The soundless sirens—an iconic symbol of Ark—flashed across all directions.
At first glance, it was a scene that could've easily driven people into panic, but neither the soldiers of Rose Line nor the warriors of the Kronos Union showed any signs of unrest.
'Impressive…'
It was expected of Rose Line soldiers to remain calm under pressure. But for the warriors of the Kronos Union, in an unfamiliar environment, to show the same composure? That spoke volumes.
It meant that the average combat level of Kronos Union warriors was in no way inferior to that of Rose Line's soldiers.
'If Rose Line's soldiers stand at the forefront of Ark, then the warriors of the Kronos Union live outside it.'
From an environmental standpoint, the Kronos Union's warriors had nothing to envy from Rose Line's soldiers who guarded the front lines. In fact, given their limited support systems compared to Ark, they might even surpass Rose Line in certain respects.
'There's a reason they're considered one of the few factions comparable to Ark.'
They might be a bit too numerous to call a small elite force, but it was undeniable that the Kronos Union was a formidable power.
More importantly, the critical point right now was that such a powerful force was fighting for Ark and Rose Line.
"Hurry up!"
"Move! Now!"
The reorganization of forces hadn't been completed, but the massive beast horde also hadn't reached Ark yet.
The airborne beasts and monsters acting as the vanguard would arrive soon, but the current deployed troops were more than capable of handling them.
'Then…'
Now wasn't the time to be observing soldier behavior.
I, too, moved swiftly.
My destination: outside Ark.
It was time to wage my own war.
'There's no need to go through the front.'
Right now, Ark's frontline was chaotic.
While it was vigilant against things coming in from outside, there were exploitable blind spots within Rose Line that made it relatively easy to get out.
[Activating 'Rift Shift'.]
Each [Rift Shift] covered a distance of 20 meters—not far, but the key was that the cooldown time was less than 10 seconds.
Using this, even Ark's massive walls could be traversed easily by slipping through blind zones.
'Let's go.'
I moved forward.
* * *
After using [Rift Shift] to move beyond Rose Line's surveillance, I summoned Horus.
While I could get out on my own through blind zones, summoning Horus required a location completely free of Ark's surveillance.
["Been good, my bony buddy?"]
[Kihet!]
["Tch, always left on your own, huh? You went off and had something tasty without me, didn't you?"]
[Kihehet!]
Even without Esther's concern, Horus usually flew around the region freely, reigning as a top predator.
He could practically be considered the ruler of the area near Mount Noah.
'He's not quite a "true" regional lord-level beast… but still incredibly strong.'
Given that few powerful beasts or monsters resided near Mount Noah, it wasn't odd for Horus to dominate here.
More importantly, I had already told him to flee if anything seemed too dangerous.
As a flying monster, escape was always an option—and a difficult one for enemies to counter.
Especially for one of Horus's level.
"Let's go."
[Kihit.]
Mounted on Horus, I ascended high into the sky, my view expanding all around.
Only then could I truly grasp the scale of the multi-wave.
The sky was completely filled with dark clouds.
Not only over Ark's east and west—but beyond the Black Line as well—total darkness loomed.
'At least five… no, more than that.'
The largest multi-wave I had faced until now had been a triple wave.
But what was happening now far exceeded that.
This was like fighting a world-defining war in what should've been a mid-level Yellow Line stage.
'In some ways, it's even harder than a boss stage.'
Boss stages introduced boss-level monsters, but the wave scale itself was only about 1.5 times the norm.
This multi-wave? Easily five times the usual size—by basic estimate.
"Let's go."
Gripping Horus's bony reins, I headed east.
With the east now vacated from the Kronos Union's repositioning, that area would certainly see heavier attacks.
'And no matter how capable the Kronos Union is, fighting from Ark's walls is unfamiliar territory for them—unlike Rose Line.'
So, if I had to choose where to assist first, it would be here.
Gooooooooh────
The dark clouds drew near.
And with the massive scale of this wave, the number of flying beasts and monsters in the vanguard was enough to completely blot out the sky.
