However, Mihee clenched her teeth. She looked at Hansoo and said, "He told me to tell you to never forget that he had saved you. Remember it for the rest of your life and live on."

Hansoo muttered to himself when he heard her reply, 'Lies.'

That guy was never that sort of person to do an act of patronage.

From his memories, he knew that Samuel wasn't fond of Hansoo until he died.

'It was likely that he told her to live in his stead… Well, something similar to this. It looked like he liked her.'

He had given up on ascending and stayed in this zone for this one woman, and for this woman, he had chosen to follow her to his death in place of her.

How could such a fellow have left a remark for him?

In other words, those words came from what Mihee wanted to tell him herself— to not forget Samuel and to engrave the debt of his life in his memory.

'I'll think about it,' he muttered internally to himself.

He hated being indebted to others, especially if it was a life debt. As to why, it was because there was no method to repay that debt. In addition, these people would say something preposterous since they wouldn't receive anything in return.

Then…

A sudden headache hit his head.

It was a shrill pain that found every single nook and cranny.

No, it wasn't that much.

Whenever something tried to reappear in his mind, his headache worsened, eventually producing pain as if it was being squeezed and strangled.

It was close to the feeling of a needle penetrating every single piece of his brain with finesse.

It wasn't a simple headache. He could feel the stolen memories that were trying to reappear in his mind.

Every time it would happen, the existence of the contract, which was in charge of his memories, forcibly squeezed his brain to prevent his memories to rise back up from the bottom.

It was to emphasize that the contract could never be broken, and that meant the guy who managed this contract had achieved his victory.

Throb. Throb.

'Whew… whew.'

The memories that were trying to resurface stopped and the headache disappeared along with it.

Hansoo, who regained his composure, grabbed Samuel's hand and handed it over to Mihee.

"This is the hand that probably reached out to you. You take care of it. Either bury it somewhere nice or take it with you."

"..."

Mihee accepted the hand speechlessly as Hansoo walked away.

It was time to take a break, but it seemed like he missed that opportunity. He had to do what he needed to do. Unfortunately, there were a lot of problems.

Kooooooooooooooooooong!

Hundreds of thousands of s.h.i.+ps, who had lost their leaders in a flash, were floating in the air, totally confused about what they were supposed to do. On the ground, the Haetara was barely breathing.

Beyond this, there were still many problems to resolve.

Thinking about how he needed to resolve all these irritated Hansoo a lot. Even if he weren't here, it seemed there wouldn't be any further problems. However, after seeing Kiriel and Mihee who moved ahead first, he gave up that thought.

'Let's help them a bit more. And… you did well in this struggle,' Hansoo muttered after thinking of Samuel.

It was not an easy decision to give up one's life for someone they love. Life was precious and protecting one's life should be the highest priority since all bodily functions and instincts were based solely on the survival and reproduction of one's race.

However, if the preconditions were reversed, then it was not that difficult to give up life, especially when one held it of little value.

This was why it was a huge mistake to believe that fighting would increase one's obsession to live. No, it rather produced the opposite effect.

Every time he survived a life-and-death scenario, he felt that his life wasn't really that much since people get tired.

In addition, it was difficult to risk one's life for the first time, but after walking ahead, one would become numb to the risks as well.

… Especially if the opponents were a foreign species...

There was no room for negotiation, alliances, and other methods of survival since they could not communicate, so they had no choice but to choose the path of killing to live.

This was the reason why the value of life became lighter.

No, it could be because Mihee's emotions were quite burdensome.

Unsure which reason was it, or if both were the reason, Hansoo was perturbed.

However, one important thing was that everything was now over.

'Take a long rest.'

After pondering about Samuel, Hansoo walked away toward the s.h.i.+ps in the sky.

R-Oconnell Ron gritted his teeth at Hansoo's message.

Get off?

Those words were close to the meaning of disarmament.

So how do they protect or defend themselves if those ignorant dimwits tried to attack them?

R-Oconnell Ron clenched his teeth and replied through the voice comm, "Stop spewing nonsense and surrender, or the force of our fleet will head toward you immediately."

This was a tense situation.

Though the three clans had lost their leaders, they were currently being wary of one another so that they wouldn't be attacked first.

If one were to attack another fleet, this would destroy the delicate balance of power. They had all been trained and had rational judgment about the positions of authority, but even they knew that the stakes were too high at the moment since one wrong judgment could spell the end for them all.

In this situation, he had threatened them.

From R-Oconnell Ron's words, Hansoo laughed.

[Sure. But should you be talking like this on the screen?]

"...?"

Hansoo coldly laughed and spoke after seeing R-O'connell's puzzled look.

[Let's speak face-to-face. Ah, you don't have to come. Let me go over there.]

Then...

Tsssssssssss!

