Ex-level Player With the Greatest Civilization of All Time - Chapter 40

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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 40

“What… what the…?!”
I steadied my ringing ears and took in the explosion that had erupted without warning.
Beyond the flames, the interior of the hall was a complete wreck.
Though the blast made it hard to see clearly.
Broken furniture and debris lay scattered across the floor.

— Is this an attack?
— Wait, what about Krail and the Hunter Drones?
— They penetrated the perimeter?

Looking at the viewers’ reactions, I felt the same shock. That was my first question too.
I’d been meticulous about security during the preparation for this event.
They’d taken them all out and gotten inside?
Without making a sound?
But there was no time to dwell on that right now.
The most important thing was Baek Jin-seong’s safety.

— Jin-seong made it through, right?
— Well, the stream’s still going, so at least he wasn’t killed instantly…
— What the hell is happening?

The explosion just now had been particularly violent because Baek Jin-seong was the target.
So I couldn’t help but worry for his safety.
As the blast began to clear, Baek Jin-seong emerged from the smoke.
Unscathed.
‘He’s alive after all….’
I’d had faith in Sermin.
Or rather, that’s a lie.
Since it was such an unexpected crisis.
I’d been worried that even Sermin might not be able to respond in time.
But aside from confirming his safety, there was bad news as well.
Because of those who appeared as the smoke cleared.

— It’s Eclipse!
— No, there are executives here!
— There are two high-ranked executives?
— Three executive-class members came?

The ones who’d caused the explosion.
It was now revealed they were from Eclipse.
And they’d brought considerable forces.
Three executives alone.
And about thirty rank-and-file members.
“Still, our side isn’t at a disadvantage either, is it?”
Even excluding Krail and the Gangseong Guild members, the forces remaining in the hall were substantial.
The players from Japan and Britain who’d collected their items just moments ago, plus the various Players from other nations still in the hall.
And on top of that, around ten Hunter Drones that had rushed over at the commotion.
But where was James?
He should have collected his item just now.
I didn’t see him or the Arc Guild members anywhere.
“It’s a bit unfortunate, but….”
With this much, we shouldn’t lose.
Eclipse’s executives were strong, no doubt about it, but there were plenty of skilled Players here as well.
And thanks to Sermin’s miraculous reaction speed, no one had been caught in the blast or killed.
Everything was perfect.
Whizz— Whizz—
The battle began with an assault from the drones.

* * *

Just as James had anticipated, Shun Lei of China would be his final competitor for the Goddess’s Tear.
China too had accepted that their ultimate rival would be the United States.
And he already knew the probability of defeat in such a competition was high.
“It’s Plan B. Execute it.”
So China had made preparations for this eventuality as well.
Rather than surrender the Goddess’s Tear to America and watch them grow stronger.
They had decided to destroy it entirely so no one could possess it.
“Move out.”
Muklin—a special operations unit of Players cultivated in secret.
Their objective was simple.
Kill James once he received the Goddess’s Tear and recover the item.
After all, Peronta was a place where the power of high-ranking Rankers was limited.
In other words, it was the perfect grave for those of elite standing.
Of course, even under such penalties, their fundamental strength would remain.
But if these elite operatives, trained in secret, came at him with resolve, they could manage it.
It was certainly cowardly, one might say.
They had competed fairly, lost, and now sought to murder their victor—a baseless, contemptible act by any measure.
But everything depends on perspective.
They simply possessed different weapons.
Just as America wielded capital as their tool, they wielded ruthlessness.
“Even if we cannot recover the Goddess’s Tear, it matters not. In the name of eternal glory and prosperity, annihilate them.”
“In the name of eternal glory and prosperity!”
They rushed forward through the rain-soaked streets toward their objective.
But their operation was intercepted before it could even begin.
Someone had detected their suspicious movements beforehand.
They resisted fiercely, but it was futile.
They lunged, they matched speed, they laid traps—but every stratagem proved hollow.
As if they were already known, each was dismantled.
A mediocre assault of mere numbers.
Sometimes even a single hero can break such tactics.
Now it unfolded before their eyes.
“Is the gap truly this wide…? And yet, even so….”
In the end, they all became corpses.
Only one remained.
He reset his grip on the dagger and charged forward.
Whoosh—
The result was the same path as his comrades.
He held on for a moment longer, then became riddled with beams from the Hunter Drones and collapsed facedown in a puddle of rainwater.
“Nothing but a monster….”
Krail repeated those final words.
They rang sweetly in his ears.
“A monster, he called me….”
Was there any higher praise from an enemy on the field of battle?
It was a gratifying assessment that steadied his heart—still troubled by the disappointing result he had delivered to his Successor not long ago.
Fwush, fwush, fwush—
The corpses of the dead began to dissolve into blue mana particles, one by one, being sent back to reality.
This was the natural end for all Players who perished within the Tower.
They were outsiders.
Returning to their own world was both harsh and inevitable.
“Huff… huff… Where are the enemies?”
Hearing Cha Sun-ah’s voice, Krail turned around.
Just before the fighting started, he had informed her of the situation here.
He had told her reinforcements were unnecessary.
And yet she had rushed over regardless.
“I’ve already handled them all.”
“Didn’t you say there were over fifty of them?”
“They were not particularly remarkable individuals, I should say.”
Cha Sun-ah regarded Krail anew, marveling inwardly at what she saw.
She had sensed something extraordinary from him once before, on the Hidden Floor.
But this was an impact of an entirely different magnitude.
Facing multiple Players who advanced with reason and purpose was a fundamentally different problem from fighting mindless monsters that merely charged.
‘He really is formidable.’
A humanoid, after all.
One specialized in analyzing, coordinating, and conquering the battlefield itself.
Perhaps his computational capacity had increased as well.
Before, he had already emanated the polished, seasoned air of a veteran soldier without flaw.
Now it felt as though he had shattered through another dimensional barrier, reborn entirely anew.
“Still, you might have answered us. Then there would have been no need to rush here like this.”
The Gangseong Guild members—
she could see them catching their breath.
“I abandoned my former self. For one as strong as I am now, such a thing is nothing remarkable.”
“Right, right. Then there’s no need to report this performance to Neia either.”
“That is….”
The moment Neia’s name was mentioned, Cha Sun-ah caught sight of Krail hesitating as though he’d never faltered before, and she couldn’t help but smile.

