Ex-level Player With the Greatest Civilization of All Time - Chapter 88

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 88

The strike force’s Command Center.
The place where disturbances had erupted the night before was already bustling with noise from morning.
“I absolutely oppose it!”
The reason was obvious.
Another clash of opinions.
The argument centered on whether to relay last night’s news to the outside world or keep it contained.
Once again, Yu Se-ra stood firm.
“We only finished the interview yesterday, and not even a full day has passed! And now you want to make a public announcement about the current situation?”
“Hiding it won’t change anything anyway, will it?”
“We’re not trying to hide it—we should announce it after we deal with that creature like we did yesterday.”
A matter of timing.
Cha Seong-hun was deep in thought.
Technically he was the commander of the strike force, but in truth that was merely the title.
They had banded together for a purpose, but the others were all representatives of prestigious guilds back home.
Most critically, the resistance was far too strong.
Right now it was Yu Se-ra speaking, but—
her opinion might as well have been the opinion of the other representatives.
Those backing his position amounted to little more than Kang Se-hyun.
The rest seemed to share her way of thinking entirely.
‘Still, her argument has merit.’
They’d finished the interview yesterday with a show of confidence, only to turn around—
and now reversing that report because circumstances had changed overnight did seem ridiculous.
Fortunately it had happened during night hours, during maintenance, so no broadcast had been sent out.
They could still control the situation for now, but whether moving too transparently and amplifying the noise was the right answer remained an open question even for him.
‘The one thing I’m worried about…’
If they cut off information as Yu Se-ra suggested, wouldn’t they end up bearing greater responsibility if something went wrong?
Here, it seemed better to ask for opinions rather than be swept along hastily.
If there was a rational way forward, her position wasn’t necessarily bad.
“So you know where it is and can catch it?”
“We can simply lure it out, can’t we?”
Whatever the reason, the creature had been targeting the Crystal Towers.
Of the Crystal Towers that had survived the previous night, only three remained.
It was proof enough that the creature’s objective was unmistakably the towers.
‘Not a bad strategy.’
It was quite a clever plan.
Set a trap and wait—elimination shouldn’t be difficult.
“All right, let’s do it that way.”
At Cha Seong-hun’s words, a smile bloomed across Yu Se-ra’s face.
It vanished the moment he continued.
“But you’ll take responsibility this time.”
Cha Seong-hun wasn’t a fool either.
He had no desire to be pushed around by Yu Se-ra, who kept insisting on her own methods at every turn.
It was also a matter of pride.
“Excuse me?”
“If you’re going to keep putting forward only your own opinions, then you should bear the consequences. It’s only fair, isn’t it?”
She showed a moment of surprise, then lifted her chin with a slight defiant tilt.
“Fine. Let’s do it.”
Her thinking was transparent enough.
She’d judged it wasn’t anything serious.
And indeed, there was no way it could fail.
The evidence was there.
Just last night they’d had victory within their grasp—the creature only escaped because it ran.
Meanwhile, Cha Seong-hun didn’t find it an entirely bad situation if she took the responsibility.
Even if things went wrong, she’d handle it herself.
It was like having insurance.
He’d been feeling uneasy about being dragged along by her preferences constantly anyway.
He’d vented some of his frustration by needling Yu Se-ra, which had helped settle his mood.
He was leaving the Command Center to return to his quarters when Kang Se-hyun spoke up behind him.
Kang Se-hyun, who had followed him out, said:
“You handled that well. It’s always best to establish responsibility beforehand.”
….
Cha Seong-hun had begun to find it strange.
After a few days, he realized that what Kang Se-hyun had said then wasn’t a lie.
That person who’d told him to get along with them.
“What’s the matter? Do you have something to say?”
“So who is it?”
“Who do you mean?”
“The person who told me to get along with them.”
You didn’t need to look far — just at Yu Se-ra.
Would the representative of a Top 10 Guild really take orders from just anyone?
“You’ve already figured it out, haven’t you?”
“I want you to confirm it.”
“There’s nothing to think about. Yes, it’s her.”
Neia….
It wasn’t some kind of threat or anything.
“Did you exchange something? Special Materials, perhaps?”
That was the only thing that came to mind.
But Kang Se-hyun kept silent on that point.
“That’s proprietary information.”
“You’re full of secrets. Anyway, thanks for your help.”
The other representatives had pushed back so hard that he hadn’t gained much support.
Still, it was reassuring to have an ally.
“You should say that to her, not to me.”
“Fair point.”
In any case, Yu Se-ra’s operation proceeded as planned.
First, she blocked the official broadcast transmission.
“If you do this, there will be problems….”
“I take responsibility.”
Next, she had all the Crystal Towers removed except for one at the main base.
“It’s quiet so far….”
“So it seems.”
But nothing came.
Given how obsessive they’d been the night before.
You’d have expected an attack.
But of course, it wasn’t a matter of time.
Nearly a day had passed since they’d smashed every Crystal Tower and left only this one standing.
The darkened forest was beginning to break into dawn again.
“They seem to have caught on.”
“They appear to be smarter than we thought.”
“It’s no wonder, after what happened last night.”
Still, Yu Se-ra didn’t think it was time to give up yet, and voiced her objection.
“Why should we back down? Let’s wait a few more days.”
He’d decided to wait a bit longer, as she suggested, when it happened.
Suddenly, he felt movement in the forest.
“It could be an attack. Stay alert.”
After Yu Se-ra issued orders for full defensive readiness.
Familiar faces emerged from the forest.
The people who had left the camp earlier, saying they’d handle supplies.
“Representative Choi? Why are you there…?”
“What…? This doesn’t make sense. We were clearly moving toward the starting point.”
At Representative Choi’s words, Yu Se-ra brushed it off with a deflated expression, and not much time had passed before.
Representative Choi’s group set out again, only to
again and
again return to that same spot—and only then did she grasp the gravity of the situation.
“Surely not….”
At Cha Seong-hun’s words, Yu Se-ra asked him a question.
“Why? Did you figure something out?”
“I suspect that’s why the monsters swarmed in right after the Crystal Tower was erected.”
If the loss of directional sense occurred in an unpurified state for some reason….
Then monsters regaining their senses through the Tower’s influence converging on the area made perfect sense.
And that meant this was a far graver problem than anticipated.
“This might be bigger trouble than I thought.”
Tower climbing and trials were different beasts.
With a tower, you could abandon a mission anytime and leave regardless of your position, but trials didn’t work that way.
Yu Se-ra grasped the severity immediately.
“The supply line is cut off?”

