Free Web NovelChapter 139: 139
"Man, that is such a tragic backstory," Zeke mused, casually resting his chin on his hand as he sat cross-legged directly on the massive shoulder of a colossal beast. "For your compliance, you’ve officially earned a quick ticket back to the spawn room." He drove his katana straight down through the creature’s skull.
The sheer volume of raw attribute points I’ve passively amassed from clearing these trash waves today is getting borderline annoying.
{Literally every single mechanism that simplifies your existence is catalogued as ’annoying’ by your broken brain, yet you remain as fundamentally lazy as a sloth on tranquilizers.}
That is an entirely different philosophical debate, Zero. Zeke casually dismissed the notification window and turned a warm, bright smile toward Yeon, who was watching him from a few paces away.
"Yo! Did you catch that absolute masterclass in positioning?"
Yeon simply stared at him, her expression deadpan. Are you genuinely doing this right now?
"What? I was merely initiating standard casual conversation," he shrugged, stepping off the dissolving carcass. He scanned the widening clearing. "Where did the rest of the vanguard wander off to? It looks like the portals are completely offline."
Taking a deep, dramatic breath, Zeke bellowed at the absolute top of his lungs: "DUDES!!"
"Do you possess absolutely zero concept of human shame?" Yeon instantly facepalmed, her voice muffled by her own hands.
"I have officially outgrown the biological necessity for shame, my dear. Look at the logic: every single individual who witnesses my most embarrassing spectacles will eventually succumb to mortality, whereas I shall remain perfectly intact. Ergo, today’s cringe holds absolutely zero statistical relevance ten thousand years from now. And as long as I personally refuse to acknowledge the embarrassment, the burden of the awkwardness shifts entirely to the spectators." He offered a careless, logical shrug.
"Are you seriously still hyper-fixated on your functional immortality? Just to clarify your historical metrics, first-tier saints can comfortably maintain a lifespan pushing up to ten millennia," she pointed out dryly.
"Oh wow, I am absolutely shaking in my boots," Zeke laughed heartily. "By the time that timer runs out, I’ll have already cleared my way into the upper floors of the Tower anyway." He deftly sidestepped the deeper subtext of his psychological dependency on his immortality. If he wasn’t allowed to be proud of his eternal status, what else did he have? His undeniable aesthetic beauty? Well, to be fair, he was incredibly attached to that as well.
"Did someone mention a complete lack of basic human dignity?" Anton rolled his eyes heavily as his figure materialized directly in front of Zeke.
"Apologies, you missed the window. I’ve already deployed that exact punchline earlier. System rules dictate I cannot reuse the same comedic bit three times," Zeke replied, waving a dismissive hand.
"When exactly did you execute the first iteration of that joke?" Yeon asked, genuinely curious.
"Long before I had the distinct pleasure of crossing paths with any of you characters," Zeke chuckled, spinning his sheathed weapon around his wrist before finding a comfortable flat rock to sit on.
"What an absolute weapon of a human being,"
Anton muttered under his breath.
Yeon chose to completely ignore the commentary.
One by one, the remaining members of their scattered vanguard began to filter back into the central clearing.
...
"See? What did I tell you, old man? Dramatically reduced civilian casualties across all sectors," the Emperor remarked smugly, brushing an imaginary speck of dust off his royal robes.
"My sincerest congratulations," Nox replied, his tone as dry as desert bone.
"Hah! Unlike your archaic ass, even if the systemic restrictions prevent me from personally vaporizing these bastards, I can still manipulate the board to grant my people a winning hand."
"Wow, you are truly a beacon of cosmic benevolence," Nox rolled his eyes thoroughly. "You and your father know, as a designated world Administrator, I am bound by absolute neutral protocols from altering active floor events."
"Meh. I never had the pleasure of knowing my biological father; I’m a certified orphan, remember? And I’d wager all my assets the man wasn’t even a minor noble. How on earth do you expect a commoner lineage to comprehend the concept of a world Administrator?"
"I genuinely lack the cognitive stamina required to process your personality, Valerian."
"Of course you do. Because I am fundamentally me," the Emperor shrugged, his smirk widening.
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The moment the final invading entity dissolved into ash, the radiant, golden aura blanketting the populace began to recede. The artificial strength withered away, leaving the citizens safely returned to their baseline physical attributes.
For a beat, there was silence—and then, a deafening, earth-shattering roar of pure triumph erupted from the stands. The commoners, the battle-hardened adventurers, the faculty, and even the stuffiest aristocrats joined together in a unified explosion of celebration.
