Simple and Brutal

“We’ll arrive soon.”

In the main control room located at the heart of Vimana.

Changwei, who had been staring intently at the massive hologram map filling the room, checked Vimana’s status and power using the control panel.

Though he had just checked moments ago, with an imminent battle between flying fortresses spanning several kilometers in diameter, there was no harm in being over-prepared.

[Magic power engine output 40%. Shield normal. Type A airships 3 units normal. Type B airships 21 units normal. Type C airships 254 units normal. Air combat specialized mage armor 300 units normal. Ground combat specialized mage armor.]

-I’ve lost count how many times this is. Stop bothering me and call when it’s time to fight.

-All knights ready for combat. We can fight anytime.

-Nothing unusual except occasional bird collisions.

Starting with Vimana’s main system, reports came in order from Bruce, Isaac, and Ryuhei.

They had done these checks over a dozen times today alone, and each time everything was reported normal.

Truly a state of perfect preparation.

Forces capable of easily destroying two or three countries were waiting for his command.

Going to Seoul and capturing Han Yuseong would seal his victory.

Though the situation seemed favorable, his chest felt strangely tight and anxious.

An ordinary person might have dismissed it as pre-battle nerves, but Changwei didn’t take his heart’s warning signals lightly.

‘This doesn’t feel right.’

A sorcerer who could read heavenly signs after reaching the realm of Heaven Communication and a transcendent physics who could handle all types of psychic power feeling unexplained anxiety?

That wasn’t just a feeling but likely another form of future prediction.

Normally he would have immediately observed the future either by reading heavenly signs or using psychic power, but instead Changwei muttered a quiet curse and turned his gaze to the hologram.

“Huh?”

A puzzled voice escaped Changwei’s lips.

Two dots had appeared on the hologram screen detecting the area around Vimana.

One was far above the troposphere where Vimana was located, and the other was right above the sea.

He briefly thought it might be equipment malfunction or birds being detected, but quickly dismissed that idea after seeing the size and energy readings of the detected objects.

The one above was clearly a flying fortress, and the one below was likely a user.

“What is this? Planning to bombard from above?”

Changwei was greatly flustered.

He had expected an ambush but thought it would come after Vimana entered the Korean peninsula, never imagining they would attack at this timing.

The reason was simple.

While Vimana had numerous airships enabling aerial combat, the humanoid weapons in Han Yuseong’s flying fortress Dragonia specialized in ground combat and couldn’t fight properly above the sea.

‘The Tokyo battle footage clearly showed no proper aerial units, could they have had hidden forces? No, more importantly, who’s the one below?’

“Wait.”

Changwei, who had briefly panicked at the incomprehensible situation, narrowed his eyes.

Dragonia’s marker on the hologram was steadily falling downward.

The speed was too fast to be merely lowering altitude.

Staring blankly at this, Changwei belatedly realized Dragonia was falling in a perfect straight line toward Vimana and screamed.

“This crazy bastard! Planning mutual destruction?!”

What would happen if a flying fortress the size of a decent island fell from hundreds of kilometers up at several kilometers per second?

Anyone who’s watched disaster movies could easily imagine.

If it hit land, the impact site would be obliterated and dust clouds would trigger an ice age, while hitting the sea would cause a massive tsunami from the impact.

The Yellow Sea was shallow so a humanity-ending tsunami wouldn’t occur, but at minimum the Korean west coast and Chinese coastline would be completely devastated.

“Maximum engine output! Full speed ahead!”

As Vimana began accelerating with enough force to push him back, Changwei’s expression that had briefly relaxed soon hardened again.

Dragonia was adjusting its falling trajectory to match Vimana’s position.

After countless considerations in an instant, Changwei gritted his teeth and shouted.

“Maximum shield output! Everyone brace for impact!”

Boom!

Whoosh!

Dragonia falling wrapped in flames, making the atmosphere rumble.

Vimana covered in a massive barrier.

Olga, standing on the ice watching the two flying fortresses, sat down and placed her palm on the water’s surface.

Crack!

The moment her hand touched, the seawater began freezing in a radius of several hundred meters around Olga.

After instantly freezing the endlessly churning seawater, Olga lightly bit her lip.

‘This level is far from enough.’

“Hooo.”

The breath Olga exhaled became a fierce cold storm sweeping in all directions.

What Olga wielded wasn’t mere cold.

Martial arts, magic, psychic power, alchemy, divine power, sorcery, daoist arts, immortal arts, authority, blessings, curses.

A power close to authority created by weaving dozens of abilities together under the single keyword of cold.

Crack!

Simply lowering the temperature to freeze the Yellow Sea would have taken a long time.

But Olga’s breath spread instantly in all directions, stealing the kinetic energy from the water, perfectly freezing not just the nearby area but the sea beyond the horizon.

After creating this truly magical sight more magical than magic itself, Olga looked up at the ear-splitting sonic boom.

