Ex-level Player With the Greatest Civilization of All Time - Chapter 29

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

Episode 29

“Ah… I see.”
Baek Jin-seong nodded as if he understood that I didn’t want to be pressed further.
I turned to Naia.
“Support me in the combat phases too, from now on.”

‘I shall render my full assistance. Beloved.’

Whatever the case might be.
Looking at the results, there was no longer any need for me to move around.
“Can you handle the Drone movements based on the map data too?”
‘Understood.’

Once I delegated the task of analyzing the maps Krayl sent and moving the Drones accordingly to Naia, my workload evaporated along with it.
“You have to be precise about it.”

‘Leave it to me.’

Thanks to Krayl’s abilities, I didn’t need to walk anywhere.
I didn’t need to control the Drones myself.
With essentially all my tasks gone, I just sat around chatting with Baek Jin-seong and Krim.
“By the way, it’s been quiet ever since we ran into those Raid Party members earlier, hasn’t it?”
“Come to think of it, yes.”
Already thirty minutes had passed.
Yet no combat had occurred since then.
Just as the conversation was beginning to thin out and boredom was setting in, Baek Jin-seong cautiously broached the subject.
“Say, there’s something I wanted to ask.”
“What?”
“Don’t you think it’s about time you lifted the Chat Ban?”
“Oh. Right, we still had that active, didn’t we?”
I hadn’t been particularly angry about it in the first place.
It was more of a reflexive rejection, a sense of awkwardness.
I nodded, and Baek Jin-seong lifted the Chat Ban.

– Freedom at last!
– Long live independence!
– Naia is notoriously shy.
– Tsk… you want another timeout? Can’t you watch your mouth?

It seemed the players had used the silence as a time for reflection—the chat felt restrained now.
Good enough.
I was satisfied with how things stood at the moment.

‘Boom-boom-boom!’

A sudden loud crash erupted from Krayl’s screen, which had been quiet until now.
I checked to see what was happening.
He was surrounded by strange flowers.
The players who spotted them recoiled in horror.

‘I remember now. That’s the one.’
‘I lost consciousness after being covered in those Spores. I have no memory after that.’

The dark crimson flowers scattered across the space released murky clouds of Spore powder.
At least for a machine like Krayl, it might be one thing; but what would happen to the human players if they were exposed was already clear.
Having already experienced it, they seemed uniquely terrified.

– What happens if Krayl touches it too?
– You don’t think he’s betraying us?
– This is bad, isn’t it?

Especially since there was no guarantee that the players would survive another infection.
The aftereffects were severe enough that even one exposure had nearly crippled their combat ability.
It was in that moment of held breath that it happened.
Whiiiish—
As Krayl’s eyes flooded with blue light, the air around him grew still.
The spores threatening the players did the same.
‘That’s the thing I saw before…!’
The same power that hadn’t let a speck of dust stir at the construction site.
The air around Krayl shifted, responding to currents of his making.
Not merely settling to the ground but billowing outward in waves.
What had been closing in on them like a siege was now hurled back to a safe distance.

Whoosh— Whoooom—

Once the spores were cleared, the rest was straightforward.
The drones identified the sources releasing the spores and began dismantling them.
The flowers burst open, spraying green sap.
So they really were plants after all?
Krayl spoke matter-of-factly.

“Situation resolved. Moving out.”
Krayl’s stock among the viewers surged once again.

