Illinois is, without a doubt, a battleship.
Just as plants, no matter how hard they try to live, must ultimately root themselves in the ground, unable to move like animals, a battleship has its own undeniable limitations.
A ship cannot run on land.
If you were to attach wings on either side and install a reactor for propulsion, you might get something like a helicarrier that could fly. But as the fifth Iowa-class battleship, Illinois cannot do that.
If the field were an ocean, like at the Golden Gate Bridge, then it might be possible to sail against gravity. But without flowing water and sufficient space, Illinois is nothing more than a battleship stranded on a plain.
It cannot move. It is merely a warship with firepower.
That’s right.
A warship that possesses nothing but combat power.
“Arghhh!!”
“He’s insane!!”
Boom!
Illinois launched missiles all around.
Its anti-air guns fired relentlessly, while its main turrets swiveled as quickly as possible, locking onto the villains.
“Ah, I missed seeing it.”
Illinois had risen from the ground.
The villains were the only ones who had witnessed it.
The very person who summoned Illinois had, in the moment of summoning, been transported directly onto the ship’s deck, missing the sight of it emerging from the earth.
“Tsk.”
Summoning Illinois from the ground.
Having it surge upward was satisfying, but unfortunately, it could no longer move.
[ERROR.]
“As expected, it doesn’t work.”
I tried controlling Illinois as if sailing through the ocean in a game, but the screen blacked out with a red error message.
‘So, I can summon her, but movement is impossible.’
A bit disappointing, but the fact that I managed to summon her at all was enough.
If Illinois hadn’t been summoned, I had already considered other ways to wipe out the villains here.
“Looks like your turn is still far off.”
[You never know.]
As I was about to comfort Kiharu by stroking her head while she perched on my shoulder, she suddenly pointed to the side.
“Masterrrrrr!!”
A villain wielding a chainsaw leaped onto Illinois’ deck.
“That smartphone has a mark, huh?!”
He wasn’t even wearing a hockey mask, yet his crazed expression reminded me of someone.
“The A-rank villain from New York, [Reaper], huh.”
“I’ll cut off that hand and take the smartphone! Along with Elaine!!”
“Like hell you will.”
The chainsaw crackled wildly with electricity as he charged at me.
But—
“Die—”
Thud.
A missile struck his waist from the side, sending him flying off the deck along with the explosive projectile.
“Good job, Illinois.”
Boom—!
Illinois let loose another thunderous barrage from her main guns. Whether it was in response to my praise or out of sheer fury at an enemy stepping onto her deck, she unleashed relentless artillery fire upon the villains.
[Not sure who the real boss is here, nyah.]
Kiharu chuckled at Illinois’ bombardment while pointing ahead.
“Yeah. Even the monsters are hesitating right now.”
I followed Kiharu’s gaze.
Beyond the rolling plains, monsters cautiously emerged one by one, yet none dared to approach, merely observing the battlefield.
If they were intelligent, they were likely waiting for the humans to tear each other apart, ready to strike once the victor was weakened.
If they were driven by instinct alone, they probably sensed that interfering in this battle would leave nothing but their shattered remains.
Either way, at this moment, the villains posed a greater threat than the monsters.
“Guys! Wait for the reload timing! Those cannons need time to rearm!”
“Go for the Master! Attacking Illinois won’t do anything!”
Just as one had already made it onto the deck, the other villains were desperately trying to eliminate me.
“Now that I have a bit of breathing room, can someone tell me why you guys are so hellbent on killing me?”
“Curious, are you?”
Swish.
A blonde-haired woman in a sleek suit stepped forward from the bow of the ship.
“You, who are you?”
“I am Vivian, an S-rank Hunter from the United States.”
“Vivian? Like the fairy from British legend?”
“I moved from Britain to the States.”
“So, what’s your reason for wanting to kill me?”
“Hmm, let’s see… Maybe because I’m jealous?”
Vivian unfurled a pair of wings made of pure mana behind her.
“The Hunter era began, and while some of us struggled from F-rank, climbing through the Towers with blood and sweat, you became the world’s only EX-rank Hunter just by relying on your summons.”
“Jealous of someone contributing to humanity’s survival, huh?”
“Even Superman had villains—why would you be any different?”
“At least you’re rational, but that doesn’t mean I have to entertain your nonsense.”
Boom—!
Illinois launched another missile at Vivian.
Just like the chainsaw-wielding villain earlier, Vivian was struck midsection and sent hurtling through the air. However, within the explosion, I caught a glimpse of her mana flickering.
“She’s coming, Kiharu.”
Before I even finished speaking—
Clang—!
A streak of light shot toward me, only to be deflected by a razor-sharp rapier.
“Hah… I really didn’t want to bring out this form.”
Kiharu.
She landed in front of me in her 4-Star Healer, Cat Swordsman form, gripping her rapier tightly.
“Is it really okay to use a healer like a melee DPS, nyah?”
“You’ve got some attack skills, don’t you?”
“Well, that’s true.”
