Buuung.
Bang!
After a thirty-minute gyro drop, it set the three of them down on the ground.
“Hup.”
“Kkeuhup.”
Namgung Jincheon and Sinhyeok let out shallow groans as they set foot on the ground.
“Phew.”
Sinhyeok caught his breath and looked at the giant, who seemed refreshed after all that excited jumping.
“That was fun.”
“Ahem. I’m glad you had fun.”
Someone staggered and pitched forward.
“Ugh.”
Baek Arin listlessly planted her face against the ground.
“Uuup!”
Seeing the look on her face as something threatened to come up, Sinhyeok started toward her, then quickly backed far away.
“Kkeup!”
With indomitable will, Baek Arin held it in, refusing to vomit no matter what.
“I absolutely cannot throw up.”
She staggered, then stubbornly got back to her feet.
At the sight, Sinhyeok and Namgung Jincheon couldn’t help but laugh.
“How was it? Fun, right?”
Baek Arin gave a hollow smile and said,
“Next time, you two go by yourselves. I’m never going again.”
“Kkkk.”
“Hoho.”
Sinhyeok and Namgung Jincheon chuckled.
“There. Lots of strange rocks there.”
The giant pointed to the place he wanted to show them.
When they looked up, strange, jagged rocks were scattered over a wide area.
“It really feels like someone just threw them around without a care.”
If he had to describe it…
It was like a giant had picked up stones and hurled them.
There were so many of them that they had become a chaotic stone tower.
“Look. Lots.”
The giant pointed at the strange stones.
“I see them.”
‘Let’s check.’
Mapping began immediately.
[Mapping the nearby area.]
[Large quantities of refined iron discovered.]
[Large quantities of refined gold discovered.]
[Large quantities of refined silver discovered.]
[Large quantities of refined rare earth metals discovered.]
[Large quantities of refined copper discovered.]
[Large quantities of refined mithril discovered.]
[Administrator.]
“What?”
[They are all in refined form. Pure minerals with no impurities mixed in.]
“Holy shit. Who put all this here?”
[Large quantities of uranium discovered.]
“What?!”
He heard unbelievable news.
“Jackpot.”
He cheered quietly.
[Due to the risk of radiation exposure, it is recommended that you move away from the area.]
“Uh, okay.”
At Akashic’s warning, Sinhyeok gestured for his companions to move back.
“Let’s step back.”
“What is the matter?”
“Why, mister?”
“There’s uranium. We could be exposed to radiation, so move away.”
Baek Arin immediately retreated, while Namgung Jincheon, not understanding what he meant, moved leisurely.
“Hoho. At most, it is merely a kind of poison. To someone who has undergone bodily rebirth like me—”
Akashic immediately showed Namgung Jincheon visual materials.
“Oh my.”
He promptly scurried away.
With a relaxed expression, the giant picked up one of the fallen stones.
“Are you talking about this, maybe?”
[Danger]
[Danger]
[Risk of radiation exposure.]
“Please, if you could set that down carefully—hey, hey!”
Einri pressed the large piece of refined uranium against his skin.
“Euhehe.”
His expression slackened comfortably, and he soon looked as though he were enjoying it.
“Tingly.”
[………]
Sinhyeok asked Einri, who seemed completely unaffected.
“Doesn’t it hurt?”
“Feels good. Like something scratching me gently. Us giants like this stone.”
Einri picked up more and enjoyed pressing them here and there against his body.
[New information acquired.]
[Giants are unaffected by radiation.]
“What an insane race.”
Marveling at the giant’s overwhelming physical prowess, they waited for a while.
- Fifteen minutes until arrival.
“Oh.”
Far off in the distance, Opsir was running hard from the base.
Einri was now lying down outright, rubbing uranium all over his body.
“Uhaaa. Feels goood.”
Namgung Jincheon shook his head.
“How bizarre. To think that accursed thing has no effect on him.”
Einri truly looked happy.
‘It’s like giving catnip to a cat.’
- Arrived.
At the radio transmission, Sinhyeok looked up and saw the familiar airship arrive.
The hangar opened, and a swarm of small drones poured out.
- Beginning resource extraction and collection.
Now it was time for Einri to come out.
“Einri!”
Sinhyeok shouted with all his might.
The giant merely lifted his head and looked at him.
“Please come out now! You’ll interfere with the work!”
At those words, Einri regretfully picked up one piece of uranium.
“Hey.”
“You can’t take that!”