Across the screen, Hansoo's body began to disappear along with a white cloud.

"Ah d.a.m.n! Standby! Raise the s.h.i.+elds to the maximum!"

Before R-Oconnell Ron was able to finish relaying his command…

Booooooooom!

Ruuuumble!

Above the s.h.i.+p, an eerie, clear sound began to be heard. It was the sound of someone digging in, dismantling the entire s.h.i.+p's arms.

Then...

Boooooooooooom!

"Ahhhhhhhhhk!"

"Ughhhhk!"

Above the s.h.i.+p, a red sphere surrounded Hansoo as he pushed himself forward with Mihee and Kiriel behind.

'This… is crazy!'

R-Oconnell Ron gritted his teeth helplessly from this scene.

It was then that he was able to grasp the reality that 3-star transcendents like themselves could not even dare challenge 4-star transcendents such as them. Before they could even come close in s.p.a.ce, they would be melted instantaneously.

Otherwise, it would be difficult to keep up with them with such a large, immobile s.h.i.+p.

However, they were all under their range, so they could not launch an attack in the shadows.

This was more than sufficient since they were within their target range, including the guy that was in front of him.

'd.a.m.n… instead of being wary, I should have turned on full power and escaped!'

However, this wasn't the end.

"Well, let's resolve this nice and easy by conversing since I have to go to a different place now."

After speaking a short remark, Hansoo was swept away along with Kiriel somewhere else.

Then.

[Ahhhhhk! What is this?!]

[Intruder! It's an intruder! Stop them!]

Screams began to be heard from the voice comm at the other s.h.i.+ps.

'This… d.a.m.n.'

After seeing their s.h.i.+ps be dominated in real-time, Mihee spoke to R-Oconnell Ron who wore a despondent look, "Think carefully. We are just pa.s.sing by, so we have no intentions of uprooting you. It's not like there is anything here that we covet."

From those words, R-Oconnell Ron nodded. Those words were definitely true.

"However… If you all were to have this much strength, the story becomes different."

As long as they weren't a threat, there was no need to uproot them. But, if those s.h.i.+ps were to float and scour around the sky in optimal condition, it was completely different.

With this much firepower, they could threaten and plunge the planet into war once more, which would cause danger to not only the regular people that ascended the stairs but also the transcendents as well.

"We will soon ascend. However… we cannot leave here with potential troubles behind."

The captain, R-Oconnell Ron, gulped as he faced Mihee's cold att.i.tude.

Then, an ultimatum was flung at R-Oconnell Ron.

"Choose whether you want to abandon all your s.h.i.+ps and live in peace… or if you want to fight against us to the end."

[Ahhhhhhhhhk!]

[d.a.m.n! We can't stop them!]

'... I don't have a choice.'

"All s.h.i.+ps lower alt.i.tude. You have permission to land," R-Oconnell Ron muttered with a faint voice.

—

All the s.h.i.+ps in the sky soon landed onto the ground.

Thousands of s.h.i.+ps were parked on the vast plain like a parking lot.

Then...

Boooooom!

Boooooooooooooooom!

Wars.h.i.+ps that easily outstripped one city's total budget were exploded without any mercy.

In the hands of these Transcendents, they were nothing more than bees against their skills.

Ruuuuuumble!

Boooooooom!

'It's finished over here.'

Hansoo turned his head toward the other side.

Rooooooooaar!

With an exhausted, weary look, the Haetara was making a painful cry.

The Transcendents were relentlessly attacking around them. The Haetara wiggled their bodies and tried to resist, but it was pointless.

Since they had already exhausted all of their power in their bodies, they did not have the strength to move, which made them harmless.

'Looks like there will be a lot of crystals.'

As soon as he finished talking…

Roaaaaaaaaar!

The Haetara fell on the floor with a death cry.

Soon.

Ttiriiing!

[GIFT]

'Oh.'

There was a gift box so big that it could not be compared to the previous ones, causing Hansoo's eyes to glisten.

Since there were so many people that had partic.i.p.ated in this, it seemed the box was matched accordingly.

'Hmm, I'll open it up a bit later,' Hansoo muttered as he began to recover himself.

On the surface, he pretended to be calm and threatening, but on the inside, he was a complete mess.

The Immortal Soul was frantically working to regenerate its owner's body, but it seemed it would take some time.

Then…

"How's your body?"

Hansoo turned his head to the voice that directed toward him.

There was another man like him whose skin was tanned and burned.

In his hands was something that he had never seen.

'Spear?'

It was a complete spear.

Hansoo looked at the spear that was emanating pressure on all sides with a strange expression before expressing out a short exclamation.

'... I thought that this was stuck down there.'

"It seems you brought the Relic."

From those words, Sangjin, who was holding the spear, nodded.