“Tsk, as expected…!”
As the smoke from the explosion cleared, Vivian emerged with her butterfly wings tattered in several places. She pointed at me and Kiharu.
“There was a fourth one?!”
Technically, it was the second one—but I had no obligation to correct her. Instead, I gained a valuable piece of data.
“Yeah. The fourth—another summon at an S-rank Hunter level or higher.”
Kiharu’s current development stage was 4-Star, Full Limit Break, Full Refinement, Fully Raised.
And despite being a natural-born healer—despite only having basic support skills and minimal offensive capabilities—she was holding the upper hand against an S-rank villain like Vivian?
‘So the 4-Star limit is S-rank. Does that mean 5-Star is SS-rank?’
In-game, my summons had always been fully leveled and ready for battle, making it difficult to gauge their strength accurately. But after this real-world test, the answer was clear.
‘I thought Elaine was just S-rank, but she was actually SS-rank. I thought Kiharu was slightly above A-rank, but she is firmly within A-rank. Drei and Illinois go without saying.’
The current power level of our team:
Three SS-rank Hunters
One S-rank Hunter (Healer)
And one EX-rank Summoner to lead them all.
What country in the world could boast this kind of power?
The reality of this world was that no country even had a single SS-rank Hunter.
“You villains just helped me understand something important. Why the gods initiated the Million Awakening.”
“W-what…?”
“You’ve pulled so many gacha summons, but they’re all stuck at the 4-Star level. And yet, the endgame content demands fully leveled 5-Star units.”
The gods must have been frustrated.
Comparing this situation to an MMORPG or a mobile gacha game might not be perfect, but after handing out countless gacha tickets to humanity, not a single Five-Star warrior had appeared.
How could that not drive them insane?
“Well, whatever. You villains have your reasons for going wild all the way up to the Towers.”
I stepped back while holding my smartphone.
More villains began appearing on Illinois’ deck, but I had already reached a specific location.
“Kiharu, guard the entrance.”
“Of course.”
The moment Kiharu stepped in front of me—
Whirr.
A hole beneath me opened up, and my body instantly dropped.
“Wha—?!”
“A passage to the interior! After him!!”
The villains rushed to chase me as I fell into Illinois’ inner corridors—
But—
“Not so fast!”
Kiharu unleashed a flurry of slashes in all directions, blocking their pursuit.
Whirrr—Click.
The entrance swiftly shut behind me.
Immediately, I sprinted through the ship’s corridors.
[First-Class Alert. Locking down all sections.]
Drei’s voice played from Illinois’ onboard security system.
At the same time, the corridors sealed off one after another like bulkheads closing on a warship.
I ran down the passage and arrived at my destination.
“Haah…”
The captain’s quarters.
Inside, a computer sat among a setup resembling a high-end streaming station, with multiple monitors.
Click.
I pressed the power button.
The PC, powered by the ship’s generator, flickered to life.
I pulled out my smartphone and placed it beside me.
“Let’s do this in multiplayer mode.”
Using my smartphone to control Kiharu.
Using my PC to command Illinois.
I yanked out the arrow keys from the keyboard, preventing Illinois from moving.
Then, I hovered the mouse cursor over the red dots—the villains clustered outside.
And I clicked like crazy.
“Perish, you scumbags.”
BOOOOM!
“These bastards were planning to escape from America after committing all their crimes. It’s better to crush them here.”
What were they thinking, attacking the Master allied with the United States?
The answer was simple.
They were planning to flee.
They caused mayhem in America, but once things got too dangerous, they aimed to jump ship to another country.
Maybe they assumed I would stay in America.
Or maybe they thought that even if I left, I wouldn’t chase them to their new hiding spot.
“But, oh well.”
[Argh! This damn cat—why is it so strong?!]
“…To answer that first—I equipped her with physical damage-exclusive relics.”
She was a healer, sure. But as long as I equipped her with critical-hit gear instead of healing-boosting gear, she could be just as lethal as any damage dealer.
“And back to what I was saying.”
Click.
“You guys should have realized why attacking Illinois was so easy.”
[W-where are the Maid and the Hacker?!] [Be careful! They lured us into a false sense of security to launch a counterattack!]
Some of them were catching on.
But they had the wrong idea.
“Aww, villains…”
I activated Illinois’ external speakers and made an announcement.
“The Maid and the Hacker you’re looking for? I already sent them to different S-rank Towers. They’ve already begun their respective Tower raids.”
[W-what?!]
[Urgh…! A feint like this…! It’s fine! We still have time! We can warn the others—!]
“Oh. One more thing. You should really listen until the end when someone speaks.”
From Creator Lake, multiple transport ships had taken off.
I boarded one of the slower ones.
Nowhere had I ever stated that Elaine and Drei were on the same transport ship as me.
In fact—
“They began their Tower raids thirty minutes ago.”
Before I even jumped down from the sky, Elaine and Drei had already entered their respective Towers.
“You’re so slow. Almost as slow as your internet speed.”
