Ex-level Player With the Greatest Civilization of All Time - Chapter 92

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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 92

– What’s with this speed, seriously?
– That’s insanely fast…
– 15% in three hours…?
– Looks like she’s planting rice or something.
– Didn’t someone say level-20 Players couldn’t do this?
– The streamers aren’t chatting like usual?
– This is it…! This is Neia!
– Straight dopamine injection. Feels so good!

Listening to the flood of chat messages, a wave of emotion swept through me.
Until now, reactions like this would leave me pleased but nothing more.
But this time, because I’d poured my heart into meticulous preparation from the very beginning, the aftertaste lingered far more than usual.
‘Is this what they call the rush…?’

[Purification Rate: 26%]

– But how do we handle this?
– There’s nowhere to plant the Crystal Tower.
– Hmm… yeah? The slope’s too steep; it’ll roll if we drop it.

The units fundamentally advanced in a straight line, rows and columns aligned.
When they reached the end of the field?
They maintained their spacing, pivoted around an axis, and swept back to repeat the purification pattern.
The result was that all three units moved as a single organism with absolute precision—that was the tactical foundation.
But it had an inherent weakness too.
When I reached a coordinate where a Crystal Tower needed to be dropped, as now, uneven terrain created problems.

‘Did I really overlook such a simple variable…?’

“Neia,” I called out.

『Seisrunner, launch sequence ready. Launching now.』

Boom-boom-boom-boom-

Hundreds of meteors raining down from the sky turned the area into devastation.
Flat ground emerged in the center of the deeply carved crater.

– Ah, so if you can’t go around it, you go through it?
– Amateur: impossible. Expert: just flatten it.
– There’s nothing impossible before overwhelming firepower.

Thud-
The Crystal Tower dropped into the flattened ground and the purification rate climbed.

[Purification Rate: 28%]

‘That wasn’t a mistake… was it?’
It had happened once before too.
When I’d planted three Crystal Towers.
The purification rate had risen by only 2%.
Back then I’d dismissed it as measurement error, something within normal variance.

– Huh? It happened again.
– What is this?
– Looks like the raid group’s catching fire too right now?

If the same thing kept repeating, there was only one conclusion: ‘The raid party is on the move.’
I couldn’t reach any other verdict.
Though they wouldn’t be able to keep pace with my speed, anyway.

– Suddenly panicking raid parties deserve praise lol
– Right? They should’ve been doing better from the start!
– Neia! Neia! Neia!

“Again. Advance.”
Whoosh, whoosh.

[Purification Rate: 33%]
[Purification Rate: 37%]
[Purification Rate: 45%]

The Purification Rate climbed at an extraordinary pace.
Reach the end of the field, turn back around.
Turn back, adjust coordinates, start again.
“Relocating the main force coordinates.”
『Adjusting base coordinates. Moving main force to next position.』

Midway through, I’d also repositioned the main base.
Toward the center of the field.
A measure to allow Tia’s shots to maintain consistent range.

– This is seriously going to make history, isn’t it? (snort)
– What happens to the Trial speed-clear record?
– Unfortunately it’s seven days.
– Seven days? Why the regret? Neia would probably clear it in just over a day.
– You’re confused—Neia was deployed today but the Trial’s already been running for over two weeks…
– Ah right, that’s true. Well.

I was listening in on voice chat out of idle curiosity and felt disappointed inside.
Not that I had any desire to set records.
But oddities like this had a certain magnetism that stirred the collector’s instinct.

In any case, the Trial layer conquest didn’t stop as night fell and dawn broke.
A Humanoid doesn’t stop under red lights.
I was bulldozing relentlessly through when it happened.

[Purification Rate: 86%]

“Three more hours and this will be done?”
It was around midday the next day when I confirmed the Purification Rate climbing toward completion.
That’s when something unusual was spotted on the monitor.
The chat reacted to it too.

– Wait, that’s the raid party.
– Looks like they’re chasing something.
– What is that? Is that a monster too?

Was that section Krail’s area?
The monitor showing the raid party was nearby that sector.
The direction they were moving in real-time also pointed that way.
Right then, a report came through from Krail.

『An unidentified life form is approaching. What do we do?』

“If it’s a threat, we kill it.”
The moment I gave that order to Krail, it happened.
His unit collided with something massive, and the two sides ground to a standstill.

– What’s that thing?
– Your Majesty, shall we just fire?
– It’s absolutely covered in blood.
– When I saw it before, I thought the black and red were mixed from the start, but it’s just wounded.

“Preparing to fire,” Krail’s voice came through.

If Krail had made that judgment, there was no reason to refuse.
I had to respect the field commander’s decision.
I was about to give the order when—
“Glacial Cannon!”
A massive column of freezing air pierced through the black beast and burst out the other side.
The monster’s lower half froze solid as it toppled.
Boom—
“Krail, hold your fire. Let’s observe the situation a moment longer.”
Something told me it would be annoying if we finished this ourselves.

* * *

The one who cast the spell was Useera.
She appeared moments later, flanked by the vanguard.

“We’re the ones who took it down,” she said through the chat.

