Above Your Head

Beginners usually pick the weak characters because they do not know anything.

Intermediate gamers know which are the strong characters so they pick them to win, but may also lose.

Experts find a character that suits them and accumulate victories.

And the masters! Their fantasy is… 

'It is to pick the weakest character and defeat the strong players!!'

I moved the joystick.

Turn to the left, then right, up and down, up, down, left, right, and then the AB button!

-Oh my god! It's research time!

Hidden Character, Psycho Doctor.

A white-haired elder, whom one cannot pick without knowing of his existence, smiled as he lifted a test tube. One youth was looking at him from behind, bewildered.

"Ah? Is that the hidden character? This character should not exist because of the balance of the game. God of Fighter [1] is a game that is selling worldwide, is this okay?"

Putting in obvious content like hidden characters, hidden items, hidden skills or hidden fraudulent jobs that everyone would like to get was something possible in RPGs one played alone at home, but to put these ridiculous elements into a game that everyone played was crazy.

It was like killing the game they had painstakingly created.

Everyone paid to play the game, but who would play if they knew that some were going through all kinds of hardships while some were benefiting or having fun with a fraudulent character?

We are living in the times when people would stop playing completely if the existing pay-to-win system which allows one to become stronger by spending real life currency became overly imbalanced. To think that they made a hidden system that let one benefit greatly through luck or secrets.

However, the friend of the guy who was complaining shook his head.

"Ah, you know what? That Psycho Doctor is not the kind of character you think he is. He is definitely a hidden character, but…"

The Psycho Doctor was a hidden character, but not everyone agreed that it was a fraudulent one.

Would they have made a character like him in a fighting game in the first place?

The Psycho Doctor was a hidden character, but no gamers had complaints about its existence. They praised it instead, saying that it was a funny hidden easter egg.

The reason for that was because the Psycho Doctor…

-Ugh!

…was a useless character who could not even throw a punch properly.

Flop!

He falls down after throwing a single punch.

And after kicking, he lies down for about a second and does not stand until then.

His attack is strong, but the initial delay (the delay before attacking) and the after delay (the delay after attacking) is too much.

He swings his arm twice in the air before throwing out a punch, but falls down after.

As for kicks, it was as if he was going to do a drop kick, but he laid down on the ground while grabbing his waist within a second.

Pooft!

His overwhelming farts (The context is that all the potions he drank during his research get released through farts) can reduce the enemy's health gauge by at least half, but no one gets hit by it.

The reason for that was that it was a fighting game where the two parties had to look at each other, but the Psycho Doctor turned around slowly (there was even a motion where he hit his back twice) and exerted strength before the fart. Besides a blind elder, would anyone not be able to avoid such an attack? However…

"Ack! I got hit by it!!"

"Damn it! This fart. Ack!!!"

"Wow, he keeps his opponent in check with those weak attacks and then uses the fart when the opponent charges in. What a devilish psychological warfare!"

"What's with his crazy winning rate while using the Psycho Doctor?"

"He's a psycho! A psycho has appeared!"

"This is crazy! Wouldn't people think of Psycho Doctor as a good character and choose him after seeing this?"

He grasped the movements of the enemy and inflicted a sudden, lethal blow.

The Psycho Doctor was undisputedly a trash character who was hard to deal any attacks with, but at least his attack power was comparable to God of Fighter's boss, Invisible Man. With a command that can only be described as dirty, it is possible to win if you manage to land two or three attacks.

-You have been defeated.

"Ah, how unfortunate…"

Of course, that did not mean that one could attain unlimited victories like before. Regardless, everything would be over once the movements have been grasped with a character like the Psycho Doctor whose commands are limited.

There was also a limit to using psychological warfare to make up for the lack of performance, so I ended up encountering users who had grasped the movements of the Psycho Doctor completely and came up with a [solution] after having seen other players die.

No matter how well the players grasped the skills of the Psycho Doctor and tried to go for an enemy's opening, the limits of the Psycho Doctor were clear from the start.