A low rumble shook the air—

For an instant she thought it was thunder, but she realized the sound had come from behind her.
And the location of the explosion was….
“The Auction House?”

* * *

Bursts of light rippled outward—
The barrage from the Hunter Drones scattered harmlessly against the Defensive Barrier Katrik had deployed.
The heavy, charged strikes from the combat drones proved no more effective.
The refracted beams struck the surrounding walls and detonated in bursts of flame.
Katrik went further still, unleashing Magic counterfires against the drones themselves.
The strike lashed out with vicious intent—
But a Mana Field suddenly materialized mere inches before impact, blocking it and rendering his attack useless.
“Hmm?”
It had been a strike packed with considerable force.
An unexpected result.
He turned his gaze sharply toward Sermin, and as though his pride had cracked, he was about to shift his target back to Sermin and attack once more—
“We’ve recovered the Stone Tablet, Katrik.”
“…I see.”
A member of his unit handed him the Stone Tablet.
“Well done.”
Katrik secured it and turned to leave.
He understood what mattered most.
His anger subsided; the objective achieved, he departed.
The drones, however, seemed to have no intention of letting him go.
They fired upon him as he withdrew.
Katrik moved to intercept, and pulled something from his coat.
“This will suffice to deal with you.”
Katrik hurled a glass vial no larger than his fist to the ground.
The pitch-black liquid contained within spilled forth.
It splattered across the floor—
A clay-like substance resembling a slime whose core had ruptured and began to leak.
In the next instant, it sprouted spines in all directions like a sea urchin.

* * *

The suddenly unleashed needles became targets for everything—drones and Players alike.
Fine, hair-thin needles saturated the entire hall.
But fortunately, no casualties had occurred.
Crackle—
It was thanks to Sermin’s near-miraculous Defensive Barrier.
Between the drones and players, there were well over thirty of them.
She’d protected them all.
Crash.
“Oof… that was close….”
She’d prevented the disaster of being skewered by spines.
But the players and drones that had been launched straight into the corners had taken the full brunt of the impact.
As they picked themselves up and took stock of the situation, they couldn’t help but gasp.

– What even is that?
– The wall is melting?
– Did it absorb them?

Unlike those that hadn’t penetrated Sermin’s barrier.
The fate of those that the spines had pierced was shocking.
They melted away into a viscous sludge, became Black Liquid, and were sucked into the black clay mass.
And in the end, the black abomination swelled further.
It was now dozens of times larger than before.

Shrieeeek—

The black creature let out an unholy wail.
Now the entire Auction House district shook as if it might lift off the ground.
“What is that….”
“Be on guard! Something’s coming.”
Dozens of limbs shot forth from the black clay, hurtling toward the players and drones.
Whoosh—
The players severed them.
“Just because it keeps still doesn’t mean we can ignore it…!”
“Try acting up again.”
The drones intercepted them.
Ping—ping—
As the players and drones began their exchange with the creature, chaos spread swiftly throughout all of Peronta.
It became utter pandemonium in an instant.
Watching them unfold with indifference, the Japanese Ranker Yamada spoke as though this was actually convenient.
“This isn’t as impressive as I thought it’d be.”
“As long as we’re not on the receiving end of an attack.”
“There’s no way we would be.”
Yamada and the other Amaterasu Guild players made short work of the incoming limbs.
“Apologies for the delay. Baek Jin-seong.”
In the tense scene, Baek Jin-seong—kept alive by Sermin’s close protection—was relieved to see Krail’s arrival.
“You’re alive….”
“Of course. But what is this…?”
“It’s hard to explain in detail, but we need to dispose of that creature.”
The players fought fiercely.
The Amaterasu Guild Rankers in particular shone brilliantly.
The Korean Association personnel were there too.
And the representative from the Knights Guild of Britain, though they barely managed to be window dressing in comparison.
The way they cut through the hands coming at them in real-time was nothing short of inspired, so there was no contest.
“I’ll lend my strength as well.”
Thanks to the Japanese Rankers’ prowess, the drones’ situation was favorable.
The moment Krail opened his injured eye and joined in perfectly timed, the drones concentrated their firepower.
The drones unleashed a barrage toward the relatively defenseless black creature.
Boom—crash—
The jet-black thing’s slimy skin burst and scattered, the creature knocked backward.
Then the combat drones’ beams—now fully charged—struck in unison, and a deafening explosion rocked the earth itself.
“Did we…”
“Finish it?”
Baek Jin-seong asked Krail, whose expression remained grim.
“Is it over?”
“No. It seems we fell just short.”
The drizzle that had ceased began to fall again.
At the same moment, the grotesque creature that emerged appeared cornered, tearing apart in multiple places.
Yet in the next instant, it swelled its body even larger.
“It absorbed that? All of it?”
Silence descended upon the conference room at the sight of the creature recovering in perfect condition.

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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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