Ex-level Player With the Greatest Civilization of All Time - Chapter 76

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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 76

The moment smoke bloomed across the city’s outskirts, a word struck through my mind like a hammer.
“A Gate…!”
I rushed into the command center.
“Neia!”

“You’ve arrived, Seon-woo.”

Neia showed no sign of urgency.
Something like this had happened before, and her calm demeanor meant the situation was already under control.
“Casualties?”
The city’s forces had been weakened as never before, and that fact gnawed at me.
The previous C-Class Gate crisis.
Even with our forces at full strength back then, a considerable number of drones were destroyed.
But this time, without full recovery from that battle, we’d fought through the Celine engagement, and now our combat capacity had been depleted anew.
If we faced another incident on the same scale as before—
If it were a C-Class Gate or higher, the damage would be severe indeed. I’d steeled myself for that possibility.

“You can rest easy, sir. The city suffered virtually no damage. We’re currently processing the byproducts.”

“None at all?”

“That’s correct.”

“Was the Gate’s rank lower than expected?”
Perhaps D-Class or below.
My mind naturally gravitated toward the conclusion that this Gate must have been a lower rank than the previous one.
But Neia denied that as well.

“That’s not the case. It was C-Class, just as before.”

And then she continued.

“The commendable performance came from Heroic Unit: TYPE-α [Custom], the AI tactical unit Tia Stillwell.”

Tia, who had just joined us recently.
I was pleased that the one I’d been worried about had stepped up, yet at the same time—
Neia’s choice of words made me curious about just how impressive her performance had truly been.
“Can you pull up the combat footage?”

“Of course, sir.”

The video began as a Gate alarm shattered the city’s peace.
Moments later, explosions bloomed in the distance.
The next instant, the screen shifted to Tia.
Tia stood atop a structure at the Core Center, preparing for combat.
She assembled her Sniper Rifle, attaching various components with precision.
Finally, she aimed toward the point where the Wave had emerged.
Her glasses became a targeting scope, assisting her aim. A moment passed.
Crack.
A brilliant golden light flooded the screen.
What happened next was obvious.
She’d pulled the trigger.
The problem was what came after.
The yellowish-hued screen showed no sign of clearing.
Only the sound of repeated gunfire persisted.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
An astonishing rate of fire.
Watching Tia constantly wouldn’t yield any insight, I decided.
I spoke to Neia.
“Can you show me what’s happening outside the city?”

『Switching display….』

The screen changed.
Monsters swarmed across it.
The Iron Colossus and Gargoyles I’d seen before were there, along with creatures I’d never encountered.
As I studied them, Neia spoke.

『Located approximately forty kilometers to the southwest.』

Even the base-model Longhail Turtle boasted enough muzzle velocity and accuracy to make precision strikes on targets four hundred kilometers away.
Forty kilometers was nothing by comparison.
For Tia, it might as well be point-blank range.
Pop—
A monster detonated as a golden bullet came from nowhere.
Or rather, the projectile moved so fast it simply appeared to burst spontaneously.
I could only assume it was Tia’s work.
Pop, pop—
Tia’s shots never missed.
Often, two or three monsters would explode simultaneously.
I watched an almost dispassionate slaughter unfold at incredible speed.
Shink—
An Iron Colossus that had been struck trudged forward unfazed.
“It’s not working on the Iron Colossus?”
Among C-Class monsters, the Iron Colossus possessed exceptionally high defense.
This creature was among those included in the current Gate crisis.
Regardless, with its defense stat maxed out, the rounds only left shallow scratches.
It seemed her precision and range were flawless, but her destructive power fell short—or so I thought for a moment.
Crack—
The next instant, I witnessed something extraordinary.
The Iron Colossus suddenly shattered like broken ice and collapsed.
“The Iron Colossus… broke?”
There was no other way to describe it.
Assuming this was also Tia’s ability, I asked Neia, and she explained.

『Allow me to clarify. It is the effect of the Special Gravity Projectile rounds used by Tia Stillwell. The projectiles twist the gravitational coefficient at the point of impact, inducing Phase Transformation in the target.』

What that transformation looked like was obvious at a glance.
The severed surface of the Iron Colossus resembled a cleanly cut chunk of ice.
“So in simple terms, you’re saying it has an armor-breaking effect?”
Though it certainly felt different from ordinary armor-breaking techniques.
In Tia’s case, it seemed the Phase Transformation itself dealt intrinsic damage as well.
When the transformed body section fell away, the Iron Colossus bled out and toppled.
Brutal to the point of lethality.
And it didn’t stop there.
Pop, pop—
The monsters detonated indiscriminately afterward.
Tia’s firing rate was so insane you had to wonder if a sniper should really be capable of such a thing.
Because of this, by the time the monsters drew close to the city, their numbers had dwindled to less than a third.
Barely over a thousand remaining.
Though even that was only because Tia had started to doze off partway through.
Had she continued firing without pause, annihilation before arrival would have been entirely unremarkable.
“Impressive.”
Having uttered my final assessment while watching the monsters get torn apart near the barrier where Ar and his group waited on standby, that was when Neia spoke.
Neia said,

“I apologize for interrupting your thoughts, but there is a matter I must bring to your attention.”