Just as I’d expected—she was claiming ownership.
“Krail, let them have it. It’s just one monster anyway.”

“Understood,” Krail replied flatly.

Besides, even if I stepped back, the chat’s opinion of the vanguard wasn’t exactly warm.

– Why are they being so prickly?
– Right? You’d think Neia was the one claiming ownership.
– Should’ve just killed it outright before.

I was reading through the chat, trying to ease the sting, when—

Mew—

Something about the size of a fist jutted out from the black beast’s fur.
The creature bristled and bared its teeth at Useera, who had cast the spell, while letting out a tiny cry.

– Aw… how cute!
– A baby!
– Guys, get it together—that’s still a monster.

But unlike the chat, Useera’s reaction was ice-cold.
Cute or not, it was a monster.
And if it was showing hostility, there was no reason to spare it.
She was about to hurl another spell when—
The mother beast, breathing in ragged gasps, slashed at Useera with its claws.

“Ugh… so stubborn to the end…” Useera muttered.

The mother beast pushed the cub away with a gentle swipe of its foreleg.
The little one tumbled without resistance, rolling end over end until it came to rest directly at Krail’s feet.

『Glacial Cannon!』

The mother met her end as Useera’s spell arrived in its wake.
Krail pinned the cub by the scruff of its neck beneath his boot.

『What shall we do with it?』

The cub thrashed and flailed without mercy.
But there wasn’t so much as a scratch on Krail.
I watched the scene unfold, wrestling with the choice.
‘It’s a monster, after all…’
By conventional logic, it deserved to die.
But having just watched the mother claw at life itself to the bitter end—could I simply end it?
‘This isn’t easy.’
I checked the chat for guidance.

– Can’t we just let it live?
– I’m against killing!
– It’s so pitiful…

The chat was split perfectly down the middle.

– Are you joking? We got betrayed like this with Selin before!
– This one should be killed.
– It’s just a monster anyway. What’s the point of keeping it?

Slaughtering everything that emerges from a Trial wasn’t always the only answer.
I’d been backstabbed by Selin before.
But the vampire turned out to be a creature capable of genuine communion.
And thanks to that, I’d even gained Surin, a blood stone generator.
‘What if this one is similar—just another Trial manifestation wearing a different face?’
It didn’t charge mindlessly like your typical monster.
There was something more complex in its movements—a hint of genuine emotion.
And most crucially…

「Trial Layer – Silent Mist Forest」
[Purify the mana particles saturating the forest – Purification Rate 86%]

Whether I killed it or spared it wouldn’t affect the Trial’s completion either way.
‘…I’ve got no idea.’
Since I didn’t have to decide this instant.
Postponing a difficult choice wasn’t the worst idea.
“We’ll hold off on disposing of it. For now, we secure it.”

『Understood.』

Krail glanced toward Useera’s party.
Useera, catching his eye, shrugged her shoulders.
“We got what we came for anyway. Details like that don’t concern us.”
Useera’s group seemed ready to wrap things up.
Had we finally reached some kind of resolution…?
The commotion felt like it was dying down.
“Krail, resume operations.”

* * *

The purification work resumed its course through the forest.
In truth, once we’d crossed eighty percent, few monsters came charging in anymore.
And so our pace quickened.

[Purification Rate: 90%]
[Purification Rate: 93%]
[Purification Rate: 97%]
…

Ding—

「Trial Layer – Silent Mist Forest」
[Purify the magical particles saturating the forest – (Purification Complete)]

At last, every task was finished.

[Congratulations, you have completed the Trial.]
[You will be moved to the waiting room shortly.]

I waited where the final Crystal Tower had been placed, then retrieved the Drones.
As I watched the Drones return—sucked back through the Gate as though drawn by its pull—I scrolled through the chat window.
The chat was on the verge of exploding.

– Ah, Neia is my light and my salvation.
– Neia needs to be re-evaluated immediately.
– At this point, isn’t Neia the victim of the most catastrophic nerfs in history?

It had practically become worship by now.
Then again, having soloed a Trial that could be called a national-level calamity was reason enough.
“Gate closure.”
All the Drones returned to the Nemesis.
I closed the Gate as well.
Then, a moment later, the Settlement Hall unfolded before my eyes.
“Gate open.”
Krail’s party and the Drones emerged once more through the Gate, and I swept my gaze across the interior beyond them.
The hall was crowded with people.
Raid parties who had struggled valiantly to clear the Trial.
Their eyes held a strange caution directed at me.
The look of people gazing upon something dangerous.

[Tallying results.]
[You have achieved exceptional merit in the Trial!]
[Rewards have been adjusted upward.]
[Rewards have been adjusted upward.]
[Experience Points awarded.]
[Level increased.]
[Level increased.]
[Level increased.]
…
Ten levels at once?
Well, the Trial’s difficulty is naturally factored in, after all.
This much is standard.
I was maintaining my composure, deliberately recalling the mindset of a great general, when—

Ding—

I froze at the message that followed.

[A Blessing will be applied for a certain period to the Players of Korea who have cleared the Trial.]

What in the world is this?

—————
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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