Great, we're doomed now!

Shinjo complained in the channel, then immediately became serious: "I'll draw their attention, Lina, you find the right shooting angle."

"understand!"

The best driver in the Victory team is actually Lina, while Shinjo is more suitable for "sniping".

However, Xincheng's offer to act as bait was not out of heroism or male chauvinism, but rather based on his own considerations:

Despite its massive size, the Dankshadel possessed terrifying speed and agility. Even the Flying Swallow, which had undergone several upgrades, couldn't guarantee a stable hold on it; after all, a mere glancing blow would be the end of the aircraft.

—Not every machine is called "Bayeri".

Piloting a Gundam and engaging in close combat with a monster... such a crazy act is something no one would dare to do even now.

Only Masaki, relying on the underground shark, managed to barely recreate Ye Shou's original feat.

Therefore, the task of luring the monster is very difficult, and one wrong move could be life-threatening.

Shinjo had this in mind: even if he got blown up, it would just be one more "crash" in his list of injuries. He figured the brave and fearless Ultraman Darram would suddenly appear and miraculously save him.

Lina didn't have that kind of insurance, so naturally he had to do the most dangerous work!

"Watch out, you go left, I'll go right," Daigo's voice came through. "Now, pump it up!"

"okay!"

The two shuttle-shaped Victory Swallows flew towards the monster, and just before they were about to collide, they suddenly veered off course, pulled up to avoid a head-on collision with Dankshadel, and flew out from the left and right with scorching tail flames, like two winding dragons.

The strange bird hesitated for a moment, but then spread its wings as wide as it could, intending to slow down slightly before choosing a direction to pursue.

At that very moment, the Temple of Solomon projected rings of gravitational beams that enveloped it, while Victory Swallow II transformed into its artillery mode, revealing its terrifyingly large main cannon!

...Munekata, leading the GUTS field team and a large number of ground troops, had just dealt with the rampaging giant bird monster Danksadel when Megumi Kijima's voice came through the communication channel.

"Commander, urgent notification—"

A Golza has been spotted in Australia, Melba's activity has been detected in Canada, and Mexico has been attacked by a bat monster, prompting the full deployment of the local aerospace forces.

The attack patterns and weaknesses of these monsters have all been recorded in TPC's database, and special attack weapons have been deployed. We should be able to control the disaster area... But what are your thoughts on this incident?

Alarms blared around the world, and news of the monster's arrival spread like wildfire across the internet. Munakata frowned deeply at this, as such situations had occurred before, so he couldn't say he was completely unprepared.

With so many monsters descending at the same time... it's impossible that there's no connection behind it.

But what kind of power could possibly be so incredibly powerful?

"Understood! We will return to base immediately to rest and prepare to provide support at any time."

Japan has always been a region with a high frequency of monster attacks, especially during this special period. Even after a fierce battle, the GUTS team has no room to relax.

Inside the cockpit of the Flying Swallow No. 1, Daigo was rubbing his face wearily. Just as he relaxed and switched to automatic cruise mode, a thought suddenly struck him, and he subconsciously looked up at the window.

It was clearly noon, yet a bright, full moon hung prominently in the sky!

This is not an illusion; the moon disc is clearly outlined like a silver plate, and you can even see strange patterns faintly emerging on its surface.

...Wait, is that really the moon?

Daigo blinked, a little doubtful of himself, because the moon was so "clean," and there shouldn't be anything visible to the naked eye except for the craters. But what was happening now?

In his view, that celestial body was like a miniature version of Earth!

The continent and the ocean are inlaid on it... giving it an indescribable eeriness.

"This is... everyone look up at the sky, due south!" Daigo exclaimed, his voice filled with disbelief.

Shinjo and Lina quickly followed his gaze and were equally shocked by the sight: "How can there be a moon in the daytime? And this... is too strange! Commander?"

"Yes, I saw it too."

Zongfang glanced at him deeply and said, "Let's go back to headquarters first."

-

Upon receiving the message, Horii immediately rushed to the control panel, his fingers flying across the keyboard: "I'll contact the Space Development Agency and the lunar base right away to verify the situation!"

On the screen, the image of the full moon during the day was magnified in sync, and the patterns that resembled the veins of a terrain became clearer, making everyone's hearts tighten.

With Earth's current level of technology, taking a clear picture of the moon would be very simple. But it's as if some special filter has been applied to it; no matter how you adjust it, you can't see a high-definition image, and you can only ever see a blurry outline.

Lucia, far away at the lunar base, received the communication request. While checking the data on her PDA, she walked to the observation window and looked out at the desolate lunar surface. All the values ​​showed normal, with no signs of energy anomalies or terrain changes.

She then contacted her people—most of whom were adults working at the Space Development Agency—and confirmed that there were no supernatural changes.

Lucia asked doubtfully into the communicator, "Everything is normal on the moon, no abnormal energy reaction detected... What you're seeing might be a mirage formed by atmospheric refraction?"

This explanation was clearly unconvincing. When the Victory Team's field team returned to base, the full moon in the sky was still hanging there, showing no sign of dissipating.

Masaki just came back from outside, and he was covered in sweat, probably from exercising.

[Latest battle update: Melba has been defeated by Ultraman Lucifer, Tiga is currently fighting the Bat Monster, and the Space Force is using ultraviolet beams for support...]

Reports from the front lines continued to arrive. Daigo and Shinjo had just gone out to take care of personal matters and hadn't returned yet. Masaki, however, acted as if he hadn't heard any of this information. After returning, he stood in front of the screen, scrutinizing the lunar imagery with a serious expression.

