Ex-level Player With the Greatest Civilization of All Time - Chapter 24

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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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Episode 24

The past week had been transformative.
Cha Seon-ah’s broadcast had captured enormous attention.
Her viewership climbed without ceiling, swelling to an astounding three million concurrent viewers.
By contrast, Baek Jin-seong’s numbers had begun to cool.
Tens of thousands still watched, though the momentum had shifted.
Neia had stopped actively scaling the Tower and no longer peddled the rare drops she once did, so the collective interest had tilted sharply toward Cha Seon-ah.
‘Lucky that Neia’s gone quiet.’
Though in truth, Neia had orchestrated exactly this.
Cha Seon-ah had no way of knowing that.
She simply counted herself fortunate.
More accurately, she had no time to think anything through to its end.
Standing at the eye of a hurricane, you don’t notice the storm raging beyond.
Blinded by light itself, you lose sight of everything else—and Cha Seon-ah was exactly that dazzled.
Drowning in attention, she had no space to wonder seriously about Neia’s disappearance.
Besides, she was genuinely occupied.
“Everyone’s here, right?”
“As you can see.”
Her father, Cha Seong-hun, leader of Kangseong, stood before her.
Behind him stretched a Raid Party of one hundred and forty.
Sixty elite members from Kangseong’s core.
Some sixty dispatched from the major guilds.
Nineteen priests and one archbishop sent from the Temple.
For now they clustered in familiar groups, talking over one another in cheerful chaos—but once they entered the Floor, each and every one would be a force unto themselves, elite without question.
“I put this together myself, and honestly, it’s overwhelming. We’d have to work to fail at this point, wouldn’t we?”
“Of course. This is triple the firepower we had for the A-rank clear.”
Just watching them inspired confidence.
“Then I’ll get the broadcast started. You’ll handle the preparations?”
“Leave it to me.”
She watched her father move to ready the Raid Party, then finally activated the broadcast.
Confirming the signal that streaming had begun, she greeted her audience.
“Hello, everyone. I’m Cha Seon-ah from Kangseong Guild.”
So many players had gathered to bring glory to her and Kangseong alike.
She displayed them proudly on screen.
Though she couldn’t see the chat directly, she imagined viewers were already gasping at such a dazzling roster.
“You all know what today is, don’t you?”
Word came through that preparations were complete.
Cha Seon-ah withdrew a Scroll from her belongings.
“S-rank Hidden Floor conquest. Let’s begin.”
She poured mana into it, and…
Whoosh.
The Scroll scattered into azure particles, then became a luminous pillar of blue light that enveloped the entire Raid Party.
The brilliance reached its zenith in an instant, and when it faded, they stood in another realm entirely.
From the bright, colorful city of Peronta, they had been transported to a place saturated in darkness on all sides.
‘It’s so dark… We actually made it through, right?’
As that thought crossed Cha Seon-ah’s mind, a quest window materialized before them.

(Loading objectives…)

And then…
Flash.
As the magical players positioned throughout the Raid Party cast their spells, light bloomed outward, bit by bit, and the darkness around them began to recede.
‘So that’s why the air felt so humid…’
The interior was choked with massive, pitch-black vines.

Beneath their feet, across the ceiling, through every corridor ahead—all of it was the same.
The sticky sap visible everywhere was what made the air so damp.
“Are you holding up all right?”
“Yes, we just entered anyway. That’s overkill, really.”
Cha Seon-ah laughed lightly at her father’s concern.
Ding—

[Strengthen the weakening seal—purify the miasma-filled space with sacred relics. 0 / 1]

A quest perfectly timed to emerge.
Cha Seon-ah turned to her father.
“Let’s go conquer this S-rank Hidden Floor.”

* * *

“Hmm….”
Clearing an S-rank Hidden Floor.
Normally, when the broadcast started, I planned to summon Baek Jin-seong and clear the 15th Floor.
“But maybe I should… watch for a bit longer?”
Now that the raid had begun, the pull of curiosity made it hard to leave.
Besides, clearing an S-rank Hidden Floor wouldn’t be wrapped up in an hour or two anyway.
No rush, was there?
“Though I have to say, it seems a bit underwhelming?”
Not long after the raid party entered the Hidden Floor and began moving, the first monster met them.
It hadn’t taken very long for its appearance.
Splurch, splurch.
The monster was a slime.
Fed on the pitch-black sap running through the vines, the slime—saturated with dark hue—proved stronger than the ones I’d known before.

