Climbing the Tower with Multidimensional Avatars - Chapter 155

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 155. Galaxy Martial God Hall – School Trip (9)

I attempted to reclaim control of the central computer and major system privileges by using a Kiosk as a medium and leveraging Riven’s Hacking Tool.
“Hmm, as I thought, it’s not easy to hack with just the mini tool that fits in a mobile phone.”
Given the phone’s limited capacity and processing power, I was grateful I could even attempt this kind of reclamation.
As I stood with my arms crossed, watching the Kiosk, Teacher Kim Do-hwa asked carefully.
“Hacking is… well, you’re madly pounding on a keyboard and breaking through security firewalls in real-time, like some invisible siege warfare, isn’t it?”
“You’ve watched too many movies. Of course you look at the firewall and press the pre-made Hacking Tool—that’s hacking. If you’re in a situation where you have to write code in real-time, you’ve already failed at hacking.”
A hacking attack is, in a sense, like attempting to pick a lock with several pre-made keys of different shapes.
Depending on the situation, you can swap out tools the way you’d change keys, attack simultaneously with multiple tools, or overwhelm with sheer volume—but you don’t type away at a keyboard writing code while attacking.
It’s not like people are AIs that can generate code on the spot.
Conversely, white hat hackers defending don’t write code impromptu to build firewalls in real-time; they activate pre-made security firewalls and block the attacks.
“In any case, to reclaim system authority, I’ll need to go to the system core.”
I’ll probably need to connect directly to the central computer and install the hacking program.
Still, I did manage to obtain the Resort’s CCTV authority.
More precisely, rather than obtaining authority, it was more accurate to say I’d rerouted the CCTV feeds heading to Central Control so they’d display here as well.
At my words, Teacher Kim Do-hwa asked.
“It seems like dealing with this Formation Technique should come first before recovering the central system right now. Do you have any way to handle it?”
Teacher Kim Do-hwa was sweating profusely under the weight of the Formation Technique’s pressure.
“I trust you haven’t forgotten that I’m a student?”
“With Riven gone, you’re the school’s best Formation Technique master.”
Teacher Kim Do-hwa’s words weren’t wrong.
The only people at school who could truly be called Formation Technique masters were Riven and me.
With only one Formation Technique master, that makes me the best.
“Wait, why do you seem fine? All the students visible on these CCTV screens have collapsed.”
The teachers, at least, seemed to be holding out—they moved about hurriedly, trying to assess the situation through their confusion.
But the students had all fallen to the ground, overwhelmed by the oppressive weight of the Formation Technique.
“I’m feeling the pressure too. It’s just that I’m resisting the Formation Technique’s effects using a Left Path Secret Method technique.”
The Formation Technique itself belonged to the Left Path as well, but it was constructed so clumsily that it had many gaps.
Even if I made one, I’d make it better than this.
“Actually, dealing with the Formation Technique isn’t difficult.”
“How?”
“I checked it out during yesterday’s treasure hunt, and no matter how much I looked at it, it seemed too violent for a Formation Technique to be installed on a Resort. So I prepared in advance to collapse the Formation Technique’s core axis whenever I wanted.”
At my answer, Teacher Kim Do-hwa looked at me as if questioning my sanity.
“No, don’t look at me like that. If nothing had happened, I made it so it would naturally dissipate. You took six years of strategy and tactics classes with me. You know how frustrating it is whenever I had mock battles with Riven? By running into unexpected blind spots repeatedly, I ended up developing a habit of making preparations at the slightest sense of unease.”
“…You’ve had a lot on your plate.”
“I appreciate you recognizing that.”
Teacher Kim Do-hwa looked at me with slightly sympathetic eyes and spoke.
“Then we should deactivate the Formation Technique right away.”
“The problem is that our enemies will notice immediately once we deactivate the Formation Technique.”
In the case of communication-jamming waves and contact-blocking Formation Technique, the enemies are distant from the Resort and haven’t noticed because I’m currently attacking Central Control with the Resort’s system management AI Blue Eyes and my Hacking Tool—but a Formation Technique you can feel on your skin is a different matter.
“What’s our school’s combat strength?”
“Excluding the students, we have two Peak Realm masters, twelve Perfect Realm practitioners, and fifty-two First Class fighters.”
The two Peak Realm masters were Vice Principal and Teacher Kim Do-hwa. The Perfect Realm practitioners were the homeroom teachers for each class, and the First Class fighters were the assistant teachers.
Since teaching elementary school students didn’t require such exceptional skill, the level wasn’t particularly high.
“Based on the scale and performance of the Formation Technique, the enemies must have been infiltrating this place for at least several years. In typical infiltration operations, too large a force is easy to expose, so they’d have sent between a minimum of five and a maximum of fifteen people.”
Infiltration usually takes the character of an advance force, so the main strength would be the follow-up contingent.
But since this place was chosen as a school trip destination with the Family chartering it wholesale, natural entry for reinforcements would be blocked.
The space line would have already cancelled flights, so there’d be no passenger spacecraft to board. Using infiltration spacecraft would be impossible in the Martial God 3-Star System, which includes the Capital Star where the Family Head resides, making it under the iron grip of the Capital Defense Command’s army group.
There was an incident long ago when the Demonic Cult breached security and dealt major damage to the Capital Star. After that, it became nearly impossible to slip in undetected while evading surveillance.
The enemies likely selected the advance infiltration unit with highly reliable operatives to prepare for a situation like this.
“The enemy force definitely has at least five Peak Realm masters or higher. Worst case, three elite combat units each containing three or more Flower Realm masters.”
The worst case would be a unit composed of three Flower Realm masters and twelve Peak Realm masters.
No matter how much they aimed for Cheon So-yeon, they wouldn’t deploy Mysterious Realm martial experts for long-term infiltration missions.
Even Flower Realm masters would balk at such long-term undercover work.
In fact, even Flower Realm practitioners would harbor strong grievances if assigned long-term infiltration—so the worst-case scenario I imagined was unlikely to occur under normal circumstances.
“If we assume a reasonable estimate, ten Peak Realm masters, but even in that case, our school’s combat strength is severely insufficient.”
Even with Cheon So-yeon included, we’d be at a disadvantageous force disparity.
A First Class realm fighter can’t even properly restrain a Peak Realm cultivator, and it takes at least four Perfect Realm masters working together to stand against a single Peak Realm opponent.
As a delaying tactic, they fall short even of five Peak Realm cultivators’ combined strength.
“If our forces are insufficient, it’s better not to dissolve the formation at all—instead, we should lull them into complacency and wait for rescue to arrive. The moment my family receives my emergency signal, they’ll immediately seal off the Spatial Compression Drive system.”
At my words, Teacher Kim Do-hwa shook his head.
“This is classified, but the family has stationed five secret guards here at the resort—all of them Peak Realm cultivators—precisely for situations like this.”
“Five Peak Realm cultivators? If they were going to send reinforcements, why not send thirty and really make a show of it? It’s only a five-day, six-night trip. They have people to spare, don’t they?”
At my grumbling, Teacher Kim Do-hwa smiled ruefully and conceded the point.
“True enough.”
Still, five was enough to tip the scales back toward equilibrium, even if the balance still favored our enemies somewhat.
If we could drag things out, victory would be ours—far better than the hopeless situation we’d faced moments before.
“I’ll break the formation right away. It should take roughly ten to fifteen minutes.”
I pulled out the detonation switch I’d prepared earlier and pressed it.
“It can’t happen immediately?”
“It’s possible, but since this is formation breaking and not formation dissolution, the resort could collapse in the process…”
“Then we wait.”
Teacher Kim Do-hwa fixed me with an intense gaze that made absolutely clear: do not bring down this resort.
I nodded, and Teacher Kim Do-hwa wiped the sweat from his brow with his sleeve.
“I’m genuinely grateful you’re here. Without you, I wouldn’t have the faintest idea how to handle this dire situation.”
“Think nothing of it. So, shall we discuss our next moves?”
I brought up the resort’s interior map on the kiosk.