“Hmm?”

“As a result of this battle, the City’s Power Grade has dropped to the ‘unstable’ level. Given current energy consumption, we can maintain operations for approximately thirty days.”

I’d been through so much lately that I’d always kept the power reserves at over three hundred days as a standard buffer.
The fact that barely thirty days remained was…
“Was it Tia?”

“Yes. The Gravity Projectile consumes considerable energy.”

Now that I thought about it, Tia hadn’t stopped of her own accord.
Neia had held her back.
If she’d kept firing with the intent to kill them all, the City would have shut down entirely—a catastrophe I could hardly bear to imagine.
So for a moment, I found myself thinking.
I wondered why Neia hadn’t stopped Tia sooner, knowing full well how much energy she was consuming.
But I didn’t reproach Neia for it.
I understood, almost immediately.
‘Without Tia, we might have had to accept some destruction of the City instead.’
She’d thinned the enemy’s numbers enough before we engaged that we could finish them in a single assault.
If more had arrived, we’d have faced another serious crisis.
“Understood. I’ll look into resolving that as well.”
Another expense…
My mood turned bitter, though.
Still, we’d gained additional byproducts.
And at the same time, it felt like we’d acquired quite formidable power in the process, so I couldn’t complain too much.

* * *

Cha Sung-hun.
He accepted the contract.
Five trillion won.
The expense was greater than expected, but Cha Sung-hun didn’t scold Cha Seon-a.
True, it was only a verbal agreement, but he’d also secured a promise of priority contract rights going forward.
Viewed as a strategic investment considering his relationship with Neia, the expenditure was acceptable.
Given that Cha Seon-a had made her decision on the same logic, he should have praised her rather than rebuked her.
But there was still a troubling aspect to the matter.
Something entirely separate from the contract itself.
“So… you just had a meal and parted ways?”
“Yes, I didn’t have a chance to press the matter.”
“Mm… still, no need to feel too downhearted about it. She probably had something urgent to attend to.”
“F-Father, I wasn’t downhearted at all!”
“Well, if that’s the case, I’m relieved.”
Usually, if a woman went to that much trouble, anyone with any perceptiveness would recognize it as a sign of affection.
The fact that there was no response could only mean a clear rejection.
Cha Seon-a could say what she liked, but she couldn’t have been happy about it.
Regardless of the reason or circumstances, she hadn’t even confessed—yet it felt like she’d been turned down.
Zero confessions, one rejection.
He hoped that she, with her pride as strong as his own, hadn’t been hurt.
‘This approach isn’t going smoothly.’
He’d barely stifled a sigh about the red light on the “making Neia his daughter-in-law” project when his phone rang.
It was Baek Jin-seong.
Cha Sung-hun hesitated, aware of Cha Seon-a sitting on the office sofa, but decided to take the call anyway.
When it came to matters involving Neia, there was no profit in delay.
“Player Baek Jin-seong, what is this about?”
As Cha Sung-hun listened to the voice on the other end of the line, he broke into a smile as if he’d never harbored a care in the world.
The content was as follows.
He’d acquired a substantial amount of additional Special Material and was asking if there was interest in purchasing it.
“Of course there is. Just bring it here. Ah… but could you arrange the payment for the additional purchase using the same method as before?”
After receiving Baek Jin-seong’s affirmative answer and ending the call, Cha Seon-a spoke up.
“Another one showed up? More Special Material?”
“That’s what I’m hearing.”
Cha Sung-hun looked at Cha Seon-a, unable to suppress a pang of regret.
If only her romantic venture succeeded, it would be a windfall…
He’d half-let go of it just moments ago, but now the urge to cheer her on surged back.
Above all, if it came to fruition, he hoped the progress would accelerate.
‘This is when we need to push harder.’
The reason was Cheongwol’s current state.
As Cheongwol crumbled and fractured, the largest guilds that had once dominated the domestic market stood to gain the most.
A golden opportunity to absorb defecting personnel and expand their scale.
While Kang Seon-woo’s present strength was what positioned him to profit most from this moment…
It was only natural that he hoped for windfall gains beyond the short-term profits born from the Special Material.
“Sigh… I suppose we could run a story.”
An exclusive follow-up on the additional Special Material discovery.
Though the press had carried the story, the response fell short of the first announcement.
Still, he was contentedly monitoring the portal news feeds, which occupied a respectable space—half disappointed, half pleased.
Ding—
“Hm?”
Cha Sung-hun’s expression grew grave at the notification that had materialized before his eyes.

[The Ordeal Gate has opened.]
[Clear the trial within the time limit.]

The Tower’s trial had begun earlier than anticipated.

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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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