At Sinhyeok’s urgent shout, Einri reluctantly dropped the uranium he had picked up.
“Too bad.”
“You still can’t. If you take even one of those, there’ll be chaos.”
Once the giant came out of the worksite, the drones quickly began mining and transporting the materials.
Sinhyeok checked the resources being transported and smiled.
“This should be enough.”
‘But who on earth put these here?’
It was too strange that refined minerals were scattered here like this.
“Hmm.”
‘Come to think of it, they said there was an island floating here too.’
He looked up.
“It’s clear.”
Somewhere, the sun was up, and only clouds could be seen above.
‘Where’s the island?’
He looked at the giant, unable to see any island.
Einri was gazing regretfully at the uranium.
“Tingly.”
“Lord Einri.”
Einri turned his head to the side.
“Tingly.”
“No. You can’t have that. More importantly, you said there was an island. Where is it?”
The giant raised a finger and pointed at the sun.
“There. A little high.”
Sinhyeok narrowed his eyes and looked at the sun.
“That?”
As he stared closely, he saw something like a black dot.
“Ah, I see it! Is it that dot-like thing?”
Einri glanced at the sun, then stood up and warned them.
“Not that. Everyone run.”
He strode away.
“Pardon?”
Now that he looked, the dot was gradually growing bigger.
“They’re dropping rocks again.”
The dot was plummeting like a meteor.
“Damn it. Everyone, stop work! Dodge!”
The giant stretched out his body to protect the three of them.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-bang!
A moment later, the sound of a meteor colliding with the earth rang out.
- Aaaaah! Emergency evasive maneuver! Activating energy shield!
Along with Opsir’s urgent cry, the earth shook violently.
“Done.”
The giant straightened up and dropped the refined minerals from his back.
“All of these fell from up there?”
“Hoho. What sort of bizarre affair is this?”
Baek Arin looked up at the sky and asked just in case.
“If we pray, will they drop other things too? Like cola. Or food. Even cosmetics.”
Sinhyeok looked at her in disbelief.
“You think they’d give us that?”
“Haaah. I figured as much.”
He chuckled at her disappointment.
“An island up there, huh.”
‘I’d like to see it once.’
[It must be secured.]
“I know.”
Unable to estimate how high it was, he asked Einri.
“Lord Einri. How high is that floating island?”
“Very high. Even I can’t go there now.”
The words “can’t go there now” made him a little puzzled.
“Pardon?”
“Because of me, that island went even higher.”
At Einri’s words, Sinhyeok became even more confused.
‘I’ll have to go up on Opsir.’
- Shall I temporarily halt resource transport?
Opsir slowly landed on the ground.
“Stop for now. Let’s check the island up there first.”
When Einri saw they were about to go up to the island above, he warned them in advance.
“Look from afar and come back. Never go close.”
At the giant’s warning, a chill ran down Sinhyeok’s spine.
“Understood.”
Watching the humans climb aboard, Einri gave them directions.
“Go up following that sun. Then you’ll see it.”
- Setting destination.
“Let’s just look from afar and come back.”
‘What on earth is up there?’
Seeing Einri plaster himself flat against the ground and just stare blankly, it really seemed like something was there.
- Ascending. Please take your seats.
“We’re going up.”
They rose slowly.
For a long while, the airship climbed high while facing the sun.
“I don’t see anything.”
The floating island the giant had seen was nowhere to be found.
‘Did he see wrong, or did it drift away?’
Just as he thought that, an abnormality occurred.
[The Supreme Dragon’s Blessing is activating.]
“Hmm?”
The Supreme Dragon’s Blessing, which had been quiet, activated.
A sudden exhilaration welled up throughout Sinhyeok’s entire body.
At the same time, the Supreme Dragon’s abyss-like aura surged in like a storm.
“Young Hero?!”
“Mister!?”
A voice rang out in his mind.
‘You have finally come this far.’
The aura surged outward like a storm and spread around them.
[By the Supreme Dragon’s power, the Veil of Seclusion is being lifted.]
[The hidden Sky Temple is revealed.]
Baek Arin, who had been sitting in the bridge, looked at the spot where the sun had been and gasped.
“Mister!”
In the place they had thought was the sun, there now stood an artistic island and temple adorned with radiant flowers and trees.
Around it, fragments of all sorts of islands spread wide like satellites.
The closer they approached, the clearer the Supreme Dragon’s voice became.
‘There. Take that place.’