Dragonia, now close enough to identify its shape with the naked eye, and Vimana wrapped in dozens of layers of barriers.

“Eternal Ice Fortress.”

Crack!

Well aware of the terrible devastation about to come, Olga lowered her stance and used her strongest defensive skill.

And moments later, an indescribable roar and massive impact enveloped Olga.

* * *

Originally, Yuseong had planned to drag out the war with Changwei as long as possible.

According to what he heard from people while doing the [24-Member Suicide Squad Wanting to Escape from Demon Realm] quest, Vimana’s forces were by no means inferior to Dragonia’s.

No, they far surpassed them.

In terms of the technology that went into building the fortress and utility, Dragonia was far superior to Vimana.

But Dragonia was born as an escape ship and pioneering vessel to evacuate dragons and dragonkin, while Vimana was a combat fortress built to fight against a highly civilized demon race.

Though the barrier would prevent an inglorious defeat, in a direct clash Dragonia had no chance of victory against Vimana.

‘Plus the combat power difference besides the fortresses is severe too.’

On this side were Three Weak Kang Changseok and Sophia, while the other side had two Three Intermediates, two Three Strongs, and on top of that the transcendent being Lucifer.

Victory in a direct fight was nearly impossible.

Using Dragonia’s dimension diving ability and actively cooperating with the military to hit and run until the mass-produced goggle users could gather karma for the Sun-Moon Ritual.

This was the best method Yuseong could think of.

But the long-term strategy completely fell through due to the mass-produced goggles’ stabilization failure and the appearance of an uninvited guest.

“We don’t know when that guy will appear again. We need to settle this in the short term.”

“Can’t we talk it out? How are you going to do this?”

Conquering in the short term an all-around massive fortress with its own attack capabilities plus mobility, supply, and repair abilities?

It was absolutely impossible through normal methods.

However, fortunately, Yuseong wasn’t a normal human.

‘We need to strike all at once at timing and with methods no one expects.’

It would be too late after entering the Korean peninsula.

They had to strike when the enemy was caught off guard, thinking they would never attack first.

Halfhearted attacks couldn’t break through Vimana’s multi-layered barriers.

They needed one overwhelming, truly overwhelming strike to shatter all barriers at once and penetrate inside Vimana.

The method Yuseong came up with after much deliberation was incredibly simple and brutal.

“Let’s go with meteor impact.”

“If Vimana has the capabilities Mr. Yuseong mentioned, dropping just part of Dragonia won’t be enough to break the barriers.”

“Who said anything about dropping just part?”

“What?”

“We’re dropping all of Dragonia. Accelerating that mass from the atmosphere through impact, no barrier could withstand it no matter how strong.”

“W-wait a minute. Setting aside whether this is possible, if two massive fortresses weighing tens of billions of tons fall into the sea, the damage to Korea and China would be no joke.”

“Olga’s abilities will freeze the sea solid.”

“…What about the impact shock? When objects of that size collide, most people except users won’t survive the shock.”

“We’ll solve that part with Kang Changseok’s ability. The Shadow World isn’t affected by reality, right? If we move all the people and key equipment to the Shadow World from the moment we start falling, then return them to reality right after impact, shouldn’t that nullify the shock?”

A truly outrageous idea.

Even more outrageous was that this ridiculous idea seemed quite plausible and actually succeeded.

“…This actually worked.”

“I-I’m alive…”

“That was quite a thrilling experience after a long time.”

Yuseong ignored the users muttering comments and looked around.

Dragonia and Vimana lay entangled on the vast ice sea, and whether due to mutual interference between both sides’ barriers, the barriers kept appearing and disappearing.

‘We succeeded.’

The walls that seemed absolutely impenetrable were gone without a trace, and countless defense facilities, airships, and armored weapons were devastated.

The fortresses were so massive that some facilities and weapons remained intact, but not many.

Yuseong didn’t miss the opportunity.

“Everyone charge!”

Thud!

“Wooaaaaah!”

“Destroy everything!”

The moment Yuseong’s order fell, massive humanoid weapons and ability users who had become users began charging.

Though it hadn’t even been a day since they became users, the karma shop’s effects were immense.

Just obtaining E-rank stat increase rights and a few skills greatly improved the ability users’ combat power, enabling them to properly contribute to the battle.

“Kuk! Everyone fall back behind me!”

“How dare mere scrap metal!”

Crunch!

However, unexpectedly, the enemies weren’t easily broken through.

Despite the clearly desperate situation, they rallied under their banner in perfect order to resist, displaying unbelievable divine might by destroying meter-tall humanoid weapons in single strikes while tenaciously resisting.

Carefully observing this, Yuseong could find the reason in the equipment the enemies were armed with.

Weapons and armor at minimum C-rank or higher.

Only one person could distribute equipment of that rank so freely.

“Everyone fall back.”

“Tch.”

Yuseong clicked his tongue briefly while looking at Ryuhei who was pointing a brilliantly shining holy sword.