* * *

Cha Seong-hoon glanced at the Raid Party’s mood.
‘Somehow it’s been patched back together…’
They had been on the verge of fracturing, but the unexpected crisis had forced them to unite again.
Still, calling the atmosphere good would have been a stretch.
“…Sigh.”
The Raid Party was thick with tension.
Much of that weight came from losing another twenty or so comrades not long ago.
Teammates overwhelmed by spores, their reason paralyzed.
They had managed to cut a path through and retreat, minimizing casualties as best they could.
Yet the worsening of the atmosphere seemed tied to leaving those people behind.
But back then, that had been the only choice.
Fortunately, after the fungal bloom took hold, they weren’t being attacked by monsters anymore.
The only way to save those people was for them to reach the end of this floor and clear it.
If they did that, everyone would live.
“Ambush! Battle stations now!!”
Rumble, rumble, rumble—
At the vanguard’s call, they took combat positions.
But quiet held for a while.
“What is it? It’s just a statue.”
“Wake up, will you?”
When those who sensed something amiss went to look, they found
a well-crafted stone statue.
The goddess statue they’d seen before the Rest Temple.
Apparently, they’d mistaken it for something else.
But it wasn’t hard to understand.
They’d already fallen for false alarms several times since letting their guard down.
Usually at the lead position’s expense.
Being jumpy over small things was hardly surprising anymore.
Similar incidents kept happening after that.
Bang, crash-boom—
Casting spells randomly at the ceiling.
He swung his weapon, mistaking an ally’s noise for an enemy.
Fortunately, no one died, but it was an ugly moment.
This time, raised voices escalated to the brink of fists before Cha Seong-hoon stepped between them.
“Stop. What good does it do us to fight each other?”
Only after he’d separated the two and barely calmed them did one of his lieutenants speak.
“Wait—do you hear that sound?”
His aide gestured ahead.
Cha Seong-hoon paused, and only then did he catch it—a faint vibration through the ground.
Small at first, it grew steadily clearer, traveling through the stone beneath their feet.
“Damn it! Battle stations, everyone! This is the real thing!”
The moment Cha Seong-hoon’s voice rang out—
massive ants surged down the central corridor in a writhing tide.
Each one stood nearly two meters tall.
He drove his blade at the nearest insect, its mandibles spread wide.
Ting—
The steel bounced harmlessly away.
The close-range fighters were struggling badly against the ants’ relentless, snapping jaws when the mages finally called out.
“Heads down, everyone! Spell incoming!”
“Flare Burst!”
“Force Impact!”
Mercifully, the explosion’s force swept the ants backward.
But the problem was their sheer number.
They climbed over the corpses and came again.
“Hold the line until the next cast!”
Still, there was one advantage they hadn’t lost.
Fortunately, the terrain favored them.
The Raid Party stood in a wide junction, while the ants could only pour from the narrow corridors—a bottleneck.
So in the end, they concentrated their firepower with surgical precision and barely pushed through without losses.
“Casualties this round?”
“None, thankfully. We owe a great debt to the priests.”
Cha Seong-hoon’s gaze settled on the contingent dispatched from the temple.
Stern-faced clerics led by the High Priest, dispensing Holy Power to the wounded.
Since the first slime encounter, they hadn’t wasted Holy Power on monsters themselves, but whenever someone fell injured, they healed them without being asked twice.
‘It would have been a bloodbath without them…’
In the second half, he’d bristled at their reluctance to spend Holy Power despite clearly sensing Demonic Energy flowing through the creatures—but now, as the pressure mounted, he was simply grateful for their aid.
Gratitude erased resentment.
“Regroup and resupply. Make sure everyone gets the order.”
“Yes, sir!”
Cha Seong-hoon was about to call a full halt for recovery when—
Pssssssss…
“You’ve got to be kidding me…”
The sound was unmistakable.
Just tens of minutes ago, they’d heard this same scratching march of ants.
The difference was that this time it wasn’t coming from just the front corridor.
‘All three?’
The sound echoed from both the diagonally branching tunnels as well.
“Ants—!”
“Three directions? They’ve lost their minds!”
“We need two more tanks on this flank!”
“Hell, we’re undermanned here too!”
Cha Seong-hoon’s eyes caught it then—a pale, viscous secretion.
Coating the bodies of the ants scattered across the cavern floor.
Pheromone.
He cursed himself for not seeing it sooner.
“Don’t panic! Fall back! Retreat to the entrance tunnel and hold them there—we can use the choke point. Move!”
One mercy: the ants didn’t cast magic.
Their armor-hard exoskeletons and their jaws—strong enough to shear through steel—were nightmare enough.
But that meant if they fought along a narrow passage, they could still hold the high ground, even if not as easily as before.
“My arms are shaking…!”
“Hold the line! Hold!”
“If that barrier breaks, we’re finished!”
The problem was that their numbers had swelled far beyond the last encounter.
The clearing was packed with them, and still more poured through the corridor.
‘Those massive bodies climbing walls?’
True, he’d managed to hold the line by concentrating fire on those approaching from the ceiling before they could breach the corridor, but it wasn’t working.
At this rate, the barrier would fall—it was only a matter of time.
That was the moment Cha Seong-hoon clenched his teeth.
Whoosh—
A beam of blue light streaked past his temple.
Crack.
It tore straight through the massed ants.
Then another beam screamed through from behind, and another, and another—a dizzying barrage.
The endless swarms that had been pouring forward were scythed down without mercy.
The clearing that had been choked with ants cleared at breathtaking speed.
‘He cleared all that… that easily?’
Of course, Cha Seong-hoon could have done the same.
Without the penalty status, he might even have managed it alone.
But right now—it was beyond him.
The beam of light hung in place as the last ant fell.
Thump-thump-thump.
Footsteps echoed from behind at the same moment.
Cha Seong-hoon turned to look.
He was startled by the unfamiliar man’s appearance, but only for a breath.
Following the stranger’s back, Cha Seong-hoon caught sight of a Drone materializing behind him—and his breath caught short.
‘Naia…!’
Even though he still couldn’t fathom why her Drone was here,
that puzzle was about to become irrelevant.
The familiar faces appearing in the Drone’s wake answered everything.
“You’re…!”
“I’ve returned, brother.”
The original Raid Party members were regrouping behind him.
Shin Yi-sa, with whom he’d sworn brotherhood, approached Cha Seong-hoon.
“You’ve come back to your senses! Thank the heavens!”
Shin Yi-sa leaned close to Cha Seong-hoon’s ear, his voice thick with relief.
“It seems to be Naia’s new Humanoid, sir.”
“Ah… that explains the Drone, then.”
Cha Seong-hoon was aware of that thing Argelayer—if it had anything to do with Naia, he’d picked up details whether he wanted them or not from the news and internet.
Her previous model had been like this too—nearly indistinguishable from human.
And this one was no different.
“But are you well? Your condition…?”
“I’m ashamed, sir. I fear I won’t be much help. I’m not in good shape.”
“Don’t say that. You being safe at all is a blessing.”
The joy of reunion wasn’t his alone to feel.
Across the Raid Party, voices rose to welcome back the living.
Cha Seong-hoon took in the warmth that now spread through the company, and he turned to study Krayl anew with fresh eyes.
‘He came through all this treacherous ground… with just that much power?’
Were all of Naia’s Humanoids these kinds of monsters?
Naia herself had become something of a mystery to him.
Because of that, an intrusion would normally have set off alarms,
but how could he object when this stranger had just saved them from certain death, and had rescued his comrades besides?
Cha Seong-hoon held his tongue.
He had his pride, after all.
‘Still, I’d like to know.’
How Naia had come to be here.
But there was no time for idle conversation.
Their priority was to escape while they still had strength left.
And from that perspective, Krayl’s arrival was perfect timing.
With his aid, clearing the dungeon no longer seemed impossible.
“I won’t ask for details—but we need your strength. Will you help us?”
“It aligns with the wishes of she who sent me here. I’ll do it.”
Krayl joined the Raid Party without hesitation and took point at the vanguard.
They encountered various monsters afterward, but since Krayl’s arrival, they found themselves wondering why they’d been so on edge before—the creatures fell apart with simplicity now.
Still, the feeling was hollow.
Vine moths.
Vine spiders.
Mushroom flowers.
Vine ants, even.
Watching creatures that had threatened their lives burst apart one after another left him feeling oddly deflated.
“What’s wrong?”
But Krayl, who had been advancing with unstoppable momentum, suddenly came to a halt.
Cha Seong-hoon asked him in a voice that had grown somewhat more humble, but no answer came.
‘Is there something here?’
It was just as he silently examined the side wall that Krayl was studying.
Beam shot. Bzzzt-bzzt-bzzt.
The Drones under Krayl’s command began firing beams at the wall.
And then…
“I suspect we’ve been walking in circles this entire time. It must be the work of whatever entity is controlling this place.”
The vines split apart and the wall crumbled away, revealing a massive Cavern.
They had finally encountered the World Tree—stained pitch black.

