Thumbs Up, Level Up - Chapter 302

Boom!

Woong~

It left like all mana and light were becoming particles and becoming one with everyone on the mothership. At the same time, Ji-Cheok’s Divine Intuition started ringing the warning bells. They were going to fail!

He could not let such a catastrophe happen!

“Use my Likes! Assist the Hyperdrive!”

Hundreds of millions of Likes were consumed in an instant. Suddenly, he started to feel as if he was being pulled by something, as if a vortex was dragging him into the depths of the ocean.

Then, in a flash, the view outside the bridge shifted.

Flash!

The surface of the Moon was right in front of them.

The Hyperdrive was successful!

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

Moon Blade.

It was a spaceship seventeen kilometers long and four kilometers wide that looked like a longsword. It was the first super-massive warship in human history, created by combining the cores of the Sky Warlord and Kunlun Mountain, thanks to the efforts of a large number of Hunters with crafting skills and an even larger number of Likes.

It was equipped with a vast array of weapons, and because it was designed to move and fight in space, it had weapons on both its top and bottom. Besides the thirty-two main cannons with astonishing destructive power, it was also equipped with hundreds of secondary cannons, missiles, artillery, and even devices for generating defensive barriers and launching fighter drones.

This ship was the pinnacle of destruction, meticulously crafted for the ultimate warfare.

As it activated the Hyperdrive, the mothership emerged in the lunar skies, unleashing a relentless barrage of attacks.

The distance to the Demon King of the Apocalypse waiting on the surface of the Moon was merely ten kilometers.

There were countless monsters between the Moon Blade and the Demon King. From bizarre, gravity-defying monsters that looked like stingrays to ghostly, irregularly shaped monsters, there were many kinds of monsters that humanity had never seen before.

In order to defeat the Demon King, they first had to deal with the monsters in-between, so the Moon Blade wasted no time and moved straight to business.

“Activate the lock-on system! Each gunner is to fire all rounds, assisted by the lock-on system. Fire until I tell you to stop!”

Adam Bronze ordered the Hunters. His Hunter skills were in full effect.

A halo rose above his head, and a mana supply connected to his captain’s seat amplified his power. His ability now granted powerful skill effects to the Moon Blade.

[Battle has begun.]

[Applying [Automatic Restoration] skill.]

[Applying [Durability Boost] skill.]

[Applying [Ranged Attack Boost] skill.]

[Applying [Penetration Boost] skill.]

[Applying [Defense Boost] skill.]

[Applying [Scientific Defense Technique] skill.]

[Applying [Nanomachine Gauntlet of Sci-fi] skill.]

[Applying [Mana Reaction Gauntlet of Arcane Engineering] skill.]

[……..]

A ridiculous number of skills was applied to the Moon Blade at once. The fact that such skills could be applied to such a massive object was already incredibly impressive, and that was not even considering their number and potency.

“Lock-on system engaged. Gunners, use the lock-on system and fire all cannons!”

The captain’s command was relayed throughout the entire warship, and conventional rounds, shells, lasers, and other energy weapons were all put to use.

Woong!

A barrier of light unfolded across the entirety of the Moon Blade, accompanied by hundreds of secondary cannons spewing fire. They were all using depleted uranium rounds! The rounds with significantly enhanced penetration power flew at supersonic speeds, tearing through monsters thanks to the power of skills and magic.

In a single strike, the rounds pierced through the first line of monsters and then continued without stopping through those behind them. Thousands of monsters exploded and scattered everywhere in an instant.

Normal artillery was not all they had, either. For this operation, humanity had prepared the ultimate weapon.

“Captain! We have eliminated all enemies between us and the Demon King!”

“Prepare the nuclear charges!”

“Preparing nuclear warheads! T – 30 seconds!”

“Fire when ready!”

With Adam’s command, nuclear bombs rained down on the Demon King. Indeed, it was not just one bomb—hundreds of missiles with nuclear warheads were loaded onto this warship, and these weapons that were so much more devastating than any other nuclear weapons on Earth descended toward the lunar surface.

With the massive explosions came the mushroom clouds. However, Adam, who was connected to the Moon Blade through the power of his skills, and Ji-Cheok, who had the Divine Intuition active at all times, could feel that the enemy had not suffered any damage.

“High energy detected! The Demon King of the Apocalypse is attacking us!”

“Activate full defensive barrier!”

The barrier surrounding the Moon Blade turned a vivid blue. A massive black beam suddenly rose from below the mothership, colliding with it in the blink of an eye.

Boom!

Energy clashed with energy, and an eerie sound shook the warship.

“Give me a report on the damage!”

“No damage, captain! However, the power supply has been temporarily depleted by 35%! It will take 120 seconds to recharge!”

“What about the monsters?”

“They are swarming in from all directions!”

“As expected… It seems like long-range attacks do not work on them,” Adam muttered to himself. “Ji-Cheok, you were right.”

“So it seems.”

Ji-Cheok, who was standing behind him, shrugged. He had warned them before coming here that long-range attacks would be ineffective against the Demon King of the Apocalypse. To be precise, he had told them that attacks carried out from a distance too far from the Demon King would be ineffective.

