Chapter 445

Kugugugugugung―!

The 20 million residents bound in safe mode inside the mothership gasped at the vibration that felt like the ship was going to break. The recoil transmitted through the super-alloy armor plating alone proved that the firepower of this beam cannon vastly transcended the armament level of a mere ship.

"That's right! You monster! Have a real taste of this!"

The 1st residential area suite.

Bound by the biological magic gel and looking out the hologram window, Park Jihoon cheered with his veins bulging.

He remembered clearly.

The overwhelming naval gun bombardment that the mothership Mary, which appeared in the sky above Earth not long ago, had rained down on the monster legion of the SS-rank gate.

Compared to this beam cannon that had just erupted in space, the bombardment back then was on the level of neighborhood kids playing with water guns.

A decisive battle weapon that amplified a Higher God's magic power by 200% and poured it out with the power to evaporate an entire star in the universe.

Park Jihoon was hiding behind the armor plating, observing this cosmic-scale raid directly from the perfect perspective of a third party.

The certainty that he was safe, and even the violent catharsis of overwhelming capital power crushing the enemy.

A primal pleasure was piercing into Park Jihoon's brain.

Waaaaaaah!

― Lord's Beam!

― Where in the universe is there a guy who could survive taking a direct hit from something like that? lolololol

― Kyah, this is the privilege of a passenger who boarded the ark! Watching a planet-destroying cannon directly from the 1st row in my room is super fun lololol

― That little brat was running his mouth arrogantly, he must have evaporated without a trace lolol

The viewers around the world watching Park Jihoon's broadcast also fell into a festive mood, burning up the chat window.

The blinding cluster of light pouring out across the screen provided a grandeur that felt like witnessing the moment of the Big Bang.

However, when the flash that had filled space died down, and the cosmic dust and magic power haze began to clear.

"……Uh?"

A blank, hollow breath leaked from the mouth of Park Jihoon, who had been giggling while staring at the hologram screen.

The smoothly rising scroll of the chat window also suddenly stopped with a tuk, as if someone had forcibly pulled the server's power plug.

The center where the beam on the screen had directly hit.

At the spot where Arcaia had been standing, the debris of a massive meat shield was scattering into cosmic dust.

[Main sensor. Confirmed the collapse of a massive biological mass in front of the target.]

[The identity of the collapsed biological mass has been identified as the undead corpse of the 20,000-year-old Ancient Dragon, Minister of War Linax.]

Mary's dry hologram notification floated in the empty air of the suite.

The split second right before the flash of ruin poured down.

Arcaia neither dodged nor panicked.

He simply grabbed the tail of the 20,000-year-old giant dragon Linax waiting next to him and tossed it in front of his eyes as if throwing a light cushion.

The physical body of an Ancient Dragon that had lived for 20,000 years.

He had used that corpse as a disposable meat shield to offset the point-blank direct hit of the beam.

And beyond the pitch-black smoke where Linax's bones and flesh disassembled and scattered at the atomic level.

"……Oh my god."

Park Jihoon bit his trembling lip.

Right in the middle of the empty air where pitch-black smoke was billowing, Arcaia stood with both arms crossed in an X shape.

He had taken the firepower of a Higher God, which would evaporate even a planet, head-on using only Linax's corpse and his own compressed physical body.

Seureureuk.

The boy slowly lowered his crossed arms.

The tips of his pure white hair were irregularly burnt, and spots all over his pale skin were flushed red as if scalded by boiling water.

But that was all.

Even after taking the direct hit of the planet-destroying cannon head-on, he held out perfectly fine with just the appearance of minor burns.

― ……That's a lie, right?

― He's alive after taking that? His limbs are intact?

― Even if he used a corpse as a shield, isn't it normal for a continent to be blown away just from the aftermath of that beam cannon?

― We're screwed…… Just what kind of monster is that bastard……?

The atmosphere of the chat window, which had been boiling with madness and cheers, instantly cooled down coldly.

Only then did the viewers across the whole world bone-deeply realize the weight of the reality they faced.

The Shadow Cult.

Rumors that an Outer God from beyond the veil existed behind that terrorist group that drove Earth to the brink of destruction had already spread implicitly.

They heard that the Dragon Lord Arcaia, currently showing off his durability on the hologram screen, was exactly the most powerful subordinate and apostle of that Outer God.

― What if…… what happens if the Death Lord loses there?

― What else. That little brat will come to Earth and chew us all up.

― Hey Mary! Turn the ark around right now! Run away!

Joy instantly mutated into bottomless fear.

At the same time.

The captain's seat at the top of the mothership Mary.

"Ha."

A hollow chuckle burst from Kim Minwoo's mouth as he watched the sight with his hands slammed into the main console.

His face slowly stiffened like stone.

'Monster bastard.'

It was a durability that could not be explained by the word solid. From before the battle started until now, Kim Minwoo had kept his inventory window open, chugging top-grade mana potions like water and pouring his divine power to the limit.

The magic power of a Higher God.

The tuning of the Maestro of the Underworld.

And even the 200% amplification efficiency of the 150km mothership.

He unsparingly slammed in the most overwhelming firepower he could mobilize.

But the result that came back was merely slightly scalding the kid's skin and bursting his lip.

'Compared to when we met in the Age of Dragons in the past…… he got stronger on a completely different trajectory.'

The Arcaia he faced in Claudia in the past was at the level of compressing a single planet.

Even then, he barely managed to scratch his scales with Hell Rhapsody's finale, and had to run away unable to even recover his broken bones from the single punch that flew in right after.

Right now, he couldn't even grasp just how many planets and living creatures that kid had chewed up, compressed, and crammed in over the 10,000 years.

The density of his physical body itself was practically a single black hole.