* * *

Bzzzt-bzzt-bzzt.
The wall collapsed beneath the beam cannon’s assault.
A vast Cavern.
Within it, a World Tree of tremendous proportions.
Crowning the World Tree that filled that silent space was an enormous obsidian sphere, its size almost impossible to grasp.
At first glance, it reeked of ill omen.
“Ar, blast it.”

‘Understood.’

“Naia, get coordinates from Krayl and support with artillery fire.”

‘Instructions received. Beginning calculations.’

In that same moment, as he checked the monitor to commend Krayl’s contributions as the architect of this operation, he saw it.
Bzzzt-bzzt-bzzt.
Vines erupting through the earth, surging down upon Krayl’s group.
Crash—Boom-boom-boom—
Fortunately, Aegis’s Barrier deflected the assault.
The Drones’ cannon fire burst the vines apart.
Yet the vines kept emerging anew, swelling to a degree that Krayl alone could no longer manage.

‘We’re moving in to help! Mages, strike at the vines! Everyone else, keep up the pressure until completion!’
‘Protect the mages!’
‘Uooooh—’

With that, the Raid Party threw their full support behind the effort, bringing a measure of balance to the chaos.
The scene on the monitor had devolved into pandemonium in an instant.
Krim, watching it unfold, wore an expression of somber conflict.
Those on screen.
The priests of the Temple.
And Naia, standing right before him.
Not a single person among them was holding back from giving their all in this moment.
Except one.
…….
Krim left the chamber.
As he distanced himself from the group, his eyes opened with resolve.
“I can no longer afford to run.”

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