There was a limit to making up with one's skills, but even I would not be able to do anything should the opponent fully grasp Psycho Doctor's characteristics and not let down their guard. 

"Good. That is enough."

Of course, I did not challenge them again. Because in the first place, my goal was to warm up until my health gauge depleted.

-Entering field. Activating Hermes System.

After equipping the helmet and gloves and inserting a bill, the front screen brightened up along with the voice of a woman and a sudden battle occurred right after that.

It was an evil model that caused first-time players to have a mental breakdown, but-

Brooom! Bang!

I pressed a button with my left hand as soon as I heard an explosion and then pulled with my right hand. The screen spun and the battlefield got further away.

Simply put, it was a retreat. However, that was not everything.

"Hendel! Concentrate all the shield energy to the rifle guns!"

-Warning. If you consume all of the shield's energy, you will be defenseless and exposed to the enemy's direct attack.

"Hey, why do you never listen to me right away? This is an order!"

-Implementing.

Bewilderingly enough, this arcade game has a program installed in it that is no different from an artificial intelligence, and the way to control it was through [voice].

According to the settings, the control system controls the overall system of [White Snake], the Gigas I am riding on right now.

While the control system gives advice and even warnings in the case of wrong orders, it usually obeys your orders no matter what.

The manual actually stated to not go against the instructions of the control system as much as possible and did not say that the control system would obey my words, but it seemed like it did.

"Hup!"

I let out a low yell and then moved both of my hands to concentrate the energy of White Snake onto a photon cannon, and then fired it the moment the enemy appeared.

Kwagagang!!!

"Triple kill~!"

I aimed for the precise moment where the front-line enemies were lined up and swept them down with a photon cannon.

They activated their evasive functions as well of course, but even so, it was a route I could see clearly.

The White Snake could not make a strong attack due to the weak output itself, but it was able to destroy three machines in an instant after gathering the shield energy.

"And... retreat."

-There aren't any retreating orders yet. Please return to the battlefield, Pilot-nim.

I could hear the warning of Hendel, the control system of White Snake, but the one controlling the movements was me anyway. It was just a control system and had no authority over me.

However, it did not give up and kept speaking.

-Pilot-nim. Deserting the battlefield is a very serious crime.

-I am warning you.

-Pilot-nim. Pilot-nim. Immediately…

The screen blinked in red along with text stating that I was getting further away from the battlefield, but I disregarded it and broke away from the battlefield at the fastest speed, towards the huge battleship that was far away from this place.

Did the system give up?

When I was a considerable distance away from the battlefield, Hendel and the screen returned to normal and I could focus on the screen in front of me.

"Rising Storm…"

A union that rules the universe.

Ship number 13 of the Leonhardt Empire, one of the 21 forces that belong to the union. The majestic Rising Storm appeared on the screen.

As the size of the White Snake I am riding on is set at about 8 meters tall, I can tell that the ship being shown on the screen is easily twice as big as normal cities.

Baang! Bang!

Since we were in the middle of the battlefield, the surroundings of the Rising Storm were just as noisy.

After a brief observation of a tremendous bombardment that brightened up the dark space and the energy shield that was blocking the attack from it, I got down to the deck.

If I had been riding on an enemy ship, I would have become a beehive from the heavy artillery fire and the blockage of the Rising Storm's shield.

However, the White Snake had an identification code so I was able to get to the deck without issues, and subsequently went further down the ship with a strange sound.

"Bye bye!"

-Pilot-nim? Pilot-nim!

Pshwoo!

Upon arrival, I ignored Hendel's calling and got off the White Snake.

Of course, I didn't get off the arcade machine literally; it was just part of the game's storyline.

However, my field of vision became narrower, and I was able to see the entirety of White Snake.

After getting off from White Snake, I ran towards the inner hangar. Though I am in my human state, the method to run was like controlling a Gigas.