‘Graaaagh!’
‘My arm!’

The slime’s acidic properties were higher than those of ordinary slimes, and wounded fighters began to emerge.

‘Counter with ice attribute!’
‘Even so, it’s still just slime—stay calm!’
‘Eliminate the frozen ones first!’
‘Uwoooooo—!’

Still, against a raid party thoroughly prepared for diverse scenarios, the slimes couldn’t inflict serious damage.
“Absolute Zero.”
“Icicle Arrow.”
“Ice Storm!”
The veteran-level elite members especially dispatched the slimes with practiced efficiency.
‘Light descend as divine blessing—as benediction. Judgment Blessing.’
‘Light, protect the messenger of the goddess. Guard Bless.’
Meanwhile, the priests who had accompanied them also performed brilliantly.
The Temple’s priests bolstered the players—who could deal effective damage only by shattering the frozen slimes—with Holy Power.
Pop. Paaop—
And in fact, the priests’ contributions didn’t end with buffs.
Ordinary slimes would dissolve once their cores were lost.
But the slimes of the Hidden Floor would reform into one mass even after their cores shattered, and then charge forward with renewed ferocity.
That was when Holy Power proved effective.
Whether it was because the slimes, influenced by the miasma blanketing the field, were creatures of that nature or some other reason—
The liquefied slimes, decomposed into their acidic state, could only be purified and dispelled once they touched the priests’ Holy Power.
Whoooosh.
Beyond the slimes’ complete annihilation,
the priests’ contributions extended further.
In the early stages, before the formation solidified, they restored the limbs and bodies of those who had lost arms and legs.
The power of elite priests.
The healing happened quickly and cleanly.
So much so that it almost felt underwhelming.

– An S-rank Hidden Floor isn’t that impressive.
– Honestly, the High Priests are totally overpowered.
– Look at that—they’re even reattaching limbs that don’t exist…?

The chat agreed with my assessment.
“It’s only just begun, but… at this rate, it’d be harder not to clear it.”
We’d prepared thoroughly.
After the slime, the Raid Party faced a sap moth that welcomed us with ambush.
It had folded its jet-black wings against the vines, striking from the darkness—

‘Watch out, paralysis poison…!’
‘If anyone gets poisoned, fall back!’

Just as expected, there were no casualties this time either.
Overall, it was flawless.
“Watching any more would be a waste of time.”
Time to move on. The 15th Floor.
I contacted Baek Jin-seong through system mail and entered the tower.
I’d waited about five minutes at the rendezvous point.
Baek Jin-seong came sprinting up, breathless.
“I’m here!”
“Right. Accept the party invite.”

[Inviting player Baek Jin-seong to the party.]
[Player Baek Jin-seong has joined the party.]

The moment Baek Jin-seong joined, I rushed into the 15th Floor.
The gazes of the players crowded near the tower entrance in Peronta were sharp.
“Phew… it’ll be better here.”
I relaxed at the sight of the empty Safe Zone, then checked the queue.
“Hm?”
[15th Floor – Queue: 2 / 100]

The queue was empty.
Same as the 14th Floor.
Did I have to wait another two hours?
Though annoying, complaining wouldn’t change anything, so I turned my attention to Baek Jin-seong, who’d entered with me.
“You can start streaming now.”
“You got it!”
He began the broadcast.
The viewers burst into chatter the moment they saw the field’s landscape.
And understandably so—the peaceful aerial garden was indeed incongruous.

– Same thing again?
– This is because of the 13th Floor situation, right?
– Something big coming?