"Congratulations to you all! Today, we have given the adversary an absolute masterclass in resilience! Every soul present has performed flawlessly, and this Emperor is profoundly pleased!" The Emperor’s voice vibrated through the atmosphere, echoing across the entire layout of the capital. "To commemorate this historic triumph, for the entirety of the upcoming month, the standard trade tariffs on all domestic goods shall be slashed by half! Furthermore, every tavern within the imperial borders is hereby instructed to dispense their finest spirits at a mere ten percent of their standard listing! Fear not the overhead—this Emperor shall personally liquidate all resulting deficits from the royal treasury!"
An even more cataclysmic roar tore through the sky, originating not merely from the academy grounds but echoing from every residential sector across the sprawling expanse of Aureth.
"LONG LIVE THE MOST RADIANT AND ETERNAL IMPERIAL MAJESTY!!"
No one could pinpoint exactly which fanatic had initiated the chant, but within seconds, thousands of voices synchronized into a single, thunderous tide of devotion.
"Sire, the containment protocols across the outer rings have been successfully finalized," the Grand Chancellor reported, materializing into a deep bow beside the sovereign.
"Excellent," the Emperor nodded smoothly. He had tasked the Chancellor with anchoring the primary defense lines around the high-density portals within the civilian sectors, ensuring the imperial military and elite adventurers formed an impenetrable wall around the unawakened.
...
Man, what is with this incredibly corny, textbook NPC chanting? Zeke grimaced internally, rubbing the back of his neck as the noise threatened to give him a headache.
Suddenly, his internal alarm flared. The exact same cold, suffocating weight from before dropped right back into his chest.
Oh, come on. Not this circus again.
"Oh, look at you, actually pulling off a victory. How thoroughly heartbreaking. Not only do I suffer from a distinct attribute deficit compared to your monstrous build, but your localized population turns out to be shockingly resilient. Well, to be fair, I only deployed a single vanguard unit. Regardless, I felt it only polite to manifest once more and offer my personal congratulations on your defense. As a token of my esteem, I shall permit you to ask a single, unrestricted question."
The Emperor merely leveled a piercing, lethal glare at Ruarc.
"Oh, don’t look at me with those scary eyes," Ruarc giggled, his posture turning intentionally shy and theatrical. He was thoroughly basking in the reality that the tower’s protocols completely paralyzed the Emperor from launching an offensive. Manifesting right under the nose of his greatest rival twice in a single hour? Shame? What even was that concept? Did these modern mortals have any inkling of the absolute thrashing he had endured at the hands of this exact monster during their historic encounter?
"I must admit, I experienced a fraction of surprise when the telemetry confirmed your hands were completely tied this time around. But upon deeper reflection, it makes perfect mathematical sense. During our final clash, your parameters were already breaking the scale. You must have successfully finalized that specific cosmic breakthrough. If you truly pulled it off, your baseline output must be hovering dangerously close to their domain now. So honestly, how could the Tower possibly permit you to swing your sword on a lower floor? If anything, you only have your own genius to blame. Your obsessive campaign to dismantle Heaven has effectively locked you out of the sandbox. Though from what the grapevine whispers, you’ve managed to secure an incredibly broken offspring and a few cross-world anomalies. You might not necessarily draw a losing hand this season."
Ruarc chatted away amiably, completely unbothered by the silence.
"Since your immense sovereign pride prevents you from asking the obvious, I’ll just go ahead and give you the data dump for free. We, the demonic collective, chose to initiate the vanguard phase ahead of the scheduled systemic timeline precisely because of you. Your personal scaling has become a threat to the global balance. Rather than allowing the tower parameters to permit the birth of another statistical anomaly like yourself, the floor algorithms forcefully designated your child as the Chosen One. Given his absurd genetic talent profile, if the system hadn’t manually strapped the Chosen One onto his growth, his raw evolution would have rendered the entire archetype redundant. Of course, those weren’t the sole variables at play. So don’t lose sleep thinking it’s entirely your fault. If it were just your lineage, the timeline might have only shifted by a few days, not a whole month."
Ruarc took a step back, his golden eyes flashing with a sharp, intelligent light. "The foreign souls you smuggled into this ecosystem—you and that incredibly foul-smelling old Administrator—and the highly irregular structural shifts over the past fiscal year. Two exceptionally delicious, high-grade smells suddenly anchoring themselves to this server. Those were the true catalysts for our accelerated deployment. Not to mention you went ahead and permanently deleted an official messenger sent directly from Heaven’s court. Are you entirely brain-damaged? Why would you execute their vanguard asset? Well, that’s a structural mess for your house to clean up. My sole directive is to guide my collective to a decisive victory in this theater. Though honestly, I don’t believe I’ll have much of a direct hand in determining who ultimately takes the crown."
Ruarc offered a casual shrug
