Chapter 155 Space Captain (2)

‘What the heck…’

He already decided not to be surprised at whatever his opponent revealed. Nevertheless, Yoon-seok was astonished. A spacecraft and nuclear rays? Wasn’t this a little beyond imagination?

Whoooooosh-!

A ray of light filled the sky. At first glance, it was similar to Judgment of the Ruined Monarch, but the range was much narrower, only about 5m in radius. That wasn’t the only difference.

Tadak.

It was fast. Amplified by his skills, his agility reached Ranks SSS-, yet he still couldn’t see it properly.

Boooooooooom-!

As the ray touched the ground, a red flash exploded outward. Yoon-seok swallowed as he watched.

Chikkkkkk-.

The instant flash died down; he could see a huge crater filling the middle of the stadium as if a meteorite had fallen.

“…”

‘It’ll be dangerous if I get hit.’

It wasn’t just intuition. A prickle of pain was blooming in the back of his hand, slightly scratched by the explosion.

‘Is he a difficult opponent?’

Yoon-seok clicked his tongue. No injuries other than those with sacred attributes would harm him, and even if it was a sacred attribute, if their magic rank differed by a certain amount, it would be ignored by {Dark Knight}’s effect. The aftermath of that explosion certainly could not be seen as such an attack. Nevertheless, he was hurt.

‘It’s not that surprising.’

Ignoring all resistance and physical defense, that was the effect of Unique Skill

u0007b Decapitation}. But, Yoon-seok couldn’t hurt Heavenly Buddha before. Now, Yoon-seok glimpsed the reason why.

‘It’s probably neutralized.’

Immunity and neglect. When these two effects were put together, if no phrase on either side held a higher judgment, there was only one outcome when confronted without such skills. And his opponent was a 20th-floor duel challenger. As expected, they did not ascend on pure luck…

But it was the same for him.

‘Avoid everything I can and approach as quickly as possible.’

Yoon-seok decided to win by closing the distance. Although he currently rode on an armored robot, he judged that his body would be weak due to the nature of his abilities.

「Seventeen swords are used. The Phantom Energy that is ingrained in the sword becomes stronger.」

First of all, he maximized the effect of King of All Swords and tensed his muscles. And then.

—You’re good for a lower human subject.

A mysterious and robotic voice flowed from the robot. It sounded like he was praising Yoon-seok for enduring the blow.

—Jaximus Meisterhorn Vignumus, Captain of the 16th-dimensional Federal Space Defense Force of the Taklan Empire.

A great name and an even grander position. Yoon-seok replied, feeling strangely small.

“…I’m Choi Yoon-seok.”

—Is that so?

However, his opponent didn’t seem to be listening. It was just a procedural introduction.

—Then die, barbarian.

Rather than being angry, a smile played on Yoon-seok’s lips. What do you mean, barbarian? He didn’t expect to hear this inside the Tower, but…

There was nothing to refute to the challenger who controlled a spaceship. Even if he tried, he didn’t have time to bother.

—Lock-on. Increase Resolution. Automatic Speaker. Dimensional Refraction. Intercept Protocol.

The opponent chanted the commands one after another. There were too many of them to be Unique Skills or Powers, but Yoon-seok quickly guessed why.

‘It’s probably one of the two.’

Either it was a Unique Skill that incorporated multiple commands into one skill, or they were bought from another Tower store that sold skills and equipment that didn’t exist here. He had no clue which, but-

Tadak.

Leaving all those questions behind, Yoon-seok kicked off the ground. He knew from experience it wasn’t too late to think about after knocking his opponent down.

Clankkk. Whoosh-! Whoosh-!

After closing a certain distance, guided missiles jettisoned from the robot’s shoulders.

Slashhh-!

Yoon-seok, cutting down all the missiles at once using Traverse, boldly moved through the explosions.

Boooom-!

Earlier, he thought he wouldn’t need to pay much attention if not for the nuclear ray. But did this alien realize that?

—Nuclear Plasma.

The spacecraft’s mortar aimed at Yoon-seok again. He thought the cooldown would be considerable because it was that powerful, but that wasn’t the case.

‘It’s coming.’

Yoon-seok hurriedly dodged to the side. No matter how difficult it was to track with his eyes, it wasn’t that hard to avoid. He just needed to watch the gun, not the bullet.

‘I just have to avoid before it fires.’

He roughly confirmed the extent of the explosion earlier. Yoon-seok quickly leaped out of range. The only one problem was-

Yoon-seok wasn’t the only one who went beyond common sense.

Whoooooosh-!

“…?”

The ray changed direction. It was unexpected, but Yoon-seok immediately activated his power.

‘Enhanced Speed.’

He evaded toward the robot, but still, he was about 100m away from his opponent. Yet, this was enough for his sword to reach.

‘Black Cloud Perforation.’

Pursuing illusion and swiftness, mixing Skywrath and Natural Energies, a dark whirlwind swept across the arena.

Whooooosh-!

It was an exquisite attack made at proximity.

‘Was it expected that I can’t end it with one blow?’

His opponent used a new move. However, there was one thing Yoon-seok didn’t expect.

—What a savage sword.

