Ch.119119. Old Hero

In ancient times, when humanity was just beginning to make contact and exchange with various interstellar civilizations.

During their interactions with a civilization based on psychic technology, they first encountered psychic entities called “gods.”

These beings were formed when the souls or emotions of certain alien species with innate powerful psychic aptitudes coalesced in the psychic dimension. Though difficult, they could interfere with the physical realm and possessed immense power.

However, after learning certain information about these “gods,” what humanity envisioned was none other than “Warriors of Light.”

Psychic entities bearing the appearance of heroes who had dedicated themselves to humanity, appearing whenever humans faced crisis—these were the “Warriors of Light” and, as humanity would later conclude, they were “humanity’s gods.”

Since humans didn’t inherit psychic abilities genetically but acquired them later in life, they couldn’t produce individual entities powerful enough to be called gods. Nevertheless, they did possess some psychic aptitude, and when these energies gathered, “Warriors of Light” were born.

This conclusion caused conflict in the Human Federation’s political circles regarding how to treat their status, but regardless, it was undeniable that these were heroes who fought for humanity even in the face of death.

Therefore, people officially named these “Warriors of Light” as Old Heroes, but separately, they pondered a question.

Could humanity possibly create a “god” that surpassed the Old Heroes?

This theory, which emerged during strategy planning after an expedition fleet was annihilated by a hostile alien species’ “god,” soon became a major topic throughout the Human Federation. Believing it would certainly be advantageous to have one, humanity has continued to seek counsel from the gods of the Foxlives, their closest allied species.

The Foxlives are a mammalian beastfolk species resembling Earth foxes. Their home planet has an environment similar to Earth’s, and aside from being a psychic-specialized species, their way of thinking is similar and their temperament friendly, allowing them to quickly establish good relations with humans.

As a psychic-specialized species, the Foxlives naturally possessed gods—or more precisely, multiple gods. Humanity respectfully sent envoys offering substantial compensation in exchange for consultation. The Foxlives quite willingly accepted the proposal and provided their answer.

According to them, while humans were steadily evolving toward developing psychic abilities, at the current rate it would take at least 20,000 years to reach the level of psychic power needed for a god to emerge, and then at least another 10,000 years for a god to actually be born.

Even considering that this might be a lie from Foxlive gods wary of human growth, various research results (analyses based on the Foxlive gods’ statements) mostly proved their claims to be true.

Naturally, humanity was far too impatient to wait such a long time, so they attempted to artificially create a “god” using various methods.

Of course, there were no successful cases. After an incident where they tried to inject emotion-laden psychic energy into a captured Old Hero, resulting in a massive psychic storm centered on that Old Hero that obliterated an entire planetary system, such experiments were banned…

Whether due to these attempts or by some coincidence, one day “someone” connected to all Old Heroes was observed within the psychic dimension, and humanity confirmed the birth of “humanity’s god.”

This “god of humanity,” which could barely be observed by high-level psychic users with observation equipment about a quarter the size of the moon, uniquely appeared differently depending on the observer.

A devout Christian psychic user testified to seeing the image of Jesus crucified on the cross, while another Christian psychic user claimed to have seen Jesus with long brown hair, white clothes, and a red cloth as commonly depicted in religious paintings.

A Buddhist believer reported seeing an ordinary, benevolently smiling Avalokitesvara, but a monk psychic user with the strongest psychic abilities described seeing the form of Thousand-Armed Avalokitesvara with hundreds of arms.

Even atheist psychic users testified to seeing a human figure made of light, while an occult enthusiast claimed to have seen a horned demon form. It was clear that the appearance varied according to the observer.

Anyway, after the birth of this god, the frequency of Old Heroes’ appearances increased.

Previously, they would only appear during crises threatening humanity’s extinction, but now they occasionally appeared even during serious crises that might destroy a planetary system.

So the appearance of Old Heroes at this space station means that while the situation is critical, there is still hope.

“””Wooooaaaaaaah!!!”””

“The Old Heroes have arrived! We’re, we’re saved!”

Even Dangjoo, who was watching indirectly through a display, couldn’t suppress an exuberant laugh. Naturally, the soldiers directly witnessing the Old Heroes’ activities had their morale, which had been practically at zero until moments ago, soar to 100% as they fought valiantly.

The psychic waves emitted by Old Heroes affect human souls, eliminating fear while instilling confidence and vigor, while simultaneously functioning as a kind of pseudo-enhancement psychic power.

Because of this, even ordinary crew members who had been trembling like frightened colts until just now were now doing their part with indomitable spirit and reflexes heightened to the extreme—

The battle lines, where humanity had been consistently pushed back until now, were beginning to change.

“”””””Waaaaaaaaah!!!””””””

An ordinary crew member with no combat experience accurately shot and killed a humanoid monster in the eye, while elsewhere, monsters were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of human bayonet charges.

If mere crew members without combat experience could perform this well, the enhancement of professional combatants was beyond words.

The Kupan Guards (similar to police) who had been merely on security duty were now holding their own against level 6.5 humanoid monsters using plasteel alloy shields and beam shotguns, while genetically modified humans with high psychic affinity reached almost superhuman levels.

The marines, particularly prone to this effect, hunted tank-level monsters with just 4-5 men, and the exceptional ones reached the point of piling up monster corpses like protagonists in a dynasty warriors game.

Of course, behind these brilliant achievements were countless soldiers who died easily due to their fearlessness, but at least it was better than dying meaninglessly.

Meanwhile, as humans empowered by psychic buffs pushed back the monsters while piling up countless corpses, the power of the Old Heroes who provided these buffs was immeasurably strong.

Slashing, shooting, striking, crushing, bursting, and slashing again.

Actively utilizing their nature as psychic entities made of psychic energy and accepting physical damage, they varied in form but were universally powerful.

An Old Hero in the form of a planetary defense soldier turned tank-class monsters into sieves with his assault rifle, while an Old Hero in the form of a young girl threw endless grenades to sweep away monsters.

Some Old Hero even appeared as a firefighter, attacking monsters with psychic energy sprayed from a fire hose. Though diverse in appearance, they all possessed nearly equal abilities and displayed overwhelming power.

[[[■■■■■■■■———!!!]]]

Whoosh———Crack!

Smash!

With one exception—except for the front where Dragonia was positioned.

Wielding an axe made by “processing” an Old Hero with a hammer, along with the hammer he originally possessed, Dragonia was pushing back dozens of Old Heroes.

He threw the axe to cut an Old Hero in half, skewered several Old Heroes on his tail like kebabs, and struck the floor with his hammer, creating an impact that shook the entire space station.

More like a natural disaster or the personification of power than a living being, Dragonia was mercilessly demonstrating his danger by crushing everything in his path.

The power of a single entity affecting the entire battlefield.

Something that seemed like it could only happen in a manga was now occurring here at Kupan Space Station.

But Dragonia made one mistake in his rampage.

When more than 100 Old Heroes die on the same battlefield, humanity’s god judges that there is an enemy that cannot be defeated by Old Heroes alone and sends “it” down.

Golden beautiful armor, angel wings sprouting from the back, a halo floating above the head, and a glaive in hand.

The leader of the Old Heroes, the most powerful and oldest Old Hero.

Guan Shengdi (The Holy Emperor Guan) has now descended upon this Kupan Space Station.