I Became a 6★ Gacha Character

When she swung her massive greatsword, it caused an explosion large enough to wipe out the centaur herd in one strike. The blast radius was similar to Han Se-ah's precisely controlled high-rank magic, Summon Ice Storm.

I was about to curse at how ridiculous it was for a melee DPS character's normal attack to have similar range to a mage's AoE CC skill - when I suddenly remembered there was such a character in Heroines Chronicle.

Were Heroes Chronicle's natural 6★ characters created by carefully collecting all the skills from Heroines Chronicle's 0-tier broken characters? It felt like reading "My Imagined Strongest Character" scribbled in some middle schooler's notebook, which was kind of funny.

Not that I was complaining about the benefits since I was experiencing them firsthand... Being transported as an overpowered character was way better than struggling in some low-power misery isekai.

"These are definitely tougher than the vermin eating away at the Empire. Though given their numbers are far fewer than the waves, they shouldn't be too difficult to handle. Hmm, I'd like to cross swords with these so-called mid-boss and boss monsters."

"Your Majesty, you have urgent matters to attend to after your tower inspection, according to your schedule."

"I know. That's why it's such a shame. From what I've heard, if we'd arrived a bit earlier, I could have seen the face of this so-called Heavenly King - to think a knight claiming to lead the vanguard would hide in a fortress."

After glancing at the viewers' excited reactions and roughly analyzing the Empress's power, she shook her wrist as if disappointed. Though she pretended to stretch her wrist muscles after that powerful strike, her slender forearm muscles looked completely unaffected.

If the dark knight who was floor 60's boss monster and Heavenly King was a battle maniac who'd do anything underhanded to win, the Empress seemed more like a pure battle maniac who just wanted to freely wield her overwhelming strength.

Like someone forced to leave a restaurant after just one bite of the appetizer, the Empress hesitated regretfully. Though she maintained her golden aura while stretching her wrist and looking around, there were no more monsters for her to fight.

Irene's sacred law had expired, turning the legion soldiers into mana stones, and the mid-boss's monster army had long since been cut down by the Imperial trainee commanders' forces. Only the boss monster remained, but he'd just tested the waters before retreating and locking the fortress gates.

"Still, since it's disappointing, shall I knock a few times?"

"We follow your lead."

Once the Empress left, we'd need to team up with other adventurers arriving late and strip the fortress bare to find out what that Heavenly King was plotting.

...Or so I thought, but the Empress calmly walked forward dragging her greatsword. As if this was perfectly natural, the Imperial Guard also began moving behind her, except those managing the carriage and weapon box.

The small blonde beauty in black uniform dragging a black greatsword, followed by female knights in perfect formation. Between their appearance and their black armor and uniforms, it was such a perfect embodiment of male fantasy that I wanted to escape reality.

"Uh, uhh? Should we follow? Forget kill stealing, but if the Empress gets hurt wouldn't that start a war between the Kingdom and Empire and ruin the game progression? I haven't even gotten all our party members to 6★ yet, the Empire can't fall!"

-What can you do when the Empire's head wants to do something lol

-But if she's natural 6★ she should be able to break down the fortress gates with Roland-level DPS right?

-Maybe the Empress also strips naked and goes berserk when angry? Kind of urgent

-What's so urgent lol Did you drop your pants and get cold?

Han Se-ah reacted first with shock.

Worried about various things like the boss's last hit, the broadcast being disappointing if a natural 6★ just landed one normal attack and left, or game progression being derailed by political issues if the Empress got hurt, she hurriedly followed the Imperial Guard procession with her camera drone.

As I stood up following her, the rest of our party also rose.

Both the Imperial Guard and our party members maintained tension, perhaps worried the fortress gates might open when the Empress approached, but she remained completely calm as she casually swung that huge greatsword using just her wrist.

"Hmm, a metal I've never seen before. So the one claiming to be a Heavenly King is inside?"

The Empress approached the fortress without any interference.