* * *

Restoring the Underground Mining Facility to normal operation.
That resumed after a single day of rest.
Not that we’d expected to wrap it up in any short timeframe.
But there were priorities that had to be confirmed within the given period.
And now, a unit led by Crail had arrived at exactly that destination.

『We’ve arrived. Awaiting confirmation, Administrator.』

A Gate many times larger than the one we’d seen at the Mining Facility Entrance.
The Branch Gate that divided Sector 2 and Sector 3.
“Seon-woo, the inspection shows no issues. All systems are operational.”
Neia, who’d been manipulating multiple holographic windows floating in midair, spoke thus.
Before this, she’d only been clicking calculations on the other side of a screen.
Seeing it from the side gave a different impression entirely.
“Then there’s no immediate cause for concern.”
“Correct.”
Getting a definitive result, rather than merely predicting ‘low risk factors’ beforehand, carried real weight.
It meant we could safely run Sector 3’s mining operations at full capacity.
“But I’m curious about one thing.”
“Yes?”
“Sector 2’s gate is intact—so how could Void Leeches have been in Sector 3?”
There had been Void Leeches, for all their scarcity.
Not just a handful either—quite a lot, by any measure.
“Most likely, they crossed into that sector when the Branch Gate was open.”
“Ah… yeah, that makes sense.”
In any case, the gate itself was confirmed intact….
I picked up the microphone and spoke.
“All personnel return to base.”
Watching the status board show people heading back to the City, I turned to Neia standing beside me.
“Let’s retrofit the work robots as Mining Robots for now and keep using them.”
“Understood.”
Neia’s eyes grew red as she manipulated the holographic panels again.
How long would that take?
I waited a reasonable spell, then rose and stepped out into the living room.
After using the bathroom and grabbing a glass of water on the way back, I checked my phone.
The Community feed was unusually bustling.
Had something happened?
Curiosity piqued, I set down my glass and looked into it—and the current storm of reactions made sense.

[‘Trial’ Elite Strike Team Broadcast Suddenly Goes Dark….]
[Broadcast Blackout Crisis—32 Hours Elapsed, Citizens Express Concern.]
[Hunters Association Emergency Statement: “Confirmed Communication Breakdown… Exploring All Possibilities and Preparing Countermeasures”]

“The contact was lost?”
It wasn’t immediately cause for panic, of course.
Their routine Trial broadcast simply hadn’t proceeded for some reason.
Besides, the Association had already released a statement saying they’d look into the cause….
“Things should normalize soon enough.”
I was reaching for the water glass again.
Neia emerged from the command center.
“You’ve done good work today. Head back and get some rest while you can.”
Outside, the night had deepened.
It was closing in on midnight, dark and still.
“Why? Is there something you need to tell me?”
“No, sir. I’ll report for duty normally tomorrow.”
Neia gave a brief nod and left the command center.
“Businesslike as always.”
I decided to turn in early myself tonight.
The team would be returning around dawn, and I wanted to greet them.
“Sigh…”
I was getting ready for bed after washing up.
My phone rang.
It was Baek Jin-seong.
“Yeah, what’s going on?”

– I didn’t want to bother you at this late hour, but…

“No, it’s fine. Go ahead.”

– The Hunters Association contacted me urgently about something.

The article about the raid party I’d seen earlier.
“Is that what this is about?”
And my guess turned out to be right.

– Apparently, the Association sent some agents to investigate, but…

“And?”

– Well, guild members from the Top 10 Guilds stopped them at the entrance.

“They blocked them?”

– Yes. They claim they just don’t want interference, but when pressed for details, they won’t elaborate. There’s definitely something they’re hiding.

I had a bad feeling about this.
Something had gone wrong.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————