Ex-level Player With the Greatest Civilization of All Time - Chapter 8

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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 8

Recognizing Eclipse isn’t particularly difficult.
The clothing of the men occupying the first-floor lobby right now.
A black serpent emblazoned on a crimson coat.
That symbol belongs to Eclipse—an international terrorist organization and criminal syndicate.
Once I grasped the situation unfolding around me, I summoned the Hunter Drone inside.
My head throbbed.
“The Mir Guild is the target? Why on earth…?”
None of this made sense. A notorious North American crime syndicate? And why here, in Korea?
What were the odds they’d launch an assault precisely when I’d come to negotiate?
The situation was so absurd I half-expected someone to reveal hidden cameras, but the feed from the Projection Unit remained unchanged—undeniably real.
My luck had been running so good lately. Was the universe evening the scales?
“Damn… what am I supposed to do here?”
Still, I didn’t indulge in further complaints.
If I had the luxury to grumble, I’d have the luxury to survive this place—and that was all that mattered.
“Should I make a break for the Subspace?”
Escape was the first thing that came to mind.
Eclipse.
Honest assessment: I had no confidence I could handle them.
In truth, ninety-nine-point-nine percent of my ability lay in the drones themselves.
The problem was their defensive capabilities were appallingly weak.
Even stupid monsters like goblins had landed hits on them. If someone genuinely clever came at me relying solely on drone firepower, I’d be obliterated without question.
Maybe I could manage one or two through an ambush.
But slipping out of here unscathed? Impossible.
So the first option that occurred to me was to duck into the Subspace and wait it out—but…
“No, that’s got problems too.”
I shook my head sharply and abandoned the thought entirely.
When I closed a Gate in the Subspace and reopened it later, there was no guarantee it would open at the same location where it had closed.
That’s why I didn’t bother opening and closing the Gate every time I needed to pass through—why I had to make the tedious round trip to the Core Center instead.
I was grimacing at the thought and groping for other survival strategies when—
A voice echoed from the corridor.
“He might be hiding here too. Search every inch!”
“Are you serious? You lecturing me? Get your own act together, you idiot. Let’s move.”
The voices cut off, and then came the sound of footsteps in the hallway.
Thump-thump-thump-thump. Bang—
Followed immediately by the scrape of doors being wrenched open.
There was still some distance. They wouldn’t burst through immediately. But it was only a matter of time.
My position was about to be compromised. I was teetering on the edge of a precipice.
“So there’s no way out?”
I’d have to fight.
The sound drew closer and closer, finally arriving at my door.
“Hunter Drone, stand by.”
The moment the door swung open and the Eclipse operative spotted me, a vicious smile spread across his face.
Whoosh.
The Hunter Drone’s reaction time was faster still.
His head erupted.
The Hunter Drone’s single-shot beam hit harder than I’d expected.
Thud.
The corpse collapsed, and in that same instant, the footsteps in the hallway ceased entirely.
They must have found their comrade—found what was left of him.
I left the Hunter Drone to its work and retreated into the Subspace for a moment.
Just in case the Hunter Drone couldn’t handle them all, I’d positioned a Combat Drone at the Gate entrance as backup.
That way, if any of them managed to slip through into the Gate, I could unleash immediate fire and seize the advantage.
“Huh… let’s see what they do.”
I watched through the Projection Unit, monitoring the Hunter Drone’s feed.
The operatives moved stealthily and then surged into the reception room in a single fluid motion.
Three enemies in total.
They quietly surveyed the empty room, spotted the Gate in the corner, and exchanged hand signals.
The Hunter Drone emerged from concealment at precisely the moment they turned their backs to the Gate, their attention wholly consumed by it.
The drone dropped its stealth and unleashed a barrage of beams.
Thud-thud.
Their bodies riddled with holes, they collapsed to the floor.
The Hunter Drone’s rapid-fire capability truly shone here.
Once I confirmed they’d all been neutralized, I finally stepped out of the Subspace.
As I examined the Eclipse corpses, I picked up a single weapon.