He didn’t expect the alien to resort to a head-on collision instead of evading.

—Multi-gravity Control.

The moment the command was used, the speed of the sword energy decreased. Watching, the robot took out a sword made of light and…

—Dimension Sword.

Sliced it.

‘Does it mean that he has a knack in this field too…?’

It may not be good news, but one question was resolved. He was curious how the civilized ones survived the early duels.

—It’s a sword technique that’s not efficient at all, like a barbarian.

If he possessed these close combat skills, it was a different story. Yoon-seok was very interested in this swordsmanship of a new dimension. What did he mean by efficiency? He was growing impatient because he wanted to know.

Whoosh-!

Yoon-seok stepped through the air to approach. However, after sending and receiving several more attacks, he realized his expectations were too high.

“I didn’t know the efficiency you were talking about was this.”

There was skill but no depth; the principle of the sword wasn’t contained in that blade. The only difference was fighting on a huge robot; the movement itself was something anyone could do with a little learning. And he dared to talk about swordsmanship? To be honest, it felt ridiculous to Yoon-seok.

—The Taklan Empire’s swordsmanship is the most perfect. Of course, a barbarian wouldn’t understand that!

He didn’t intend to belittle his power. If it weren’t for that light sword, or if the armored robot hadn’t corrected the motion automatically while tracing the direction of his attack. Without the help of these external factors, he called efficiency. The fight would’ve already ended.

Like this.

Slash-!

Yoon-seok’s sword pierced through the robot’s chest and cut out its entire left shoulder.

—H-how…!

“Because you attacked me with a sword.”

If he’d relied only on the system, it would’ve been a more difficult battle. But the opponent easily gave way. He was probably that confident in his swordsmanship. Well, it wasn’t like he couldn’t understand. Perhaps he thought no one here knew how to fight with a sword properly.

If he’d competed with a challenger from Moorim at least once, he wouldn’t have committed to a head-on fight with such swordsmanship.

—You barbarian!

The alien was sent into a fury by Yoon-seok’s calm eyes. Yet, he continued calmly issuing commands to win the fight.

—Leap Forward.

It fled into the air through a space-moving skill.

“Are you running away?”

They didn’t answer but instead recited another command.

—Declaration Of War.

Yoon-seok raised his senses again. As he said it so firmly, it felt like a great skill was coming. His swordsmanship was ridiculous, but the force of his skills shouldn’t be ignored.

Whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Clank. Clank.

As he remained on guard, wondering what kind of skill it was, the lower part of the spacecraft opened.

And thousands of armored soldiers appeared.

3m, 5m, 10m. Varying in size and design, thousands of suits of armor flew through the air or fell directly down to the arena. Would Earth also fight in this type of war in the future? He had no clue, but even Yoon-seok, having experienced many unrealistic things until now, spaced out as he watched.

But it wasn’t time for him to stay still.

‘Judgement of the Ruined Monarch.’

Yoon-seok quickly came to his senses and chanted the command. Since the quantity was large, each individual would be weak, so he decided to counter it with a wide-area attack. To increase efficiency, he tried to use Lady’s Commandment to the fullest extent possible…

Sadly, it wouldn’t work, thanks to the spacecraft that covered the sky.

Boooooom-!

The shock wave shook the ground far below, but the spacecraft remained intact even after receiving the Light of Destruction head-on.

‘I didn’t know it’d be this firm.’

Yoon-seok didn’t hesitate to use the spatial control of

u0007b Demonify} next.

‘Demonify.’

Yoon-seok, whose appearance became monstrous in a blink of an eye, spread his palms against the surging armored corps covering the sky like a tsunami.

Crackkkkkkkkkk-.

Fortunately, spatial control worked just fine. The space around them twisted, and dozens of the armored robots shattered and broke. But only for a moment.

—Dimensional Stabilization.

Soon, the spacecraft emitted a blue light, and the space that had broken like a mirror returned to its original state.

‘He has everything.’

Yoon-seok smacked his lips as if he were embarrassed. This opponent wasn’t unbeatable like Cheon-ma or Heavenly Buddha, so should he say he was quite persistent? When he tried to do something, he would use another tactic to block it. Of course, he could use spatial control again if he used Lady’s Commandment to seal the Dimensional Stabilization, but…

‘There’s no need for that.’

A better idea came to mind. Should he say an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth?

‘Dark Knight.’

A gate opened behind Yoon-seok, darkness swirling inside.

Whikkkkkkkk-!

The Rank A effect of

u0007b Dark Knight}, Hell’s Gate. Souls one after the other appeared in the swirling abyss.

Thud. Thud.

Their numbers were endless. Starting with the challengers he met during duels to the hundreds of thousands of troops killed in the mission. All the souls claimed by Yoon-seok came back as his subordinates.

—…They’re barbarians.

The opponent, momentarily overwhelmed by this new group that rose from the ground, soon regained his mind and muttered. Humans on the ground may look like ants to such a civilization. But…

“…”

The Sword Saint Lee Hyun-hak. The Devil that Trejan summoned. Lavan Vargas, who mastered the Middle Qi. Yoon-seok smiled at their familiar faces.

After all, this alien would have to experience everything in person to find out.