"A hidden piece, huh? It sure has everything."

Hidden piece.

This term refers to an element or system hidden in the game. A hidden boss or profession. Or perhaps the strongest weapon and so on can also be considered as hidden pieces. And this exists in The Great War, the game I am playing right now, as well. If you escape the battlefield and return to Rising Storm, you can transfer to another Gigas on the battleship!

And so, the place I arrived at…

-What? Why is a mere pilot here instead of the imperial prince or princess?

There was a huge, golden giant in that place.

The Golden Constellation. Goldrian.

The Gigas are divided into 5 ranks, namely God, Star, Human, Beast and Tool-rank.

Though I'm not too sure, the God-rank Gigas is said to be a transcendent weapon where only godly beings whose divine power has transcended fate can ride them.

God-ranked Gigas are so powerful that they can destroy small(?) stars like the sun to even the galaxy.

The Goldrian in front of me right now was a Star-ranked machine that was below that of God-rank.

It is the strongest Gigas that can be ridden by people who have not reached the level of transcendence, and there are only five of them in the Leonhardt Empire.

Ah, and the White Snake I was riding on is a Beast-rank Gigas, the second rank from the bottom.

That is why it is called a white "snake" as it is a beast.

-I will ask you again. Where did the princess go, and why are you here?

It was bewildering, but the one speaking to me was Goldrian.

Compared to Hendel, which was a mass-produced control system, Goldrian had its own ego.

'It really is a fraudulent machine.'

I had only ridden on Goldrian once.

And… In that one-time opportunity, I pushed back the entire 3rd Corps of the Tekea Federation, the enemy of the Leonhardt Empire, and even captured their battleship, [Punishment] (a battleship that was bigger than average cities and it wasn't even the commander's ship!).

'Honestly, the Goldrian is too much of a cheat. It can do everything alone.'

And that was why I, who was uninterested in Goldrian, could wave my hand to it.

"Ah, this is a shortcut, so it is a pass for you. The war will end soon, so rest for now."

-What did you say?

"Bye bye~~"

I walked past the Goldrian to take the elevator and headed towards the fourth exit.

"I finally arrived. Damned bastards. They should have parked the remaining machines near the deck."

I am saying this again, but the Gigas are divided into five rankings – God, Star, Human, Beast and Tool. The difference between each rank is really prominent

Compared to the Goldrian, the White Snake's performance can be seen as insignificant, but it is not a machine that anyone can ride. It is an advanced product that can only be ridden by at least an officer. 

The one in front of me right now is a Tool-ranked Gigas that is ranked below the Beast. In the manual, they are called the soldiers' Gigas as it is a product that is mass-produced in factories.

However, despite the fact that those could only be ridden by the elites of the soldiers or officers, no one can deny that it has the most basic performance among the Gigas.

"System activate!"

Kiiiiing…

R-13, the 3.5 meters tall Tool-ranked Gigas, which was in a crouching position stood up the moment I boarded it.

As the Gigas was a mass-produced one, it didn't even have a personality, but that was also why I chose this machine. 

Does the machine have a hidden power?

"What a sad thing to say."

I loosened up my fingers lightly. I concentrated and started planning.

Since it does not have enough firepower, I should head towards the enemy commander's direction.

No matter what people say about the Tool-ranked Gigas being trash, it is still well-armed and is able to fly through space (even though it is slow). In a limited space with a few enemies, it is still a much better situation compared to the Psycho Doctor.

Beginners usually pick the weak characters because they do not know anything.

Intermediate gamers know which are the strong characters so they pick them to win, but may also lose.

Experts find a character that suits them and accumulate victories.

And the masters! Their fantasy is… 

'It is to pick the weakest character and defeat the strong players!!'

-Pilot recognition complete. Activating Hermes System.

The R-13 moved along with the soft voice of a woman. The hardest difficulty challenge I had set for myself was about to begin.

1. Probably hinting at King of Fighters