【Cursed Dagger】
-Grade: Rare
Agility: +20

A weapon that boosted agility by a full twenty points.
If I sold it, wouldn’t it fetch several million won at least?
As tempting as it looked, I set it back down without hesitation.
If I sold these Eclipse bastards’ weapons, the possibility of becoming a target for their revenge wasn’t worth the greed.
There was usually a thrill in securing loot like this, and it felt like a genuine shame.
Sigh.
I straightened my back and sank into thought.
“So now what.”
Once their communications cut off, it was only a matter of time before Eclipse sent reinforcements.
I’d gotten lucky dealing with them today because their numbers were light, but the future looked uncertain.
There was no guarantee I could dispatch any additional arrivals with the same ease.
It was then that I began weighing my options.
Boom-boom-boom.
An explosion echoed through the space, followed by shouts of conflict.
The sound seemed to be coming from the lobby.
I ordered the Hunter Drone to scout once more.
The drone activated stealth and silent flight, transmitting an image of the lobby back to me.
And in that same instant, I saw hope.
“This might… actually be possible?”
A fierce clash was unfolding between Eclipse and Mir Guild.
Bodies burning and severed, the reek of blood—a brutal, desperate battle.
The scene was absolute chaos, and it was precisely the kind of stage where a Hunter Drone could shine.

* * *

Mir Guild’s strongest forces were, naturally enough, its High-Rank Players.
It went without saying that High-Rank Players devoted themselves to Tower conquest rather than mundane reality.
Maintaining close ties with the Player Association and operating to counter the Tower’s trials, they rarely remained stationed at the actual guild.
Which was precisely why Eclipse’s surprise attack had been so difficult to properly counter today.
Until now, Korea had been classified as an Eclipse-free zone.
And paradoxically, that very fact had left them vulnerable to today’s ambush.
In short, they had no immunity to such threats.
Gu Byeong-hoon, an executive of Mir Guild, furrowed his brow and finally spoke to contain the crisis.
“Is everyone here?”
“Yes, all Players who were at locations outside the currently occupied first floor have gathered.”
Gu Byeong-hoon surveyed the personnel assembled on the fifth floor of Mir Guild.
The numbers were substantial, but the quality was lacking.
The only reliable forces were a handful of Team Leaders and a few mid-tier Players.
Still, he resolved to engage Eclipse in direct combat.
Even if tactical withdrawal became necessary, to simply hunker down without even attempting a counterattack would damage reputation beyond repair.
The casualties would be severe, certainly.
But to think of Mir Guild becoming the subject of ridicule among the other top ten guilds.
And to consider the humiliation he’d face when the Guild Master and executives returned—fleeing without engaging at all was never an option from the start.
“Wipe them out without mercy. Make them understand what it means to invade the home of Mir Guild.”
“Yes, sir!”
Following the plan, they descended via the central stairwell and emergency stairs to launch an ambush on Eclipse in the lobby.
The ambush succeeded, and the battle unfolded to Mir Guild’s advantage.
“Die! You filthy criminals!”
“How dare you set foot in this place!”
“Don’t expect to leave here alive.”
Gu Byeong-hoon was coordinating the battle around him, having already subdued five Eclipse operatives, when it happened.
As he moved to engage the next one, magic erupted from nowhere.
Boom—
He possessed reflexes that bordered on superhuman, yet there was a reason he’d failed to evade so utterly.
The attack had come from directly behind him.
He flew backward from the strike of someone he’d thought was an ally, crashing into a corner and coughing blood.
“Cough.”
Gu Byeong-hoon’s gaze turned bewildered.
The person he was looking at was indeed someone who, moments ago, had been coordinating the ambush on Eclipse with them.
With a bloodless smile, the figure removed the ring from his hand and held it up.
Then the form beneath was revealed—wearing the same crimson coat as Eclipse.
“Damn it… you weren’t an ally?”
Cognitive Distortion.
Given that even he had been fooled, it was clearly a high-grade Cognitive Distortion accessory.
“Kekeke… you must always guard your back.”
Gu Byeong-hoon pushed himself up against the wall with great effort, but the situation was dire.
The snake embroidered on the coat now revealed was the Five-Snake Executive emblem.
Eclipse used the number of snake heads to denote rank.
Five-Snake Executive level meant he held an executive position.
Even at full strength, he’d have no confidence in victory against such an opponent, and now he was wounded from an ambush….
…….
He surveyed his surroundings.
The other Team Leaders weren’t faring well either.
Far from a coordinated assault, they were about to be annihilated.
Their initial momentum had vanished entirely, replaced by the sight of them surrounded and gasping.
Retreat was impossible.
Now he saw it clearly—their early advantage had been a deliberate trap, designed to pull them deep into the snare.
“You’ve had your fun. Now close your eyes for good.”
Desperate straits.
It was the moment he sensed his life would end here.
Whoosh. Thud—
Suddenly, the executive’s arm—which had been filling him with mortal dread—was severed from his body.
But that was not all.
The executive, about to turn toward the source of the attack, was struck by a succession of blows of similar force.
The rate of fire was incredible.
Whoosh, whoosh.
His abdomen pierced, then his legs, his waist, and soon his head blown through, the executive collapsed like a puppet with cut strings, utterly helpless.
Gu Byeong-hoon stared at empty space, his eyes wide, tracking the source of this devastation.
There, something moved through the air.
It was undoubtedly a drone—large, but a drone nonetheless.
“What on earth…?”
He doubted whether he was seeing correctly.
His mind refused to fully accept that a meter-long drone had just eliminated an Eclipse executive.
Yet that doubt was quickly resolved.
The drone that had felled the executive immediately began attacking the other Eclipse operatives.
“Visus was taken down?”
“Hack…”
“Damn it all!”
“Do something about that drone first!”
The panic in Eclipse’s ranks was unmistakable.
Those capable of ranged attacks moved to strike the drone.
Gu Byeong-hoon barked at his Guild members to protect the drone at all costs.
“Protect it, no matter what!”

