Merba (1)

Now he had welcomed two visitors ahead of the dimensional shift. The sound of wind and soft rain pelted the outside of his My Room’s window- there weren’t weather conditions in My Room, and there wasn’t even a window, but he felt that way. It was the calm before the storm. No one said anything as they watched each other quietly, in the midst of a fierce mental battle. Then, Shu, the most impatient and short-sighted of them, decided to take action first.

“Grandpa, I missed you!”

“Huh? Hey!”

The image of the girl rushing up to kiss his cheek with a lively voice was the very image of a granddaughter who came down to the countryside to see her grandfather during summer vacation. It was plausible, ignoring the fact that Kang Shin-hyuk was still only a minor.

“Who’s this kid?!”

“Whoo, how vulgar…”

“I’m not a kid anymore! Right, grandpa? Aren’t I older?”

It hadn’t been a year since he last saw Shu, but her height had grown to about 150 centimeters. In addition, her body subtly looked more mature. Although she was shorter than Eleanor still, it could be said to be a great development, considering that she looked like a ten-year-old before… Specifically, she had undergone a dramatic change from being an elementary school student to a middle school student.

“Yes, you grew up a lot.”

“Hehe, all thanks to you! Ah.”

She tried to kiss his cheek again, but he separated from her. He couldn’t show such a sight in front of Claire, even if she were just a child. Kang Shin-hyuk patted Shu before turning to Tsukuyo.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you too… I’m sorry about last time.”

“No, Anvil, you called me like this today. Rather, I want to say hello to you too…”

Tsukuyo’s gaze caught on Shu. Claire, who knew what she wanted to do, guarded Kang Shin-hyuk.

“You can’t.”

Even though Shu was on the younger side, she was, in fact, too fast to be stopped. If Kang Shin-hyuk had a more insincere personality… No, if he hadn’t remembered his previous life, he might’ve been tempted. She believed in his innocence but ignoring this woman was a separate matter. No matter how sincere he was, he might make a momentary mistake if she continued to woo him so proactively!

“Little children have a lot of monopolies. How about facing each other with a more generous heart in terms of loving the same man?”

“I’m sorry, but you don’t have a seat. Right?”

“Oh, yes.”

For Kang Shin-hyuk, he had no choice but to agree with Claire. In addition, it was true that after her argument with Tsukuyo the other day, she felt awkward.

“To Anvil… But it’s okay. In the end, it will be me who will be the closest to you.”

“It’s difficult to receive such a confession.”

“Let’s listen to it. You always pretend to be relaxed, but you know that all you actually do is sexual harassment?”

“Grandpa, can’t you hold my hand?”

“Somehow, the person concerned doesn’t even say anything… Whoo, that’s cute. Yes, really.”

Kang Shin-hyuk sighed at the sight of the three growling at each other before they even departed. These two were called for some unconditional understanding? Although they considered his need unconditionally, the administrator didn’t consider what they thought of each other.

-Administrator’s mistake! A 1,000,000HP bonus to you!

‘It’s noisy.’

After reprimanding the administrator, he clapped his hands to focus their attention.

“We don’t have time to hang out. We need to start soon.”

“The world where Anvil was born… I’ve been very interested in it.”

“Right. Merba? Even the Jormungand guys can’t go there.”

“Except for me, pretending to know anything…”

“I don’t really know, so I’m relieved, Claire.”

“Ah, the two of you stick together and get killed!”

Kang Shin-hyuk felt something bother him when she said that even Jormungand couldn’t enter, but he set that thought aside and started moving to the dimension. However, there was something surprising there, so it was impossible to go using the administrator’s power alone. Using the power of the Hero Universe, Kang Shin-hyuk, who had contact with the weapons he created in the past, pierced the passage with his ability to dominate space and expanded it with Tsukuyo’s magical power. Nevertheless, the safety of the passage was too low, but there was someone in the party who could make the probability be 100%, which was Shu. She, who could reach the result without causality, could make adjustments to acquire the best results at all times in all actions.

“Of course, it should be fine with the four of us!”

“That’s great, Shu.”

“Hey… Grandfather. Praise me more!”