'Can I win this?'

Kim Minwoo bit his lip.

He still had a few joker cards left to create variables, including the Guidance of Fate.

The duration of Descent also had a little leeway.

However.

'My main body's strength…… no, my vessel itself is too small to handle him.'

He had obtained the status of a Higher God, but the limit of -999 potential was still embedded in Kim Minwoo's physical body.

Even though magic power and divine status boiled up explosively, a serious bottleneck was occurring because the physical piping that outputted that power was too narrow.

Even now, the bones in both his arms holding the console were cracking minutely, and the blood vessels all over his body were swelling as if they would burst, vomiting pain like a scream.

Clumsy tricks or anomalous skill combos would not work in front of that mass.

Moreover, the four Legion Commanders who had drawn his attention at the vanguard had been swept up in the aftermath of the Quantum Death Beam's explosion and Arcaia's counterattack, and were reverse-summoned right after, unable to maintain their forms.

Of course, he could consume the magic power of the subspace to summon them again, but it was obvious that even if they popped out, they wouldn't be the decisive blow to flip the tide of battle.

"This really drives me crazy."

Kim Minwoo muttered, gripping the hilt of Hell Rhapsody tightly. It was then.

Arcaia, walking out of the smoke, wiped the burn marks on his forearm and the blood on his mouth with the back of his hand, and looked up at the mothership's captain's seat where Kim Minwoo was sitting with a strange gaze.

"Haha…… Hahahahat!"

The bizarre yet innocent crazed laughter burst from the boy's mouth once again.

"You really grew a lot, didn't you? I was really surprised!"

Arcaia's vertical pupils gleamed with the joy experienced in the fierce exchange.

Back when they faced each other in Claudia in the past, that human was merely an insignificant bug who was busy running away with his intestines bursting just from the wind pressure of his passing fist.

But right now, the thief in front of his eyes was showing off martial prowess enough to act quite annoyingly, daring to draw blood and inflict burns on his precious body.

From a predator's perspective, this was a heart-fluttering trailer for gastronomy.

"But you know…… something is a bit strange."

Arcaia tilted his head and pierced through Kim Minwoo's essence with empty eyes.

The gaze of the Primordial Dragon, who had absorbed the dregs of the Outer God, acutely noticed the existence of the bizarre shackle wrapping Kim Minwoo's soul like a ghost.

"You have a really delicious and huge core packed tight inside there. Why can't you take it all out? You're tied up tightly in some stuffy shell, aren't you?"

Kim Minwoo's brow furrowed.

The guy had seen through the existence of the -999 potential shackle with just a single exchange.

"Hmm…… how no fun."

Arcaia pouted and grumbled.

Arcaia judged that it would be too much of a waste to forcefully kill and swallow Kim Minwoo in his current state.

It was a twisted gourmet's philosophy that it would be hundreds of times more thrilling to trample and tear into this perfect toy—who gave him scars and entertained him by firing a planet-destroying cannon—when he threw off that shackle and became perfectly cooked.

"So I'll stop here for today."

It was the very moment that arrogant sentence echoed in space.

― @$#!%!@#!#!!!!!!!!!!

Suddenly, the pitch-black space above Arcaia's head distorted bizarrely, and a terrible noise that could not be interpreted by mortal eardrums burst out.

The inherent language of the Outer God twisting the laws of the universe.

The wrath of the Outer God, enraged by the arrogance of the apostle who dared to disobey his command and let the prey go alive, poured down crossing the dimension.

"Ah, so noisy seriously!"

However, Arcaia wasn't intimidated at all.

Rather, like a pubescent rebel, he covered his ears and screamed irritably toward the empty air.

"I told you I'll take care of it! My food is undercooked because Dad keeps interfering and telling me what to do! I'll cook my toy myself, so stop nagging!"

An obvious lack of control.

Even Kim Minwoo swallowed a hollow laugh at the wayward behavior of the Primordial Dragon, whose leash could not be perfectly held even by the Outer God.

"Phew, seriously, I should leave quickly just to avoid hearing Dad's nagging."

The moment Arcaia grumbled and was getting ready to turn around. The boy's gaze suddenly headed toward the place where the debris of Minister of War Linax was floating.

The physical body of the giant Ancient Dragon had been hit by the beam cannon and evaporated at the atomic level, but only a single lump like a red gem emitting a bizarre glow, which had been positioned at its core, was floating in the vacuum.

The core and heart where the life force of the Ancient Dragon who lived for 20,000 years was condensed.

Arcaia's vertical pupils flashed with interest.

He realized intuitively.

The fact that that heart could be an excellent hammer to smash the stuffy shell suffocating Kim Minwoo's soul.

"Hey thief."

Arcaia lightly kicked up Linax's heart floating in the empty air with the tip of his foot.

Syuuuuuk―!

"This is my gift."

The giant Ancient Dragon's heart shot across space at a terrifying speed toward the mothership Mary's captain's seat.

"Grow up fast and come. I'll be expecting you."

Ending with those words, Arcaia unhesitatingly extended both hands, compressed the surrounding space as if crumpling a piece of paper, and twisted it.

Paaaaat―!

Along with a bizarre rupturing sound, the cosmic disaster harboring the mass of hundreds of planets perfectly disappeared from the battlefield like a lie.

In the vacuum of space swept by the storm, only the mothership Mary's massive engine sound echoed hollowly.

Tak.

Kim Minwoo caught the massive blood-red heart Arcaia threw to him with one hand with a teok.

The moment the heart touched his palm, system messages popped up loudly as if piercing his mind.

[Condition achieved! You have acquired the Heart of an Ancient Dragon over 10,000 years old!]

[One prerequisite for unlocking the physical potential seal has been updated!]