Hiss—Haah—

A heavy atmosphere.
The pressure weighing down on his body.
The slowed ether.

This time, he had definitely arrived.

Kalstein looked around and smiled.

The barricades, made of wood and metal, were intricately constructed.
Watchtowers and bunkers were positioned at intervals along the barricades.
Martial arts soldiers from the Wulin were stationed everywhere, keeping watch.
The Hyperion hovered above, with intercepting turrets in place.

And then.

Click- click- click-

“We greet His Majesty Kalstein.”

“J-Juduk!”
“Ugh...!”
“And I, YongYong, am here too!”

The four appeared before Kalstein in the blink of an eye.

“This is the first time we’re all together, isn’t it? Somehow, it’s become a brassard meeting, huh?!”

With four pairs of eyes glaring at him in different ways, Kalstein immediately got to work.

“Let’s handle the urgent matters first.”

Snap—

“Selena, I need your help to fix the coordinates.”

“…Yes!”

Selena, her fear barely visible, nodded.

“And Berdel, help with the supply transfers.”

Berdel, whose gaze was as intense as ever, silently acknowledged.

Snap—

“And Hyperion…”

[We greet His Majesty, the great hero of the Galactic Empire, Kalstein Babylon.]

Hyperion responded respectfully.

“Yeah. Let’s use your parts.”

[If you wish, gladly.]

“Keisha, take the Debrains with you to handle supplies and fortification of the base.”

“Ah, understood.”

Keisha stammered, caught off guard by Kalstein’s strange charisma.

“And the defense will be handled by the fortress itself. The Wulin soldiers will transition to offensive operations.”

“!!”
“Galaxy! Galaxy! Galaxy!”
“Wooooaah!”
“Galaxy! Galaxy! Galaxy!”

Kalstein smiled as he looked around at the ecstatic crowd.

There was no mistake in inserting the metal control gene into the possessed body.

Perfect.

He snapped his fingers, and the metal structures that had been haphazardly piled up shot into the air.

‘Unlike with the xianxia world, this works perfectly here.’

He nodded.

Kalstein began handling all four of the tasks he had commanded simultaneously.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

As Kalstein surveyed the area, metal barriers began to form behind him, shaping into an impregnable fortress.

Snap—Boom—Clang—

The disassembled Hyperion and KAI’s weapons were mounted along the new barriers.

“Remember this. This is just our base camp. Our goal is solely the offense.”

“We’ll remember, Your Majesty!”
“Yes! Understood!”

Though, Kalstein felt like he might have missed something.

“Teh-ehng!”

***

The fortress began to transform, changing to a level that could be called a complete overhaul.

Sturdy, towering metal walls rose up, and automated turrets and various firearms installed at regular intervals began to fire relentlessly.

Constantly, supply shipments poured in, and the Wulin’s elite soldiers were reinforced.

Clink—Clink—Clink—

The Wulin soldiers, now fully equipped with new gear, set out from the fortress to hunt the monsters. The advanced gear-clad warriors of the Wulin formed up and advanced.

Boom—

The Hyperion’s scanners served as the communications hub, while the intercepting forces moved in an organized manner. In cases where formidable enemies were expected, Hyperion, along with Berdel, would deploy alongside the Wulin forces.

“It’s still not enough.”

Nevertheless, Kalstein wasn’t satisfied. His greed did not end with just this.

If he was going to do it, he would do it properly.

“Build the second and third barriers and expand the territory.”

As soon as Kalstein commanded, the framework of the structures was quickly assembled, with Debrains rushing in to reinforce the finer details. Selena immediately began research as the construction of the labs began, and everyone moved in sync, working as one.

“The resource deposits of the World are beyond imagination. It’s impossible to generate it with just 1 trillion Karma points.”

This was an undeniable truth.

A trillion Karma points wasn’t something you could just call "small." Even so, it still wasn’t enough to generate all the resources of the World.

“Resource analysis is secondary. We’ll kill and gather everything in sight.”

“Galaxy! Galaxy! Galaxy!”

At Kalstein’s command, unmanned ships from the Galactic Empire were constantly being deployed.

Everyone shared the same thought about this aggressive investment.

Gulp—

So this is what he was planning.

He’s serious.

Maybe to the Galactic Empire, this wasn’t even a big deal?

Regardless, Kalstein continued to issue orders without hesitation.

“These ships are equipped with basic automated systems. If there are Debrains with boarding experience, they should be able to operate them.”

The unmanned ships, forming a defensive fleet, patrolled around the barriers while relentlessly bombing the area. The field fleet, consisting of the Wulin soldiers and Debrains, tore through everything in their path, ready to burn it all.

Unfortunately, while the Galactic Empire could transmit supplies to this world, it was impossible to send people. Kalstein had been using the possessed body for transmission, connecting afterward.

Sending material from the World was also currently unfeasible. Unlike ether, it was far more complicated. Selena had been researching it tirelessly, but there was no guarantee when results would come.

The Astral Barrier of the Galactic Empire was suspected to be the cause.

However, none of this mattered to them.

Endless orders and victories.

That was their sole driving force.

