The World after the Fall

'…It's a Gigantes?'

However, before Jaehwan could think about his question, guided missiles fired from X's elbow streaked towards him. Jaehwan barely dodged a few of its missiles, which exploded behind him, as he used the shockwave to push him forward so he could close in on X.

'I have to fight him up close.'

All of his [Settings] were weak against ranged attacks as his fighting style was designed for close combat. Fortunately for him, unlike the Vicegerents of the high-ranking Gods, X quickly changed its stance to fight in close range. The crack in the elbow closed, and instead, a blade popped out. Soon, the blade clashed against Jaehwan's sword.

It was just a clash between blades, but something similar to an explosion occurred and Jaehwan almost lost his grip on his sword. It was just one exchange, but it dealt him damage.

'It's strong…!'

Jaehwan retreated, but X continuously attacked as it moved towards him and closed the distance. It continuously attacked as if it already knew how Jaehwan would move.

[Be careful! The movement isn't like any other!]

It had been a while since Jaehwan fought this close to an enemy. He had been pushed back ever since the first attack. The blade from X's elbow was sharper than any blade he had seen before. Jaehwan's ability to dodge blades was one of a kind, but the X that kept up with Jaehwan's movement was much more than that. Its reflexes were beyond that of a human.

'So, it's not human after all.'

The strikes were executed in the most efficient ways. The battle kept worsening for Jaehwan the more time passed. His fighting habits had already been analyzed by X, and it was using more suitable attack patterns against Jaehwan as it had analyzed all of Jaehwan's movements.

Jaehwan had seen a similar kind of fighting before.

'Overseers of the Void Factory.'

Jaehwan then understood what Myad had said. 'Gigantes itself.' This X was probably connected to the Daeus, one of the Three Ancient Gods in some way. Like the overseers, it was one of Daeus's old Followers.

"AAARGH!"

"KAAARG!"

There were screams in the direction where Myad had charged towards. As Jaehwan dodged X's attack, he glanced towards where Myad was moving about between the Vicegerents.

The Vicegerents had been blown back on all sides. The attacks that didn't work well against X were now extremely effective against the Vicegerents. Jaehwan even wondered for a second if they were the same enemies that he had a hard time fending off.

The auction house was chaotic as time went on with powerful Vicegerents increasing in numbers. However, none of them were able to fight off Myad. Myad van Deklan, the Starseeker, was one of the strongest Vicegerents of all the high-ranking Gods.

'Why did he have such a hard time against X?'

Jaehwan became confused. Myad and X. Even with all things considered, they were far from equal. Jaehwan thought as he looked at X in front of him.

'This X doesn't have more than 150 thousand world power.'

150 thousand world power was enough to defeat any high-ranking God. It was surely a very high rating, but if Jaehwan guessed right, Myad's real power exceeded than that.

'At least 2 million.'

It was only a guess, but if Jaehwan was correct, that was only the bare minimum. Jaehwan had learned one truth during the acution.

The limit of spirit stones one could pay usually equaled the limit of a Vicegerent's own world power. And Myad had the power to pay 2 million spirit stones. That meant that Myad had a world power at least 2 million. Jaehwan couldn't even guess what kind of strength 2 million world power held.

However, Myad couldn't defeat X. That was very strange.

[Fight pattern analyzed. Activating system 'Daeus'.]

Just then, a kind of strange machine-like voice came from X. Its entire body was surrounded by a bluish aura and enormous world power radiated from it.

[Ex Machina - Phase 1.]

Jaehwan suddenly felt the most danger he'd ever felt since he came to <Depth>. An attack that he couldn't even see was launched against him.

A long, long time ago.

The Naked Pervert God lived.

It was then that Jaehwan took off the coat almost instinctively.

He hated wearing clothes.

So he lived naked for his entire life.

Jaehwan's naked body collided against X's cold body. The blue world power of X was destroyed and Jaehwan barely managed to push back X's fist. With mechanical alert sounds, X jumped back quickly and Jaehwan sighed in relief.

'I almost died there… if the activation was slow…'

He felt his back drenched in sweat. Jaehwan had managed to quickly activate the [Naked] Setting at the last moment. If this [Setting] was working, X was definitely a Gigantes for sure. It was much smaller than a normal Gigantes, but it was definitely one.

[Whoa, you've learned well.]

Andersen exclaimed with pride. She seemed really happy that Jaehwan had managed to activate the [Naked] Setting without her help.

[But you've got the lyrics wrong. You should do it right.]

'…What did I get wrong?'

[There's no 'Pervert' in the lyrics. It's just 'Naked God.' Wait- did you do that on purpose?]

'It still worked, didn't it?'

Andersen began to protest, but Jaehwan ignored her. There wasn't time to joke around. X and its terrifying world power was in front of him.

'Its world power has increased almost ten times.'

X's attack just now was around 1.5 million world power. If it wasn't for the [Naked] Setting that was made to specifically counter Gigantes, Jaehwan would have been ripped apart.

'…What is going on?'

Its average world power didn't come close to Myad's, but when it activated that Phase 1 or something, its world power increased tenfold. A Gigantes that could unleash a world power of 1.5 million. It was disastrous enough to decimate middle-sized sites.

'Andersen, do you know something about it?'

[…Hmm. I think…]

'What is it?'

[I can't say it for sure. I've never seen it before, but if I'm right… it's bad.]

'What? Tell me.'

[Let's just say that I think it's a Gigantes with a mind.]

'A Gigantes with a mind?'

It was the same thing all over again. It, itself, was a Gigantes, a Gigantes with a mind… it all seemed similar. Jaehwan decided to just simplify it. That was a Gigantes, but it talked and had thoughts. That's when something occurred to Jaehwan.

'That body itself is a Gigantes, right?'

[Yeah.]

'So, doesn't it mean that it's not 'wearing' a Gigantes?'

The [Naked] Setting only worked against enemies wearing 'clothes.' In that [Setting], a Gigantes was considered the most powerful type of 'clothes' there was. But if what Andersen said was true, X was the 'clothes' itself, and it wasn't wearing anything. Then, Jaehwan's [Naked] would have a conflict with that. Could that be considered 'clothing'?

[HEY! The [Setting] is being shaken! Cut out your unneeded thoughts!]

'…'

[That thing is still clothing! It's a living piece of clothing, but yeah!]

She was right. There was no time to think about such matters.

[I'll give you the details later, just focus for now!]

As its first attack failed, the blue aura from X became denser. It then projected a coarse mechanical voice.

[…You… that Setting…?]

It seemed it had a calculation malfunction or error, as its words weren't coming out in order.

[…Geshtalt…?]