This scene reminded him of something—

Both the silver and gold dragons possessed the superpower to distort spacetime, and their appearance would trigger this phenomenon that defies common sense.

"It can't be a simple mirage. It's more like a reflection of another dimension. I suspect that a monster of the same kind as Goldras has appeared, whose ability distorts the boundary between reality and another dimension."

The moon itself is fine, but it acts like a mirror, reflecting images from another dimension.

"But this should have caused obvious energy fluctuations, and the lunar base did not detect any problems."

"Horie, some things are difficult to observe using scientific methods. Perhaps it's not a real world... perhaps it's a dream?"

It can only be said that Masaki truly deserves to be recognized as a genius even by Ye Shou. Although he hasn't fully explained it, his guesses alone are already very close to the truth.

He turned to Megumi Kijima, his tone firm: "I request permission to pilot the Atlas to outer space to investigate. I want to observe the moon's condition up close and find the source of the anomalies!"

"No need to wait for Shinjo and Daigo."

After a moment's thought, Megumi glanced at the continuously flashing full moon on the screen and nodded decisively: "Approved! But be careful and do not act rashly."

The importance of the moon as Earth's satellite goes without saying. While it is necessary to fight off the monsters that are ravaging the world, it would be too cowardly to simply defend passively. If we could find the source of the anomalies and solve them, that would be a permanent solution.

"But where is Captain Kuze? Hasn't his vacation ended yet?"

"We can't get in touch with him... Right, where is he?"

-

"...No, impossible! Ah!"

The giant, whose body had turned to stone, let out a miserable scream and fell to the ground in despair.

His profession is heavy armored warrior, and he also has the bloodline of giants. In addition, with the stats and skills brought by his high level, he can completely fight against lord-level dragons after activating his rock form. His defense is first-class in the entire world.

Yet, despite his immense strength, he collapsed to the ground with only a small hole in his forehead, falling helplessly like a collapsing mountain—it's hard to imagine just how terrifying the force he encountered was.

The "culprit" behind all this merely glanced at the fallen giant before continuing onward, reaching out to his other opponents.

"hateful!"

"Monster! This is definitely a world-class boss!"

"What about his professional skills?"

"There are no supermodel characters like this in the NPCs, this must be a bug!"

"Yami! Don't come near me!"

...On the battlefield filled with the smoke of gunpowder, the bodies of transmigrators lay scattered everywhere. Some bodies were still twitching slightly, clearly indicating that they had collapsed from exhaustion and had not yet completely dissipated, which is what is known as a state of being severely injured with residual blood.

There are usually no shortage of healing methods in the game. The most powerful thing about the player character is that as long as they are not knocked out in one hit, they can always find a way to whittle down the BOSS.

However, the people they met today were a little different—

None of those severely injured by Ye Shou were able to stand up again, as if they were frozen in their current state. No means of recovery, including holy magic, had any effect.

"Damn it... But it's okay, at worst we'll just die again. Next time we'll change our tactics and make it too late for ranged attacks, won't it?"

Those transmigrators on the verge of death were slowly turning into specks of particles, drifting in the air like shattered starlight.

This meant they had lost the battle, but it also gave them a sense of relief:

Continuing like this is pointless; it's just one-sided abuse.

So, everyone received the news that the clue to returning to the real world lies with a new NPC, which is why we've all gathered together for the first time, reminiscent of our old strategy team days—

Then Ye Shou treated him like a mob and killed him.

Leaving aside attributes and levels, these transmigrators, having been trapped in their depravity for too long, except for those like Yosuke who become abnormal in silence... have mostly had their will worn down, and their combat skills have also declined significantly. They rely entirely on stats and immortality to defeat monsters.

What Ye Shou fears least is this kind of superficial stuff!

Without even needing to use the power of a giant of light, Ye Shou only unleashed strength equivalent to a "high-level player," combined with his various martial arts techniques, and crushed them like a tank.

He even had the time to reduce everyone's health, keeping them at a near-death state until they all collapsed before the particle light effect began to appear.

Ye Shou narrowed his eyes slightly upon seeing the vast scene of death—

hum!

Suddenly, a humanoid phantom wrapped in bandages appeared behind him, its body radiating a faint golden light. It looked down at the earth with the majesty of an emperor. The halo floating behind its head suddenly flew out and rapidly expanded in the air, transforming into a huge golden gate.

"[A Prosperous Nation]!"

Ripples spread across the surface of the portal, like gentle waves, releasing an invisible attraction that drew in all the particles that were about to dissipate, leaving none behind.

All the transmigrators who had previously clamored about being resurrected and starting over had, without exception, entered the golden realm behind the portal.

After doing all this, the stand-in slowly faded away, eventually merging into Ye Shou's shadow and disappearing.

“Every time I see this, I find it incredible,” Yosuke said as he walked over. “Does this really lure out the mastermind?”

"of course can."

Ye Shou turned around and glanced at Yang Jie and his other companions.

Besides Yumiko, there were twenty or thirty other transmigrators whose condition was relatively stable (having survived the "Friendship Punch"). Each of them had a golden Holy Grail mark engraved somewhere on their body, which was proof that their souls were protected by Ye Shou.

"This is not a purely data world, and what you are controlling is not a game character, but yourself."

In a typical game world, the resurrection mechanism is nothing more than a string of code that can be executed repeatedly, but in this world—how do you resurrect?

Souls are not like data, which can be copied at will... If it were really that simple, Kayaba Akihiko wouldn't have spent so much time researching artificial yokai.

So your resurrection actually just means your character data is modified, while your souls are collected in particle form and then returned to this world through channels like the church.