Ex-level Player With the Greatest Civilization of All Time - Chapter 85

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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 85

At much the same time.
The atmosphere in the elite strike force’s war room was bleak.
Even after returning to Peronta to strategize, there was no sign of improvement.
Not only had their first sortie ended in a rout without gain.
Beyond the dead and wounded, this failure was being compared far too openly to the previous trials—and the contrast was damning.
The crude mockery that Kang Min-hyuk had been a one-trick player had wounded their pride deeply.
“We should just push through the center. What other option is there?”
“If we do that, we risk casualties we didn’t foresee. We need to be more careful.”
The elite force’s strategy session spun in circles, going nowhere.
They’d agreed at least that the failure came from dispersed firepower, and that consolidating their numbers made sense—
But the real problem lay beyond that.
How to handle the Monster Wave that would come pouring in the moment they erected the Crystal Towers—opinion was splitting.
Yu Sera was pushing for destroying the oncoming monsters and pressing through the center.
Cha Seong-hun counseled caution—it was too reckless.
‘Everyone’s panicking….’
Right now, Yu Sera’s view held more weight.
It seemed to be the aftermath of the criticism that had followed their last defeat.
These were Players who could stand shoulder to shoulder with the best anywhere.
It was hardly strange that they burned to prove themselves.
But it was equally reasonable that Cha Seong-hun argued for restraint.
“I’m not saying I’ll simply oppose you.”
“Then what’s the problem? We should just do it.”
“What’s the problem? The specifics are missing, that’s what.”
The monsters in the Trial Floors were formidable.
70th Floor Tier Monsters had appeared—creatures that Korea’s top-ranked Players typically faced.
“If we charge ahead blindly like this, sure, given our membership, we’ll see results at first. But then what? How do we protect the Crystal Towers? At least we need a plan for that much before we can persuade anyone.”
A full frontal assault had a fundamental structural flaw.
The more troops they deployed to defend the Crystal Towers, the fewer soldiers remained in the main force.
“And we need to erect at least three hundred Crystal Towers for this Quest.”
That was what experience had taught them.
When they’d erected three Crystal Towers, the Purification Rate had risen roughly one percent in the Quest log.
Even that much seemed like an enormous task.
Cha Seong-hun spoke slowly, having thought it over.
“What if we waited for Neia to join us?”
Neia’s greatest advantage was sheer numbers.
Her Drones couldn’t overwhelm a 70th Floor Tier Monster, but their numerical superiority might make it possible to protect the Crystal Towers.
“That’s not going to work.”
“I agree.”
Yu Sera and the other representatives objected to Cha Seong-hun’s suggestion.
“There’s room for other talk to come up.”
“And you wouldn’t want that either, would you?”
They were wary of their hard-won achievements falling to Neia instead.
“But we still need manpower to protect the Crystal Towers….”
“Let each Guild supplement their own personnel.”
The other representatives agreed with Yu Sera’s proposal.
“That’s sound thinking.”
“I agree. If each Guild contributes around thirty people, that should be sufficient.”
Yu Sera looked at Cha Seong-hun as she spoke.
“You don’t think our Guild members are inferior to Neia’s Drones, do you?”
And Cha Seong-hun—how could he welcome the blame that had been leveled at him?
The trouble was that he carried responsibility for the operation.
He wanted to see it through as cleanly as possible.
It was then that Cha Seong-hun was still weighing his options.
A Guild member knocked and entered the conference room, then whispered something to Yu Sera.
“Neia?”
The atmosphere in the conference room grew uneasy.
Cha Seong-hun soon understood why.
It seemed Neia had turned on the broadcast to discuss something related to the Trial.
Cha Seong-hun switched his on immediately to check.

– Phew~ the king of unmistakably clear humanoids
– ???: Something about Crystal Towers and Monster Waves, (tedious and pedantic) Neia: “Win it” (thrilling and pumped up)
– DAY.OF.IA

By now the conversation had moved on, and Neia was making remarks about Legendary Grade Weapons.
But from the chat, it was easy enough to grasp what she’d said.
She seemed to be radiating tremendous confidence.
As if clearing it would be no trouble at all, given just some time for maintenance.
“What will you do?”
Yu Sera spoke with a somewhat triumphant expression.
She was asking whether he’d really give her a chance to shine after being dismissed like this.
Unable to hold out any longer, Cha Seong-hun nodded his head in resignation.
“All right. We’ll go with what Sera says.”

* * *

“Then we’ll end the broadcast here for today.”
The broadcast ended with Baek Jin-seong’s closing remarks.
Baek Jin-seong spoke to me carefully.
“But… are you really all right?”
“For now, yes.”
Today’s broadcast had been a bit of hype, I’ll admit.
I’d made bold statements about the Trial, the biggest current issue.
Hype invites failure.
That’s what worried me.
But my decision was already made.
I’d already confirmed things with Neia.
“Did you ask Byeon Ki-hyuk?”
“Since it’s Trial-related, he said he’d provide even the reserves. Free of charge, no less.”
“That’s good too.”
Through Baek Jin-seong, what I’d requested from the Association was Mana Stones and Purification Crystals.
Honestly, I’d wanted to ride this Trial out on my own.
But now that the Drones had been so openly dismissed, I couldn’t just sit idle.
Above all, I’m the leader of Nemesis.
“What’s the reaction?”
“Well, it’s as expected. Would you like to see for yourself?”
Community, one of Baek Jin-seong’s skills.
He examined it and offered to show me as well.

