Ex-level Player With the Greatest Civilization of All Time - Chapter 48

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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 48

To put it bluntly, they didn’t calm down easily.
Crail spoke, his face still bewildered by my words.
“But isn’t there blood pouring out?”
“Blood? What blood?”
Only then did I check my body.
“Ugh! What the—”
I jumped in surprise myself for a moment.
Fortunately, when I felt around, it wasn’t my blood.
“This must be that bastard’s blood?”
“Ah… then that’s a relief, at least.”
Sermin, who had been carefully feeling around my body with an urgent expression ever since, searching for wounds, finally recognized the situation and relaxed.
Crail ground his teeth as he spoke.
“I’ve memorized that vicious bastard’s face.”
“What good is memorizing a dead man’s face?”
Now that I saw it clearly, the dead East Asian man’s face had a rather savage expression.
There were quite a few scars on his face.
His eyes were split open, making his demeanor fierce.
Or was it just that his head was ripped open by the Hunter Drone, making it look that way?
In any case, he wasn’t exactly handsome.
Crail answered my question.
“Blood pays for blood.”
“I agree.”
Sermin chimed in, not even attempting to stop them.
Ar kept nodding her head repeatedly.
With even the relatively measured Sermin like this, the atmosphere had become far too hostile.
“What, are you planning to wipe out his entire family?”
“Is there another way? War is simply that—continuing the slaughter until the enemy is destroyed.”
Crail spoke with vacant eyes.
Why was he being so extreme?
“Calm down a bit. No matter how I think about it, that’s just not right. I’m safe, aren’t I? That’s overkill.”
In the middle of soothing Crail and the others, Baek Jinseong entered the cave entrance.
“Boss! Are you alright?”
From the way he was panting, he seemed to have come running urgently.
He must have covered quite a distance in that sprint.
Just how loud did I scream?
“Anyway, you came at the right time.”
Right after I said that.
Baek Jinseong came rushing over and kicked the jaw of the already-dead corpse.
The neck came apart, and the head was smashed into the corner.
The force was brutally devastating.
Come to think of it, didn’t I get bonus stats proportional to the viewer count…
“You bastard. How dare you harbor killing intent toward anyone.”
I’d only asked them to help calm down, so why were you going wild too?
“Whoa, whoa, settle down.”
But it didn’t go as intended.
I finally raised my voice.
“Enough!!!”
Once the commotion quieted down a bit, I spoke with a stern expression.
“If I have to say it again, you all should be prepared for the consequences.”
Soft words seemed endless, so I spoke a bit more forcefully.
Fortunately, they finally showed signs of settling down.

– Ohhh… charisma.
– No wonder Neia is crazy about him.
– But isn’t that the Red King?
– Wait, that’s right! It’s the Red King!

Baek Jinseong’s eyes widened as he finally got a look at the man’s face rolling across the ground.
“The Red King!”
I didn’t recognize the face, but the name alone struck me hard.
In Peronta at least, the Red King was a name that carried formidable notoriety.
Guild master of the Blood Gate, a hunter-exclusive guild.
A hunter who’d abandoned climbing the tower and lived by preying on players instead.
Of course, the Red King’s fame wasn’t merely because he led the Blood Gate.
He’d awakened in the early days of the Great Upheaval and stayed in Peronta long enough to reach a considerable Level.
Reportedly in the high forties.
What a Level 40+ meant in Peronta was, naturally, immense.
Perhaps even more threatening than the vanguard teams clearing the 70-something floors.
The reason being: he faced no penalties.
“…So I’m telling you I killed the Red King?”
Luck had certainly played its part.
Without that twenty-percent chance Rewind triggering, winning alone would have been impossible.
Though in the end, my Hunter Drone dealt the finishing blow.
Still, this man I’d killed by sheer fortune turned out to be someone major.
“But what would the Red King possibly gain by targeting me?”
My caution toward snipers until now stemmed from one thing.
They might harbor some sinister scheme involving my abilities.
But what’s the profit in simply beheading someone?
If they wanted to kidnap me or subdue me to get the drone, that would make sense.
But killing me outright? There was virtually nothing to gain.
“Hmm…”
As I sank into that thought,
a viewer spoke up.

– A huge bounty went up on Black Track a couple days ago, right?

Black Track is a professional hunter request site.
You’d think it operated in the shadows,
but in reality it runs at half-public scale.
Why doesn’t the government block it?
Because Black Track’s servers sit in a Red-aligned nation,
so sanctions are difficult—and even if general nations implement access bans, a simple VPN gets you through anyway.
Regardless, Black Track apparently posted that hefty bounty days ago.
Not the kind of story you let slide.

– For real? A trillion won?
– What? They’re really set on this, huh…

I’d steeled myself somewhat for this.
But honestly, I hadn’t expected so many people wishing for my death—and the absurdity of it left me speechless.
What had I done wrong?
Just as I was barely suppressing a sense of injustice,
a chime sounded.

[Cliff’s End—Reach the Summit 0/1]

The queue had ended, and my next mission came through.
Something about this moment.
A serious incident had indeed occurred,
“but the work still has to be done.”