She firmly gripped the greatsword's handle with both hands instead of one, raising it diagonally over her shoulder. While the Imperial Guard members formed a semicircle around the entrance, she spread her legs wide and concentrated her aura into the sword held over her shoulder again, making my skin crawl.

Being a fellow natural 6★, I could tell that fearsome greatsword could slice off limbs if not properly defended against. The golden light used the black greatsword as a catalyst, swelling up instantly like cotton candy at an amusement park before striking down at the fortress's firmly closed gates.

THOOOOM---!!!

CLAAANG---!!!

"Whew, sturdier than expected."

Whether the fortress gates remaining closed despite this was fortunate or disappointing was hard to say.

※

Like a passing storm, the Empress boarded her carriage and left the tower.

The only traces of her visit were the crater where the centaur herd had been and the chaotic sword marks on the fortress's main gate. Even after dozens of aura strikes rivaling high-rank magic hammering it like siege weapons, the gate only showed scratches - we'd definitely need to bring mages.

If pure destructive power wouldn't open it, the fortress itself must have some kind of gimmick.

But even that brief visit had more than enough impact.

"T-the Empress looked at me."

"Heehee, she knows about House Sibedev..."

Was it her beautiful appearance and Imperial bloodline carrying out the Goddess's will? The Imperial citizens were dying of joy like fanatics who'd seen their favorite star in person.

Though Kingdom people liked Princess Bradamante too, it wasn't quite like this.

To use an otaku game comparison, Princess Bradamante's fan club was like admiring the perfect student council president, while Empress Charlotte's fan club was like otaku fans of a school idol.

This wasn't meant to disparage anyone, just describe the intensity of reactions. Even though the princess was popular, citizens didn't faint screaming "kyaaah~!" when she visited the capital to check on the people's welfare. The Imperial people's enthusiasm just seemed more over-the-top.

"This is kind of overwhelming..."

"Hard to believe becoming a hero, but meeting the Imperial Empress in the tower is also unbelievable...?"

"But since the Empress confirmed the fortress is firmly locked, we should be able to rest properly."

Due to the Empress's visit, Olek and the Ice Cross Knights, even the cool-headed Alisa, were sprawled out grinning because the Empress had mentioned Sibedev. Behind them, the Imperial trainee commanders huddled together feeling superior like a lottery winners' club.

Apparently just getting a glance from the Empress was enough to make them count their chickens before hatching and throw a festival.

While I was thinking "what's all this excitement over just eye contact?", seeing the latecomers flooding into the base camp established by the collapsed wall dying of envy made me wonder if this was Imperial culture.

"No idea what he's doing in there, but he probably won't come out today. Even at the earliest it'll be tomorrow, by which time the holy sword's cooldown will be done. Though I thought blocking the gate was the mid-boss's thing, seems the boss monster does the same. Is this floor's gimmick not armies but blockades?"

-How can a floor's concept be blockades lololololol Maybe you're just too fast?

-If he comes out once a day we can just beat him with the holy sword once a day

-Teacher hasn't used the holy sword much lately but we'll probably see it often now

-Can hear the greatsword fans dying of joy from here;; Teacher has holy sword and Empress has greatsword, whole world is huge

-lol staff stand fans just carry inventory behind 6★s and don't think about anything else

Thinking what a chaotic day it had been, we set up our tent in one corner of the base camp to prepare for rest while Han Se-ah chatted with viewers as she prepared dinner with Irene.

As usual, Irene skillfully filled two large pots with water including portions for the Ice Cross Knights. Dinner began with everyone strangely subdued.

The mental fatigue from dealing with the sword-wielding Imperial Empress seemed substantial. Both Grace and Katie were oddly quiet, looking completely drained of energy. They resembled tired puppies after a walk, or children passed out after visiting an amusement park.

...Even I hadn't expected the Empress to personally hammer on the fortress gates with a greatsword before leaving in a huff.