Although a weapon with enough power to destroy the Moon might be an exception, normal nuclear bombs were all but useless.

“Then let’s go with our Plan B. I trust you with it,” Adam said.

“Got it.”

In response to Ji-Cheok’s answer, Adam once again faced forward.

“Moon Blade, descend! Head straight toward the Demon King!”

The Moon Blade descended slowly, taking down monsters rushing from all directions.

With the aftermath of the nuclear explosion now cleared, the Demon King was gazing at the Moon Blade.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

The Moon Blade was undeniably a powerful battleship, but according to his Divine Intuition and the Blind Prophetess Stephanie’s prophecy, the Demon King could not be defeated by the Moon Blade alone.

And that was indeed true.

A Demon of that caliber would likely possess some skill that nullified attacks from a certain distance, even those on the scale of a nuclear bomb. Indeed, the Demon King, resembling a black mass of energy, had not suffered any damage at all even after being hit by hundreds.

However, the nuclear blast was not entirely useless—at the very least, it had served the purpose of incinerating the monsters swarming from all directions. Although they were once again surging like waves from all sides, this attack provided the Moon Blade a precious moment of respite.

Ultimately, the situation was unfolding just as Ji-Cheok had envisioned it. The Moon Blade and just a bit over a million Hunters had to fend off millions, if not tens of millions of monsters attacking from everywhere. In the meantime, around one hundred top-ranking Hunters, including Ji-Cheok, would try their best to defeat the Demon King.

This was the decisive battle that would determine the fate of humanity!

They could not afford to fail. Failure would mean the deaths of all the participating Hunters, as well as the extinction of humanity.

However, what he found odd and rather concerning was that Reable and Ji-Han were still nowhere to be seen. Even I.L. had not shown up at all. They were all among the top five strongest individuals in the world.

‘No, now is not the time to worry about that.’

He looked at the people gathered in the descent room. Only the top-ranked Hunters had gathered here.

Ji-Cheok and his younger brother Mu-Cheok were here, joined by Ji-Byeok, Seong Kwang, Ha-Na, Bernade, and Daniel as a team. The team from the United States and Britain were also working together separately.

He had heard that the team from Britain consisted of members of the Knights of the Round Table so they had to be powerful.

⌜One minute before the descent. Please prepare yourselves.⌟

The announcement was made, and he glanced at his teammates.

The skill Chain Link, which they had used in the past, had already been activated. Additionally, they were utilizing various other skills in conjunction with each other.

Seong Kwang had already activated the Blessing of the Sun God, Ha-Na was using Guidance of the Stars, and Ji-Byeok had activated her Life of the Earth skill. Daniel was covered in the Radiance of the Paladin, and Bernade prepared the Dynamic Magical Barrier of Nature.

As for Ji-Cheok, he was channeling some of his best skills, including Majesty of the King, Order of the God, and Divine Dominance.

⌜Descent has been initiated.⌟.

The floor of the descent room opened up, revealing monsters, artillery, and the Demon King below.

“Let’s go!”

The team descended rapidly.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

.A flash of brilliance illuminated the sky. The booming sound of artillery shells reverberated in all directions. With the presence of the Moon creating an atmosphere, the sound carried exceptionally well.

Behind them, as they descended, beams, shells, bullets, and missiles were being fired in all directions. The Moon Blade suspended in the sky continued its relentless assault.

A Wyvern enveloped in mana soared at supersonic speed but was shot down by the anti-aircraft cannons installed everywhere on the ship. Missiles flew in all directions, tearing apart the massive ethereal monsters, Legions, which were formed by countless ghosts clustered together.

Meanwhile, they continued their vertical descent toward the Demon King of the Apocalypse.

Upon close inspection, the Demon King’s body was massive. It was easily several hundred meters in height, and inexplicable energy enveloped it. Within the black energy, there were four red lights that appeared to be some kind of eyes.

The team had expected to be attacked on sight with the same kind of destructive beam that had struck the Moon Blade earlier, but surprisingly, the Demon King was not taking any action.

‘Why is it waiting? Perhaps…does that monster have some kind of restriction?’

As Ji-Cheok pondered, the American team began circulating their mana. It appeared that they were initiating a rapid acceleration.

‘Hyung, the Americans are pushing a bit too hard.’

‘Let them be. We can’t expect good teamwork in the current situation anyway.’

Mu-Cheok’s remark was met with Ji-Byeok’s cold response. There was little time left until the Moon collided with Earth, and just gathering all these Hunters took too much time. They could not even think about teamwork, nor did they have any means or command structure to prevent such reckless actions.

Obviously, if the American team managed to defeat the Demon King all by themselves, Ji-Cheok would be the first one to congratulate them. The problem was that such a feat seemed hardly possible.

‘Where is Stephanie Jessica?’ Ha-Na asked telepathically.

‘She is still on the bridge of the mothership. She’s assisting Adam.’

All the other team members nodded at Ji-Cheok’s answer.

Meanwhile, the American team’s main Tank, the Titan, shifted into his gigantic form.

‘Now… Demon King… Show us your abilities.’