Ex-level Player With the Greatest Civilization of All Time - Chapter 53

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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 53

Sermin’s deployment sent a shiver down my spine.
The mere fact of her stepping onto the front line pushed back a line that had been teetering on the brink of collapse.
Thanks to her, our forces—on the verge of overheating—finally had a moment to breathe.
Crack—boom-boom-boom!
Not just the monsters attacking Sermin, but the creatures all around her were swept away like waves.
Flesh scattered. Blood pooled.
At the center of it all moved a silver-blue Valkyrie, gliding across the battlefield with serene grace.
The monsters cowered at such overwhelming firepower.
Even the beasts that had shown no hesitation against Argellaire’s Ultra Particle Cannon now trembled in fear—such was her prowess.
I stood transfixed, watching; then snapped back to myself and seized the moment to attempt a reorganization.
“Neia.”

“Yes.”

“How are the Sizrunner Unit’s preparations?”

“The Sizrunner Unit has nearly completed its flanking maneuver. However, due to the need to evade Monster Waves during repositioning, the time to launch the rear ambush will take somewhat longer. Support fire is estimated in approximately fifteen minutes and thirty seconds.”
I took in the state of the battlefield, and a small regret settled over me.
“Did I make a mistake sending them around?”
Neia had seemed to agree, so I’d acted without accounting for the time the flanking maneuver would require.
But Neia denied this.

“That is not the case. The power loss that occurs during the Sizrunner Unit’s flanking maneuver is already factored into the calculations. There is no need for self-recrimination.”

“Then that’s fortunate…”
It put my mind somewhat at ease.
Yet I couldn’t shake the lingering unease entirely.
And for good reason: the damage from the intense fighting that had just occurred moments before.
It was far from negligible.
Aegis had overheated under the relentless assault of the flying gargoyles and abandoned the front line entirely.
In the gap that created, numerous Combat Drones had been destroyed in real time.
Roughly ten units.
This was permanent combat power loss—not recoverable even after a cooldown cycle.
It was a blow that stung.
‘Of course, the situation is favorable now.’
Whoosh—boom-boom.
Sermin, deployed mere moments ago, was performing brilliantly like a lone warrior against a thousand, much like a master strategist’s equipment.
Yet even she, a name as fitting as the Ten-Thousand-Killer, could not maintain this pace indefinitely.
The real question was how much of the fatigue accumulated on the front line she could recover before her limits were reached.
“Neia, how much longer can Sermin maintain her Shockwave state?”

“Energy consumption is steeper than anticipated. At this rate, depletion is estimated in approximately three minutes.”

“So that’s how it is…”
I fell into thought.
I’d watched for about a minute, but the heat that had built up showed no signs of dissipating easily.
‘If this continues, do I have to take the damage head-on? Is there another way?’
Neia had mentioned initially that the casualty rate would be at least fifty percent.
She’d said that by sending the Sizrunner Unit around the flank, some of those losses could be mitigated.
Yet the damage was still too severe to accept at face value.
And I couldn’t even imagine how much the City would suffer.
‘Is there… anything else I can do?’
Then I happened to spot a tall tower rising on one of the corner monitors.
It was a tower some distance away from the Northwestern Battlefield.
The tower fired Plasma shells at a monster swarm that had strayed from the main group and wandered off course.
Bang!
The monsters vanished cleanly, without spilling a drop of blood.
Watching them disappear, I thought we might be able to use this to our advantage, so I spoke to Neia.
“Neia, how many defensive towers do we have available to support the current combat?”

『Five towers are positioned within firing range, sir.』

“What if we accept some damage to the City and pull the front line back about a kilometer?”

『Thirty towers, sir.』

“Do it.”

『Understood. I’m marking the optimal retreat path now.』

“Krail, you getting this? Fall back to the coordinates Neia’s sending you, and make it quick.”
Sermin’s Shockwave doesn’t have much time left.
Best case scenario, maybe a minute.
The real question now was how to pull the defensive line back with minimal casualties—
Just as the retreat was beginning, Neia’s voice came through.

『I’m extracting Captain Sermin now.』

“Already?”

『The impact energy consumption exceeded projections. If we delay the retreat, I cannot guarantee Captain Sermin’s safety either.』

That was absolutely unacceptable.
“Do what you need to do.”

『Understood.』

I called Krail back immediately from his current mission.
If the monsters broke through now, while our lines were still in disarray from the pullback, it would be catastrophic.
“Krail.”
“Yes, Successor.”
“We’ve got a problem. The enemy’s about to pour through. If they hit us while we’re exposed like this, the casualties will be impossible to control.”
“I understand. Should I hold the line?”
“No—I want you to save as many Combat Drones as you can and fall back to the rally point. Every one counts.”
“I’ll manage it.”
Was he even understanding the order correctly?
Despite being handed what amounted to an unreasonable command, Krail remained perfectly calm.
He wasn’t just accepting it—there was something almost eager in his tone, which struck me as odd.
‘Could it be…’
I still hadn’t seen Krail’s enhanced specifications firsthand.
I’d heard rumors about his skills, at least.
But nothing suggested he had anything that could turn this battle around.
Yet right now, I had no choice but to put my faith in him.
“Remember—your survival is what matters most.”
“Of course. I have no intention of making this place my grave, I assure you.”
Krail held his ground alone while moving the drones laterally away from the front.
I’d expected him to form a separate squadron to meet the enemy head-on.
Instead, he stood there alone—and it made me deeply uneasy.
‘What in the world is he planning?’
As I watched anxiously, it happened.
When the monster horde closed to within one hundred meters.
Krail released a hawk high into the air.
The bird soared above the enemy formation, beginning to glow red, and then—
Crack—
It burst, creating a vast field of crimson electrical current.
The magnetic field expanded rapidly, its diameter engulfing a full kilometer of space.
I was concentrating, wondering what on earth he was trying to accomplish with it.
The monsters caught in the magnetic field began to stutter, their movements visibly slower.
They were high-level monsters, so the strikes didn’t appear to pose a lethal threat.
But their movement speed had clearly diminished.
‘Was the technique really that powerful?’
As the monsters under the magnetic field’s influence slowed, a stagnation took hold.
This would do.
That’s when I thought it.
“Arrow, this should be enough….”
I was reaching for the command microphone to order a retreat.
Krail spoke.
“Now the real thing begins.”