* * *

The captain of Cheonmu Elementary School’s secret guard detail suddenly felt a pressure descending upon him and realized this was no ordinary situation.
In the same moment, he cursed himself for dismissing Cheon So-yeon’s warning this afternoon—for letting it go in one ear and out the other.
He should never have ignored Cheon So-yeon’s warning.
“Ugh, Captain. What should we do?”
At his subordinate’s question, the captain frantically searched for a way to break the deadlock.
“First, try to make contact.”
“No, sir! The communications equipment is dead—there’s some kind of signal jamming in place!”
The moment the captain realized their link to headquarters was severed, dread flooded through him.
“Cheon So-yeon said the enemy probably knows about us too. What do we do?”
“Captain!”
All the team members looked only to their captain.
Though young, they took pride in their high cultivation, their elite status, and their extensive experience.
Yet that pride rested on hothouse foundations—they had only ever faced predetermined enemies on designated battlegrounds.
They had never before experienced such a vicious formation with communications severed from above.
Most martial artists serving the major sects in the modern Galaxy Martial Arts World were much the same.
Since their sect’s domain spanned entire star systems, they rarely ventured beyond their own territory.
As a result, unfavorable battlegrounds and unfavorable fights were rare experiences for them.
Most of their duties amounted to mopping up crime organizations that sprouted like fungus in remote regions or mediating disputes between sects.
Of course, some martial artists performed special operations in heterodox territories, and others were dispatched to the Martial Alliance to fight on the front lines against the Demonic Cult, or served in military units rooting out pirates from the Galaxy Waterway Alliance.
The ones who now held high positions in their family had all experienced such life-or-death battlefields, and so the captain and his peers had assumed they too would eventually be sent to such places.
But that was supposed to be later.
They never imagined experiencing something like this on what they’d considered a safe, even leisurely assignment.
With his mind in turmoil, the captain forced himself to think and came to a conclusion.
“…Cheon So-yeon. We must protect Cheon So-yeon.”
Their mission was to protect the students.
But to speak plainly, not all students held equal value.
In a protection detail with multiple charges, there was always a priority hierarchy that accounted for worst-case scenarios.
Cheon So-yeon, of Heavenly Martial Physique, was the most critical charge to protect, and for that reason they’d been keeping special watch over her.
“Where is Cheon So-yeon…? Damn it, the radios are down too!”
Had this been a ski resort with vast open spaces, all five guards would have been moving about freely, but in a compact resort like this, they rotated—one following Cheon So-yeon at a time.
They too needed rest.
As the captain was about to rush to join the one guard trailing Cheon So-yeon, he felt an eerie chill and drew his blade, sweeping it through the air.
Clang!
Six short daggers clattered to the ground, deflected by the captain’s sword.
“Well, well—so you weren’t just playing guard after all? For a hothouse flower, your senses are remarkably sharp.”
Six enemies emerged, sent to neutralize the secret guard detail stationed by the Cheon Family.
The captain’s jaw clenched.
Their own strength was suppressed by the strange Formation Technique’s power, but the enemies seemed unaffected—their expressions remained calm, and they held the numerical advantage.
The squad leader and his guards realized the truth in an instant: they would die here.
The guards gritted their teeth and summoned every ounce of fighting spirit they possessed.
They steeled themselves with a single resolve—even if they fell, they would take at least one enemy with them.

(To be continued in the next installment)

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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