[A quest has been issued at the Supreme Dragon’s request.]
[Title: Occupy the Sky Temple]
[Objective: Destroy the seal within the Sky Temple]
[Reward: Liberation of the Dragon Soul Corridor]
The moment the quest arrived, the airship stopped.
‘It would be best to flee for now.’
The scattered fragments gathered together. Then they shot fiercely toward the airship.
“Dodge!”
- Activating energy shield.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-bang!
But they struck with ferocious force.
- Shield damage rate 54%
- Shield damage rate 42%
The shield was breaking in real time.
“Opsir, faster!”
- This is maximum speed.
- Activating emergency protocol. Initiating spatial jump.
- The captain’s consent is required.
“Do it already!”
- If the spatial jump is activated, the fourteen Demon Kings confined in the engine room will die.
“Ah, damn it! Just do it!”
- Consuming all Origin power in the engine room.
From somewhere came the howl of the prisoners, raging in madness.
- Initiating spatial jump for emergency escape.
- 5.
- 4.
- 3.
- 2.
- 1.
- Jump.
It felt as though his entire body was being sucked out.
When he came to his senses, they were on the ground where Einri was.
“I told you. Don’t go close.”
Einri said, looking into the bridge.
Sinhyeok sighed and answered,
“Next time, explain the distance properly. Haa, seriously, we barely survived.”
Baek Arin looked at the sky beyond the bridge and shouted,
“They’re falling!”
The fragments were falling.
“Damn it!”
Einri hurriedly wrapped himself around the spaceship.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kang!
- Shield destroyed.
- External armor damaged.
- Hangar partially destroyed.
- Approximately twenty drones destroyed.
The impact ended, and everything grew quiet.
- Captain, the damage is severe, and with the loss of Origin power, flight is impossible.
“…….”
Sinhyeok let out a hollow laugh.
“No, how does coming here just to mine some minerals turn into this?”
And the Supreme Dragon once again fell silent.
[Shall I pull up the quest again?]
Akashic quietly mentioned the quest from earlier.
“No, I checked it earlier.”
What the giant had called an island was the “Sky Temple.”
And one the Supreme Dragon cared about in particular.
“How mysterious.”
It was strange that traces of the Supreme Dragon had reached this place they had fled to in such a hurry.
‘Was it Yggdrasil’s intention?’
Whatever the case, something was there.
Something the Supreme Dragon cared about in particular.
“Let’s head back for now. And Opsir. Send the remaining drones and gather as much uranium as possible.”
- Yes.
Sinhyeok wore an irritated expression.
“We’re not leaving empty-handed.”
* * *
Inside the Sky Temple, which Sinhyeok had only glimpsed for a moment.
“Hmm.”
A clean-cut man looked outside the temple.
“Someone has arrived again.”
He stood and gazed out.
“Good. They must have Origin. I’ll extract it and use it as a battery.”
The man looked around and said,
“Rise.”
The stone statues decorating the walls began to writhe.
“Stop dawdling and go work.”
The statues opened their blue eyes and stared at the man.
“King Siegfried. Is it time to fight again?”
“Yeah. Bring me Origin.”
“Yes.”
Six warriors walked out of the temple.
“They should be enough.”
They were six warriors drenched in dragon blood, soldiers of god.
“How long must I keep doing this tiresome business? Tch.”
The warrior who had slain a dragon.
A transcendent warrior standing on the boundary between god and man.
With a weary expression, Siegfried gazed outside the temple.
* * *
“It seems the time is drawing near.”
The Dragon Soul Corridor.
Among it, the Supreme Dragon’s abode.
“Whooo.”
Namgung Hyea, the Dark Sword, hovered in the air with her sword laid across her knees.
“Master, has the time come?”
The Supreme Dragon smiled and sat up from the flat bench.
Dipping her feet into the wide pond, she walked out.
“It seems so. That fellow has finally reached the door.”
Namgung Hyea frowned as she looked at her master, who was wearing only a single thin robe.
“Please cover yourself.”
“Child. Because you still think from a human’s point of view, you remain that way. Do not set limits for yourself. That is how one climbs higher.”
The Dark Sword descended to the ground and stood, taking up her sword.
“How is that the same as this?”
The Supreme Dragon chuckled.
“Enough. I will not discuss it with my narrow-minded child.”
Hyea shook her head and followed after her.
“Where are you going?”
“To prepare to go outside. The timing is perfect. The cockroaches seemed ready to run wild.”