* * *

The Eclipse operatives were swept away by the Hunter Drone’s barrage.
Of course, it would have been impossible with the Hunter Drone alone.
But the moment Eclipse’s counterattack began, Mir Guild moved to protect the drone, and the tide of battle flowed entirely in one direction.
Once that sole weakness—its defensive vulnerability—was resolved, the Hunter Drone became unstoppable.
In less than a minute, the battle turned decisively, and we reached the point of chasing down fleeing Eclipse operatives and executing them.
Once all was said and done, I collected the Hunter Drone and quietly slipped out of Mir Guild.
The spoils were a bonus on top of it all.

【Refraction Ring】
Grade: Special
+ Mana: 10
+ Magic Power: 10
+ Refraction Mirage
– Conceals your true appearance from others and forces them to perceive a distorted version instead.

“A windfall!”
The ring of an Eclipse executive—I’d quietly pocketed it when retrieving the Hunter Drone.
From the moment I first saw it, I’d wanted it desperately.
A piece of jewelry equipped with Cognitive Distortion.
Needless to say, it was worth far more than a pittance.
“At least tens of billions, wouldn’t you think?”
Wealthy people across the globe yearned for Cognitive Distortion above all else.
To be unknown while possessing vast wealth.
It was exactly the thing that fulfilled the dreams of the rich.
There was even a saying that high-grade Cognitive Distortion commanded whatever price you named.
Of course, I had no intention of selling this one either.
Yet I was deeply satisfied.
Because this was for my own use.
“Turns out I needed Cognitive Distortion again after all.”
Soon I would clear Floor 10, the final Tutorial Floor.
I’d been deeply anxious about it already.
Starting from Floor 11, missions would be conducted in the Open Field, making it structurally inevitable that I’d have to reveal myself.
I’d settled on not disclosing that I was Naia for safety’s sake, at least for now, but I’d been troubled by the Tower’s structural situation.
Yet that worry had conveniently been solved.
“I’ll just buy Magic Stones from Baekho Guild.”
Worried that I might be suspected of pocketing this ring, I hadn’t made any Magic Stone trades before leaving.
Mir Guild was in that state—there was no way transactions could proceed immediately anyway.
I headed straight toward Baekho Guild.
By the time I’d gathered a hefty supply of Magic Stones and returned home, it was evening.
The news was broadcasting the Eclipse terror attack from earlier.
People were saying the end times had come.
Spouting off about how Eclipse should be destroyed.
Regardless, I turned my attention to Naia.

‘Welcome back, Seon-woo.’

“Naia, don’t be startled.”

‘Yes, I won’t be startled.’

Rumble—rumble—rumble.
As I set down a massive pile of Intermediate Magic Stones, Naia’s eyes went wide as saucers, her hand flying to her mouth.

‘Is this a proposal?’

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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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