'Hmm.'
Of course, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
With that many targets clustered together, even firing randomly would guarantee hits.
In other words, it was time to test my newly acquired Zeus-444 Railgun.
'First shot—maximum output.'
The Zeus-444 Railgun had ten power levels, from 1 to 10.
Naturally, firing at level 10 meant I couldn't shoot continuously—but the destructive power was unparalleled.
It wasn't even worth comparing to the previous Ark-34 Railgun I had used.
'Let's see…'
Ch-click, ch-click, ch-click—
Since the Zeus-444 wasn't a modular weapon, adjusting its power was simple.
[Lv.10]
Level 10—the Railgun's max output.
Zzt, zzt…!
A massive spark surged from the center of the dual-barreled Zeus-444.
The sound and flash deviated from the Railgun's typical stealth-focused design—but it was a necessary trade-off for maximum firepower.
Not that it mattered—they wouldn't be able to dodge it anyway.
["This is…"]
Even Esther trembled slightly at the energy amassing in the Zeus-444 Railgun.
She could instinctively tell that even incorporeal ghost-type enemies could be affected.
"Close your eyes."
["Huh?"]
The round loaded into the Zeus-444 Railgun was a 120mm large-caliber special alloy shell.
To fully utilize its level 10 firepower, explosive rounds weren't ideal—a solid, dense shell was far more effective.
Clunk—
The trigger was pulled.
Energy gathered at the Railgun's core exploded, and a blinding flash erupted.
──────!
No sound.
Or rather—the projectile fired so fast that sound couldn't catch up.
There is no known matter faster than light.
And rightly so.
What I saw now was light itself.
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKWAK────!
With a deafening roar, the beam of light tore through the darkness before me.
[You have slain Grade-3 Aerial-type: Sky Whale.]
[Damage against Sky Whale increases by 0.05%.]
[You have slain Grade-4 Aerial-type: Sky Marlin.]
[Damage against Sky Marlin increases by 0.05%.]
[You have slain Grade-2 Aerial-type: Redwing Wyvern.]
[Damage against Redwing Wyvern increases by 0.05%.]
.
.
.
[You have slain Grade-4 Stone Monster: Gargoyle.]
[Damage against Gargoyle increases by 0.05%.]
My vision was filled with system notifications from the [Beast Slayer] trait.
Was this what it would look like if the sky itself had been ripped open?
There were no words to describe the scene before me.
["Wh-What the…!"]
Even Esther couldn't hide her shock.
She had known the Zeus-444 was powerful—but not this powerful.
By comparison, the Ark-34 Railgun's performance barely reached a level 4 output.
Meanwhile, the level 10 shot from the Zeus-444 utterly eclipsed every weapon I had ever used.
["What is this thing…"]
'No need to be surprised. It's what it's meant to do.'
["No, seriously—how can you say that so calmly?! You just punched a hole in the sky! A giant one!"]
Esther might have been panicking, but my own assessment was simple.
'Hmm… so the energy isn't unlimited after all.'
I could use infinite ammo, yes.
Zeus-444 also consumed bullets, and my ammo was infinite—but energy for maximum firepower had limits.
Still, that was no surprise. I'd already experienced that with the Ark-34 Railgun.
Slightly disappointing, but expected.
'With this level of energy consumption… I can fire about four times at level 10.'
The mini-reactor inside the Zeus-444 would continuously generate energy, but recharging took time.
After full depletion, the weapon would be inoperable.
Realistically, I could use the level 10 output only three more times in this fight.
'Well, I can always drop the power level if needed.'
In truth, the Zeus-444 Railgun's true value lay in its mid-to-low level output.
A single max-power shot could obliterate everything in a straight line, but that kind of force wasn't necessary to kill a single monster.
'Alright then…'
I gripped the Zeus-444 again and aimed at the approaching darkness.
Another spark burst from its muzzle as energy gathered again.
Zzzzt, zzztzzzt────!
There was no need to hesitate.
After all—
I had plenty of bullets.