“Recruit Debrains who have experience operating ships!”

“Supply unit Private Karon! Orders received!”

“Kill all the monsters and collect the byproducts!”

Kalstein’s sudden actions.
The explosive charisma of Kalstein.
In response, attack, attack, and expand.

Kalstein Babylon, Emperor of the Galactic Empire.

His dignity, which could not be hidden by even a low-level possessed body, shook the World.

“Galaxy! Galaxy! Galaxy! Galaxy!”
“Galaxy! Galaxy! Galaxy! Galaxy!”
“For the Great Galactic Empire!”

A massive fire ignited in everyone’s hearts.

Unyielding will and momentum.
Constantly rising morale in the army.

“Kill!!”
“For the Galactic Empire!”
“Bow down!!”
[You traitors!]
“Silo 2 charging complete.”
“Main cannon fire.”
[Ahhhhh!]

It was the complete opposite of the defensive stance they had maintained against the waves of monsters. Now, as they joined the battlefield, they shuddered in exhilaration.

Madness, layered upon madness.

“Wipe them all out!”

Even so, Kalstein did not lose sight of his priorities.

“Priority 0 is the silver spring. If you find it, take it by force.”

The silver spring was not something only found in Kalstein’s conquered territories. The Galactic Empire had managed to secure two additional springs.

“Too far? Use the multi-tasking!”

Endless resources poured in from the Galactic Empire, and with human resources flowing in from both the Wulin and Debra planets, their expansion was terrifying.

“Next, priority 1 is the Sephiroth bastards. Hunt them down!”

Attack. Hunt. Attack. Expand. Hunt. And attack.

[Damage!]
[These bastards… they’re crazy!]
“Galaxy! Galaxy! Galaxy! Galaxy!”
[Aahhh!]
[Where’s the support?!]
[The upper command said to retreat. Losing the holy relic last time was a huge mistake.]
[Ugh!]

Yet, even Berdel was facing tough opponents.

Hacking cough!
[For a human, you’re pretty good.]
[Arrogant.]
[You think you can just keep crawling up, now that I’m being lenient?]
[You want to fight us all by yourself?]

But.

“Berdel, mind if I lend a hand?”

Rustle—
[How dare you!]
[Who are you!?]

A man, wearing a deep hood and holding a sword, dressed in battle attire, stood before him.

“Well, do we need to talk about this?”

Boom— Scratch—
[Hmmm…]

“The Taoist, sir! Don’t leave us out!”
[Where are we? Summoner.]
[Monsters… from heaven.]
[But I don’t feel the constraints of this world.]

The summoner, commanding the Spirit Kings, and the tall-eared Elf Archmage.

“The 32nd Holy Sword’s master, Hero Bersia, is here!”
“Ruler of Niflheim, Hell King Mephir.”
“The Demon King of Wisdom, Raul.”

The transcendents from the community had joined the fight.

Clink—

“Is this the World?”
“Ugh! Where are we, that the air is so heavy?”

The Lich King and High Elf.

Of course, the two with the lowest combat power among the supporters had been selected as ‘researchers.’

Even so, they were all individuals who had reached the peak of their worlds.

Naturally, there was a bit of a power struggle between them.

“Hero… in our world, all the heroes are dead by my hand.”
“Heh, you won’t be able to do anything with such magic.”
“Haha, this won’t be boring.”
“Can you handle the King of Spirits?”
Clink “Magic is truth…”
“Lich King, step aside.”

Arrogance might have made it difficult to control.

However, facing the unusual environment of the World first…

“Hmmm. It feels like my inner energy has frozen.”
“It seems like even the King of Spirits can’t use his powers well…”
“What’s wrong with my body?”
“Have they already adapted to this environment?”

They were all at a loss for words when facing Juduk.

The moment they arrived in the World, they all froze in place.

“Hm? What’s going on? Just relax and play. You only need to do the tasks you’ve been assigned.”

“Ugh…”
“Hahaha. The world is vast.”
“What on earth…?”
“I don’t even think this is his true form…”
“It seems that only we can recognize his true essence.”

Crazy. That monster is Juduk?

Transcendents who had caught even a glimpse of Juduk’s origin kept their mouths shut.

Haha.

In the end, their choice was clear.

“I would like to request an interview.”
“Please, be merciful…”
“I have something to discuss!”
“Please, just give us some time!!”

Everyone wanted to speak with Juduk.

“Hm. First, let’s take care of business. We’ll talk later.”

They were bluntly rejected.

But none of them seemed disappointed.

“I’ve already read the motivations for your support. Those who work hard will see good results.”

At Juduk’s calm gaze.

“Wooooo!”
“As expected…”
“The key to preventing the world’s destruction…”
“We’ll do our best, no matter how small the contribution!”
“Did you promise?”

The determination was rising in everyone’s eyes.

“Berdel, we’ll show them that we’re no slouches!”
“Leave this to me!!”
“Follow me, everyone!”
“Kill them!!”
“Ugh! This isn’t easy!”
“So are you going to give up here?”
“Of course not! I can’t give up for those waiting for me!”
“This is so much fun! Hahaha!”

They were showing a spirit close to madness.