Normally it should have exuded an oppressive miasma unlike any floor before.
But like the 14th Floor, the atmosphere was entirely different.
I found it strange too, naturally.
But there was nothing I could do about it.
So I decided not to dwell on it.
“So now I have to wait two hours regardless…”
It was during one of those moments when I felt more bored by the two hours of mandatory waiting than by the field itself.
Baek Jin-seong spoke up.
“Hyung.”
“What?”
“Um… those viewers are looking for Argelayer?”
Baek Jin-seong scratched his cheek as he spoke carefully, and I nodded quietly in response.
Well, showing her off is better than just asking them to wait two hours doing nothing.
Argelayer actually brings in money.
From the sponsorships that came in last time.
Though I wasn’t planning to pocket it all.
There’s nothing wrong with keeping what’s left over, right?
“Wait.”
I moved to a blind spot beyond Baek Jin-seong’s line of sight and opened a Gate.
The Drones came rushing through in a cluster.
My ragtag drone unit had grown into something respectable by now.
Thirty of them altogether.
And that was after leaving about thirty percent of my standing force back in the city.
Among the Drones were Krayl and Argelayer.
“Sergeant Krayl, reporting for duty at the Commander’s summons, ma’am.”
Unlike Krayl, who spoke with unmistakable confidence, Argelayer looked positively wilted.
She was peeking out from behind Krayl’s back, eyes darting with caution—no doubt still smarting from the scolding she’d received before.
So that’s why she’d been absent for days? She’d been brooding over it?
“Lieutenant Argelayer.”
“Y-yes! Yes!”
“I need your help. Would you be willing to lend a hand?”
“….”
That’s not working, is it?
“You’re the finest soldier we have.”
“….”
“Our very greatest combat strength.”
“….”
I could see the corners of Argelayer’s mouth twitching.
Time for the killing blow.
“One shot from your Ultra-Photon Cannon and nobody will dare breathe.”
Argelayer’s expression finally brightened.
“I will carry out the Commander’s orders with absolute perfection.”
“As expected. A true officer. Most dependable.”
She really is just a kid—looks the part, acts the part, the whole thing.
Satisfied that everything was settled, I gave my instructions.
“Hunter Drones, stay hidden until further orders and stand by near me. The rest of you, let’s move.”
I made my way back to where Baek Jin-seong was waiting.
“There. I brought the Ar you were looking for.”
“Thank you so much.”
As Baek Jin-seong delighted at the sight of Argelayer, I noticed something new—an unfamiliar face standing beside him, and his eyes widened in surprise.
“Wh-wait, brother… is this person also…?”
I gestured toward Krayl, who stood behind me with a composed, weighty expression.
“Krayl, they seem curious about you. Give us a quick introduction, would you? Think of it like a broadcast interview. For their sake.”
“Yes, Commander.”

* * *

“I am Krayl, rank of Sergeant. I serve as Logistics Officer.”
Baek Jin-seong’s eyes lit up.
The moment he laid eyes on Krayl, his instincts screamed at him the same way they had with Argelayer—pure gold.
Just look at the chat.

– So this is Sergeant Krayl.
– Now that’s what I call an ideal middle-aged man!
– How did he get that scar over his right eye?

Baek Jin-seong felt a warm glow spreading through him.
He’d thought the broadcast would dig itself into the ground for another two hours like before.

[Viewers: 530,000]

Viewership spiked the moment Krayl appeared on screen.
The average had been hovering around 150,000 recently, but now it had nearly tripled.
Judging by the speed of the climb, someone must have shared it across the community.
Word was that Neia’s second Humanoid had arrived.
“People are asking what happened to his right eye, by the way.”
“That was from an old battle. I was surrounded by a pack of Shade Bears once, and that’s when I took the injury.”
“Ah, I see.”
Baek Jin-seong studied Neia carefully.
The answer differed from what he’d anticipated.
Neia was a Humanoid.
Jin-seong had expected him to say something about the manufacturing process, but instead it sounded like he was recalling something that had genuinely happened in the past.
Neia merely shrugged at Jin-seong’s words.
Did that mean he didn’t know himself?
Or perhaps it was a firm refusal—that this was sensitive information, and Jin-seong had no business knowing.
Either way, he’d have to be more careful going forward.
‘And what does it matter anyway?’
Streaming, after all, lived and died by audience sentiment.
But the audience clearly didn’t mind.

– His sense of humor is surprisingly sharp.
– Doesn’t look the type, but he’s got real wit to him.
– We should ask his age too, Jin-seong.

“Oh, that’s right—I never did ask how old you are.”
“Twenty-nine.”
“Pardon?”
“Pardon?”
A voice chat from one of the top-tier donors crackled through.

– Looks young for his age, lucky bastard.

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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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