“It’s ridiculous to hear Anvil complimenting you because of the race you were born as.”

“Huh? I think that goes for the lady who’s lightly waving her tail behind her ass?”

Kang Shin-hyuk suddenly thought about stopping the two VIP members who couldn’t stand not fighting. At first, he thought about why the administrator invited these two among the many candidates of the Hero Universe, but the answer was simple. It had to be them. Tsukuyo was a bit subtler, but she probably had another reason he didn’t know about.

-You’ve entered the perished world of Merba. It is a world where the power of the Gaia system cannot reach. Please be careful.

“Ha.”

The moment they finally arrived at Merba with the power of three VIP members, a bloody message came to his retinas. Even if Gaia’s power didn’t reach them, there wasn’t much of a difference. They wouldn’t learn of increases in their skill or trait or receive early warnings about sudden gate occurrences, but that wasn’t a meaningful difference at the level of skill Kang Shin-hyuk possessed. The problem was the Hero Universe…

“How is it?”

-No need to worry. The Hero Universe is different from Gaia. It’s not Gaia.

Did he say it twice because it’s important? Kang Shin-hyuk sighed at the administrator’s rant and looked around. First, check the number of people. Everyone was holding onto him in preparation for the event, but all of them seemed to have completed the dimensional movement. However, even now, in Merba, they were rubbing up against him like cats.

“It’s all gone!”

“It’s not worn out.”

“The fabric is worn out.”

He was worried there might be an issue with their minds, but physically, they were okay, so he left them alone and looked around. But no matter where he looked, only sandy desert spread out around them.

“This… It’s terrible. Even if I try to expand my energy, I can’t feel it.”

“Because it’s a much wider world than Earth. If there are no traces of civilization within sight, there’s nothing strange.”

He shouldn’t take Tsukuyo’s words as they were, as the party there weren’t at the level of ordinary people on Earth, but each one possessed one of the best abilities in space. They could scan half the Earth in an instant, with their enhanced eyesight and detection capabilities. Yet, even with that, they couldn’t detect anything other than the desert.

“Shall we move forward until we see something?”

“We have no choice but to.”

The problem arose again when Kang Shin-hyuk pulled out the blue cow without much thought. The blue cow was a one-seater. Maybe a two-seater at best, and the three women were preparing to fight over who would ride behind him. Kang Shin-hyuk called Onyx out while worrying this would repeat until the dimensional quest was over.

“Onyx, use your realization.”

-Myu!

The change was dramatic. When Onyx assimilated into the bike, activated his ability and the blue cow suddenly changed from a bike into a four-seater sports car. What was surprising was that its performance and options remained the same. Rather, its abilities were raised even further by Onyx. Of course, the car wasn’t made of pure metal, but that part was possible by coordinating with the blue cow’s ego.

“Oh my, this is…”

Tsukuyo, who had called out a few fox fires around her, first recognized the change and let out a shocked voice.

“That’s amazing, Anvil…! Hey, is it possible to transform anything related to metal at will?”

“No, it looks like he changes it based on what he ate before. They even put together the best parts on their own.”

“How…? With this ability alone, he could become a member of the Hero Universe.”

It was only upon eating the Gaia system in Cy Xenon did Onyx realize this power. Until then, he was grasping it as assimilation with metals to improve or slightly transform them. Now it was reborn as transforming them completely.

“So, everyone, get on, and don’t fight. No, why is Claire trying to fight already?”

“You know, there are fights you can’t back down from even though they’re meaningless.”

Claire, the most normal of the three, was already conforming to these idiots after just a few minutes! Kang Shin-hyuk sighed, putting Claire in the passenger seat as he hopped into the driver’s. Tsukuyo and Shu were forced into the back seat with their loss. However, both expected that this quest would be longer, so they decided to work hard not to miss their opportunity.

“Then, let’s go. For reference, the seats are fixed as they are.”

“Grandpa, a man shouldn’t notice a woman like that!”

“It’s my request, so let’s go quietly.”

“Chi, I also want to make a child.”

“Why, this little girl said some vulgar words.”

“And you’re no different?”

The blue metallic sports car then started running through the desert. It was when a new track was engraved in the sand that had accumulated for many years.