* * *

Another shock struck.
The monsters caught in the electric field that Krail deployed began tearing into and clawing at one another.
The strange part was their expressions.
They clearly looked panicked—their bodies moving against their will.
“Hacking…!”
I recalled Krail’s skill, which I’d already familiarized myself with.
But the word “hacking” had always felt like it could only affect machines, so I never imagined it could be used in such a way.
Though now that I think about it, I’ve heard it said.
That even humans and animals ultimately move through electrical signals.
‘So the electric field now wasn’t merely for electrical therapy—it was for this.’
Krail personally eliminated the last surviving monster among the hundreds trapped in the coliseum of electric field, locked in slaughter.
He disposed of it by throwing the camping knife he’d gifted me before, then recovered it himself and packed it away.
Only after the situation was completely resolved did Krail begin moving to rejoin the main unit.
“Excellent work, Krail. But is Valer all right?”
The hawk that had joined us when Krail changed models.
I’d given the creature the name Valer.
At Krail’s request—by my own hand, no less.
When I asked after his welfare, Krail answered.
“Valer is fine. His core is already one with mine.”
Since he said it could be regenerated again later, it was a relief for now.
The electric field dispersed and the monster horde resumed moving.
Their numbers were still vast.
But thanks to Krail buying us considerable time, we had more than enough breathing room to regroup.
“Lieutenant, fire.”
The third Argelayer’s Ultra Particle Cannon.
The third engagement had begun.
Roar—
Monsters charged forward in a frenzy even as they watched their melted brethren, heedless of the sight.
This time, they were greeted by Plasma Towers instead.
“All units, deploy Plasma Towers.”
Fwip, fwip, fwip—
Plasma rounds flashed through the air, annihilating everything in their path.
Monsters and surrounding buildings alike—the moment they touched, they were erased without a trace.
“Neia, what’s the approximate enemy count?”

『Roughly fifteen hundred creatures.』

“So about half.”
We’d swept that many away already.
The Plasma Towers had fired madly before entering recharge mode.
I could only watch the full-scale engagement beginning in earnest from behind the screen.
Drones plummeted and shattered.
My chest tightened and my gut twisted, but what kept me going was that the monsters were being slaughtered at an extraordinary exchange ratio.
On one of the battlefield monitors, I spotted a familiar combat drone.
A creature I’d met a few times recently and affectionately patted down.
“Unit 2…”
I felt a pang of guilt looking at it—inexperienced, unlucky as I was, and yet it had survived trial after trial, its frame scarred and dented from the ordeals we’d endured together.
“Neia, that machine…”
I was about to order her to pull it back to the rear when—
Crack!
A slab of steel hurled by the iron colossus cleaved through Unit 2, scattering it into fragments.

“Yes, what would you have me do?”

Neia’s voice came through steady and clear.

“Seon-woo?”

“No—it’s nothing. What’s the status on the Sizrunner Unit?”

“Still requires approximately three minutes.”

“Can’t we do it sooner?”

“The Sizrunner Unit is incapable of precision strikes. Even with coordinates designated, there exists risk of collateral impact, and further damage to the City is probable. I cannot recommend it.”

“Do it anyway. We’ll minimize personnel losses and finish this.”

“Order received. Sizrunner bombardment authorized. Meteor Cannon charging. All allied units—brace for impact.”

“Sermin, I’m counting on you to protect them all.”

“I will… do my very best.”

The moment I’d given the order to Sermin to safeguard our forces—
A massive spherical core rose from the Sizrunner Unit’s back.
Violet energy coalesced there.
The Sizrunner, which had gathered power into an energy sphere far exceeding the core’s own size, launched it skyward.
A deep resonant hum.
The shell that had tinted the surrounding sky violet vanished, and moments later—
Just as I wondered if it had misfired—
A flicker of light detonated across the battlefield sky, visible on the monitor in stuttering flashes.
And then—
Whoooooosh—
Dozens, hundreds of violet beams split apart and rained down like a meteor shower.
Thunderous devastation—
Truly merciless carpet bombing.
Relentless.
Indiscriminate.
Reducing everything—ally and enemy alike—to wasteland.
The bombardment fell like a summer downpour, as though determined to leave not a single blade of grass standing, until at last it ceased, having transformed the surrounding area into primordial desolation.
Scarcely any monsters remained alive.
The few survivors—mere hundreds—had fortunately been just beyond the strike radius.
I stood stunned by the sheer magnitude of that power, then asked:

“Neia, casualties among our forces caught in the blast?”

Sermin answered in her stead.

“None, sir. You can rest assured.”

What remained was straightforward.
“Annihilate every last one of them. We show no mercy to those who invade our world.”

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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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