* * *

[Cliff’s End—Reach the Summit 0/1]

I stood at the base of the cliff, looking up toward the summit.

– Look at Ar’s face, haha
– Think we can climb the Cliff?
– Oh, haha, that’s a hard counter for sure.
– But from what I heard earlier, didn’t Ar kill the Red King too? So maybe it’s possible?

Unfortunately, that had been pure luck.
In other words, with my greatest weakness — insufficient strength and agility — climbing this Cliff that ordinary players avoid at all costs was impossible.

[Floor 20 Waiting List 83 / 100]
[Floor 20 Waiting List 61 / 100]
[Floor 20 Waiting List 46 / 100]…

The queue was shrinking at an alarming rate.
But was I really supposed to clear this mission right now?
Of course, my situation was better than theirs in some ways.
At the very least, I wouldn’t have to worry about falling to my death.
With Sermin and Crail by my side, they’d keep me alive.
But the path ahead looked grueling.
And there was the SSS-rank conquest to think about too.
It was right then, as I was beginning to wonder if this was finally the moment I’d have to abandon a conquest, that something caught my eye.
“Wait, hold on.”
Ar had entered my field of vision.
“Yes? What is it?”
The viewers answered Ar’s question for her.

– SSS-rank mount incoming~

* * *

Ding—
[Cliff’s Summit – Reach the peak 1/1]

Ar made an excellent mount.
After switching to drone form, I rode up with Baek Jinseong to the summit.
If I’d tried climbing without this shortcut, there would’ve been no hope.
Ar, back in humanoid form, was panting heavily.
I gave her shoulder a gentle pat.
“You did well, Lieutenant.”
“I… no, it was nothing…”
“More importantly, look at this, sir.”
When I turned to see what he meant, the mist lifted and sunset light bathed the peak.
If I’d simply waited for the automatic return to the lobby out of habit after completing the mission, I would have regretted it.
It was breathtaking.

– What a beautiful sunset.
– It’s like…

“Did you manage to force them out?”
“Yes, sir.”
Regardless, Floor 20 was finally cleared.
And with it, Peronta was graduation complete.
There was one concern, however.
‘The Bounty…’
I’d need to devise countermeasures regarding that going forward.
The calculation finished, and rewards began to be distributed.

[SSS-rank Conquest Achieved!]
[An Unprecedented Record!!]
…
[Your record has been inscribed in the Hall of Fame.]
[Rewards have been adjusted upward.]
[Experience has been granted.]
[Your level has increased.]

“My level went up.”

[An S-rank Reward Box (Floors 1-5) has been added to your inventory.]
[An S-rank Material Box (Floors 1-5) has been added to your inventory.]
…

For the first time today, the Material Box had also made its appearance.
Was that the reason my luck had been genuinely rotten earlier?
Items that hadn’t dropped before finally showed up, as if I’d warded off evil.
Even the Level Up notification finally revealed itself.
“Maybe I should call it a day here?”
Originally, I’d toyed with the idea of pushing ahead even after clearing Floor 20.
But there was an unease that kept me from wanting to continue.
Baek Jinseong had been genuinely delighted.
“That was a wise decision, sir.”
“Why are you so pleased? Were you that exhausted?”
“Not exactly, but who knows what sort of people might be waiting in the Queue next? I was thinking we ought to exercise some restraint until we’ve prepared additional countermeasures.”
I found myself in agreement, since I’d been turning that very concern over in my mind.
“True. Broadcasting alongside the climbing does bring with it certain inevitable problems.”
From the very first moment I’d started collaborating with him, I hadn’t been unaware of it.
Though I hadn’t expected them to come at me so brazenly just to take my life.
In any case, the moment broadcasting came up in conversation, Baek Jinseong flinched.
He was probably worried I’d drop him with some extreme measure.
After all, without the broadcast, the probability of being targeted would plummet to nearly zero.
I let out a soft chuckle.
“Your true feelings are written all over your face.”
“My apologies. But my concern wasn’t simply over that. You see, since we’re in a mutually beneficial arrangement, I’m genuinely—”
“Yeah, I know.”
I said as much to Baek Jinseong and began preparing to leave.
I’d picked up what felt like a troublesome problem along the way, and the mood wasn’t sitting well with me.
‘The fact that the Hunter Drone Special-class units have come out doesn’t mean this problem will be solved by that alone.’
I was on my way out of the waiting room with a vaguely uneasy expression when—
Flash.
“Right, I’d forgotten about this…”
The Enhancement Event.
When I’d cleared Floor 10, there had been nothing but Special Assembly, making it practically mandatory.
But this time, it was different.

[Promotion Examination]
– Promote one unit, including Drones. The promoted unit receives one round of reinforcement.

[Special Assembly II]
– 5% chance to produce a Special-class unit.
– 1% chance to produce a Heroic-class unit.

The two skills I’d obtained while climbing came to mind.
I spent a moment examining both options before making my choice.
“I’ll go with this one.”

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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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