but the decadent atmosphere flowing from him was nothing like his past self.

Swanggggg!! Then, at that moment, the dimension split apart.

- Kuwarrrrrgh!!!

The Giant of Doomsday, torn into pieces, flew into the imaginary space. It shone as if it was going to explode right away. If it had been in its original form where it possessed an integrated combat capability, it would try to get out of it one way or another. However, it could not do so in the form of a suicide bomber whose purpose was to only explode.

"Ahh." At that moment, Min-kyung and Yeong-min's eyes met. Even though she was on board a Gigas, Min-kyung knew that he was looking right at her.

And after a while… Poooof! Yeong-min turned around, then disappeared.

"Uwahhhh! I-, I'm alive!"

"I heard that person is Iron Mask-nim's brother? He's so damn cool!"

"He's so sexy! Uwahhh, I'm alive! I said I'm aliveeeee!"

"There's no time for idle talk! Reorganize yourself while we have this time!"

It was a tumultuous battlefield, and Min-kyung, who was in the middle of that, shed tears quietly.

Meanwhile… Yeong-min, who had moved to a new location, cut at the newly appeared Giant of Doomsday.

"... I think I know." Yeong-min swung his sword. The space was split apart, and just by getting into that gap, he could easily move thousands of kilometers. In fact, taking the risk of moving through dimensions, he had already reached the wall. Moreover, it was a situation in which he had gained enlightenment to a certain extent.

All he lacked was Karma. Even though they were nothing short of fake, the experience of cutting down and killing enemies who were in the realm of transcendence gave him Karmas of Murder of an unimaginable amount.

Groarrrrrr!!! Once again, he crossed through space and cut down a new Giant of Doomsday. Again, he crossed through space and cut down a new Giant of Doomsday.

The Giant of Doomsday, who became a suicide bomber, could not withstand a single stroke of Yeong-min's sword. As the Giant of Doomsday's form changed, the ability of the Project End to interfere was almost exhausted and it was a situation where it was impossible for the Giants of Doomsday to return to their original form. Hence, the number of giants who died at his hands were increasing exponentially.

Groarrr! Groooooooarrrrrrr!!! His body was burning with a pitch-black Aura. It was the power of the Heavenly Killer that could kill everything in the world.

"I got it." He cut. He cut the enemies down. "I said I got it!!!" He cut. He cut fate down. The violent energy was starting to gradually refine for a day, two days, three days, four days… Then, one month, two months, three months, four months… His soul was changing. The world he saw changed. The flow of fate that bound him like a chain was broken. As his soul changed, his physical body also leaped to a whole new level.

Kraaaghhhh!!! A Giant of Doomsday, which was cut down cleanly by a single stroke, collapsed. At that moment, the black Aura that was enveloping the sword looked like an extremely stable substance rather than a black flame; Heavenly Killing Fortitude, a cursed power to kill everything and finally even kill oneself.

It was the moment when he transcended his own fate.