Ch.359Chapter 359 – Preparing for the Final Battle

A 2-kilometer spaceship received after resolving a problem for my friend from Dearside.

If you can’t grasp how large 2 kilometers is, here’s a comparison:

It’s the length of six aircraft carriers owned by the superpower United States lined up in a row.

Even running a 100-meter track feels like quite a distance.

So how massive would a 2-kilometer spaceship be, which is 20 times that length?

To be honest, I couldn’t really comprehend how big 2 kilometers actually was…

“Wow…”

The spaceship I saw with my own eyes was essentially a moving fortress.

I could hardly believe what I was seeing was actually a 2-kilometer spaceship.

Was 2 kilometers really this enormous?

If 2 kilometers is this big, then the 22-kilometer spaceship they initially wanted to give me as a reward…

If I remember correctly, the famous battleship from that space opera film was about 19 kilometers long?

This would be about 3 kilometers larger than that.

By the way, I didn’t come here alone.

This was an open space near the ruins in the New Continent.

There was no place within the Gelebrio Empire large enough to land a 2-kilometer spaceship.

Moreover, anywhere outside the New Continent would have too many prying eyes, making it difficult to hide this.

Therefore, I came to the New Continent with Cheon Hyeryeong, Sister Regina, and Karen.

Etherna wasn’t here as she had returned to the Solar Order.

Apparently, there’s a lot to prepare if she wants to maintain her status as a saint while getting married.

“Can this enormous thing really fly through the sky to reach those stars we see?”

Sister Regina, as a mage, seemed curious about how this massive spaceship could fly through the sky.

“Future technology is truly marvelous. Even in the Eastern Continent, we never had ships this large.”

Cheon Hyeryeong, having lived as a Celestial Horse, looked quite amazed as she had never seen a ship this large before.

“It’s fortunate that such a massive vessel isn’t in someone else’s hands.”

Karen seemed relieved that the spaceship was in my possession rather than someone else’s.

Well, I was thinking, “Hehe, this would be perfect for a honeymoon space trip.”

I never thought about using it to kill, destroy, or dominate anyone.

Life’s too short to spend it destroying things, don’t you think?

“Let’s go inside for now.”

The reason I came here was to check the status of the weapons installed on the spaceship and to load weapons discovered in the ruins onto it.

Using the terminal to open the spaceship’s entrance, a hatch opened and created a ramp.

As we climbed up the ramp, the first thing that greeted us was the airlock for external access.

[Please wait a moment. Adjusting internal and external pressure to equalize for hatch opening.]

There was a hissing sound as the pressure in the airlock was adjusted, and then the hatch began to open.

[Confirmed equal pressure between the spaceship’s interior and exterior. All hatches have been unlocked.]

The AI aboard the spaceship unlocked all hatches so we could move around freely.

Thanks to this, the four of us could explore the spaceship with ease.

I headed straight to the bridge, while the three women moved separately, curious about the amenities.

What greeted me at the bridge was a massive screen that looked like something from a movie theater or concert hall.

[Welcome, Captain. How may I assist you?]

As I entered the bridge, the spaceship’s AI displayed a message on the screen.

“I asked Dearside to install weapons. What weapons are currently equipped?”

[Yes, Captain. This spaceship currently has 6 types of weapons installed.]

“6 types?”

I didn’t think I ordered enough to require six different types of weapons.

I just asked for weapons capable of dealing with the Malefic Star.

“Can you explain what we have?”

[Yes. Currently, this spaceship is equipped with 4 types of self-defense weapons, 1 type of short-range attack weapon, and 1 type of long-range attack weapon.]

“What are the self-defense weapons?”

[Vertical launch systems for anti-aircraft missiles, beam turrets, railguns, and plasma cannons.]

…? These are considered self-defense weapons?

“Then what about the short-range attack weapon?”

[A Trident Beam Cannon with a maximum range of 50,000 kilometers. It’s a siege cannon developed to penetrate the shields of planetary fortresses.]

…

[Finally, the long-range attack weapon is a Black Hole Cannon. It can intercept enemies at a distance of 1 light-year.]

I mustered the courage to ask the AI what exactly a Black Hole Cannon was.

[The Black Hole Cannon creates a black hole inside an enemy up to 1 light-year away, causing the enemy to collapse from within. Although the artificially created black hole has a short duration, the damage it causes is irreparable.]

“That’s enough explanation.”

Dearside, you really installed weapons capable of destroying planets.

If the bomb with enough power to destroy the moon that we planned to load onto the spaceship fails?

Then we can just blast it with the Black Hole Cannon installed on the spaceship.

Now we’re fully prepared to face the Malefic Star if it appears.

But what if even the Black Hole Cannon doesn’t work?

Worried, I left a message for Dearside.

[Me: What if even the Black Hole Cannon doesn’t work?]

[Dearside: Ah, I didn’t think of that.]

Dearside’s reply came surprisingly quickly.

[Dearside: Since the Black Hole Cannon collapses enemies from within, there are some opponents who can counter it if they have the means. For example, those with nanomachine swarms that can freely manipulate their core.]

Has he faced various types of enemies before?

[Dearside: If you encounter such an enemy, send me a message. Then the Destroyer will come. When it comes to destruction, it’s second to none across all worlds.]

[Me: That’s a relief then.]

After exchanging messages with Dearside and preparing for any contingency, I finally felt at ease.

I asked the AI where the three women were so I could find them.

[Your ladies are currently using the kitchen facilities. They wanted to see the food storage, so I opened it for them as well.]

“Is that so?”

They were genuinely curious about the amenities on the spaceship.

Confirming that the three were in the kitchen, I headed down there.

The AI marked the route on my terminal, so finding my way wasn’t too difficult.

“Hmm, so this is what they eat in space. It’s quite unusual.”

“It tastes better than fasting pills, so it seems people living in space eat better than martial artists.”

“If we could mass-produce these items, they would be good for helping the poor or supplying soldiers.”

Entering the dining area, I found the three of them sampling space rations they had taken from the food storage.

The microwave was running, perhaps with guidance from the AI.

“What have you all been doing?”

“Oh? How did you know we were here?”

“The AI controlling the spaceship told me.”

Seeing them eating space food, it seemed they were curious about what we’d be eating if we traveled on the spaceship.

“Was there only this kind of food in the storage?”

“Everything else was familiar to us, but we were curious about the space food, so we took some out to try.”

“I see.”

Actually, space rations aren’t much different from military combat rations.

I tried some too, and they weren’t much different from the US MREs I once bought at Dongmyo Market.

Just a bit dry due to the lack of moisture.

Space ice cream was… like eating a pastry filled with cream that doesn’t melt easily.

In conclusion, all four of us reached the same verdict:

“Let’s only eat this when there’s absolutely nothing else.”

“I agree.”

“I concur.”

“Same here.”

Even if the three of them had refined palates from their upbringing, even my less discriminating taste buds found the space rations unappetizing.

With the help of Cheon Hyeryeong and Sister Regina, I loaded the bomb that had been stored deep in the ruins onto the spaceship.

[New weapon detected. For safe use, I will load this warhead into an empty torpedo in the armory.]

And our clever AI took the bomb we brought from the ruins and turned it into a torpedo.

[Anti-planetary torpedo has been added to the weapons list.]

With the delivery system now secured, there was only one thing left for us to do.

Wait for the appearance of the ‘Malefic Star’ Arcturus.

As time passed endlessly and we grew weary of the indefinite wait…

[World, prepare to meet your end.]

At last, the red Malefic Star appeared in the night sky.