[But where does this confidence come from?]
[Do not doubt him—he is one who speaks and acts, a holy one.]
[Honestly, I thought he’d talk about the auction too, but he just said it’s in the planning stages…]

Skimming through the Community roughly,
the general consensus was positive.
“Huh? I see someone’s making a Trial re-entry attempt tomorrow?”
Baek Jin-seong pointed to a post in the corner, and I saw it too.
“They’re moving fast.”
“Indeed. I wonder what solution they’ve come up with?”
“Well… if they clear it from their side, that’s fine too.”
Either way, it saves us effort.
“In any case, let’s check back in five days.”
“Yes, understood!”
I ended the conversation and left the tower.

Passing through the Gate upon arriving at the One-room apartment, what greeted me was a city awakening on a scale I had never witnessed before.
Before this, operations had been limited to the area surrounding the Core Center.
But now lights were flickering irregularly across the entire City.
“It’s beginning, then.”
In the simulation Neia had run before, there were three critical issues that needed to be resolved.
The first was insufficient manpower.
There simply weren’t enough troops to protect three hundred Crystal Towers.
And the wall posed by 70th Floor Tier Monsters was formidable.
Analysis showed that standard Combat Drones could inflict little more than surface wounds.
That led to the second problem: insufficient firepower.
Of course, that particular issue could be partially resolved if we received support from Tia and Longhale Turtle’s defensive techniques, but we lacked the energy to run them indefinitely.
This was the third and final problem—insufficient power.
Still, there was a way to solve all three shortages at once, at least partially.
“Secure energy.”
So I asked Neia about the underground resource mining from before.
When she told me preparations were nearly complete, I made my decision.
I would activate all the small factories throughout the City to pump out troops endlessly.
And mine high-grade Lazanite resources.
Whirrrrr—
I took in the City a while longer before passing through the Gate that led to the Commander’s Chamber.
There, Neia greeted me.

“Welcome back.”

“Good. How are the preparations coming?”

“Following your orders, we’ve given it our all. Entry preparations should be complete within minutes.”

“Smoothly, then?”
I stepped forward and entered the command center for the first time in a while.
The monitors filling the room displayed the underground facility that led to the vast mining site.
And one screen in particular—the central monitor—captured my attention.
A massive sealed gate, clearly shut for quite some time.

“This is Underground Vein Sector 3.”

“Right.”
The closer to the City, the higher the sector number, so 3 would be the nearest zone.
As I processed this, Neia spoke.

“Before we open the gate, there is information I must convey to you. If you’re already aware, I can skip it.”

“What is it?”

“Information regarding why Lazanite mining is considered dangerous. Please let me know if you’re already familiar with this.”

I wasn’t, of course.
It’s the kind of thing like an instruction manual—I’d normally ignore it based on my personality—but this time I decided to listen.
At least for now.
“What is it, then?”

“To explain the danger level, I must first describe how Lazanite is formed as a mineral.”

“So there’s something special about it?”

“Yes, please look at the screen.”

As Neia’s voice finished, an image appeared on the central monitor.
It looked like some kind of larva, dark and grotesque—its maw ringed thick with razor-sharp teeth.
In one corner of the image, a danger rating was displayed.
Grade B.
Is it saying this is more dangerous than the C-rank monsters I saw before?

“A Void Leech—a primordial monster from ages past.”

“And so… what of it?”

“To put it plainly, Lazanite is essentially the excrement of the Void Leech.”

“Excrement… you mean shit?”

“Precisely so.”

They say even manure has medicinal uses.
This stuff is high-grade energy matter.
“But why is that dangerous?”

“The Void Leech is a monster that lives its entire life underground. Ordinarily, you would never encounter one—but there is one crucial exception.”

“The mining sector?”
The timing of this conversation fit perfectly.
The flow of it did too.
I’d taken a blind shot and somehow hit the mark.

“Precisely. The most pressing issue concerns the creature’s diet. The Void Leech consumes only minerals.”

“Minerals… which explains why it excretes Lazanite. So opening that door means we have to face the Void Leech, right?”

“Accurate. Though I must caution you—this is not a matter to regard lightly.”

“Why?”

“Because Nemesis was built from its inception atop a vast mineral vein essential to the city’s development.”

“Don’t tell me…”

“Yes. It is the ideal breeding ground for Void Leeches.”

“This is worse than I thought.”

“When the mining sector was originally operational, their population was managed periodically. But at present, their numbers may have grown beyond what the city’s current resources can control.”

Before I awakened the city, Nemesis had been dormant for a long time.
The mining tunnels had been neglected even longer than that.
And worst of all, conditions had become ideal for Void Leech reproduction.
Opening those tunnels might amount to nothing less than waking a sleeping calamity.
A chill ran through me.
“But there’s a way to win, isn’t there?”

“Thanks to your efforts, the city is recovering its systems at a pace far exceeding our projections. Thus I believe our chances are favorable.”

“You don’t sound confident.”
Unexpected variables always had a way of cropping up.
Even during the tower climb, they’d done just that.
No reason to think this would be different.
But then something occurred to me.
“Wait—wasn’t it Neia who kept pushing to harvest the Lazanite?”

Though Neia said nothing in reply, a dangerous possibility flickered through my mind.
“If we leave it alone… things get worse?”
Neia had been consistently vocal about the necessity of mining Lazanite.

“That’s correct. The city of Nemesis is also composed of minerals. If the Void Leeches consume the entire Underground Vein, this place will be their next target with high probability. Of course, you need not fight the Void Leeches at all—relocation is also an option. You have plenty of time.”

“I understand what you’re getting at, more or less.”
Whether to open the sealed gate blocking this mining site. That’s the real question.
Neia was giving me a choice.
Take the safe path—abandon everything, relocate early.
Or stand and protect what we’ve built.
But this wasn’t a choice worth debating.
I’d grown too attached to Nemesis in the time since I arrived.
“Open the gate, Neia. We’ll exterminate the parasites draining our city’s resources.”

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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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