Chapter 159
Having completed the brainwashing, Humphrey Millen exited Egan Paul’s office and headed for a meeting room arranged in a secret bunker.
‘Good, no one is tailing me,’ he thought.
Navigating through the maze-like hallways and passing several magical barriers, he arrived at the meeting room. In the center of the room lay a large crystal orb. When Humphrey touched it, he received a series of notifications.
[Agent 「Humphrey Millen’s」 identity has been verified.]
[Network 「Black」 is now active.]
Humphrey was an agent of Black, an Alliance active across the universe. Hailing from the Seef Server, he had joined the Black Alliance more than a decade ago and took on various field missions. His Level was in the mid-150s, and he specialized in secretive tasks such as infiltrating newly connected Servers to acquire Hidden Items. New novel chapters are published on
Holograms flickered into existence, revealing a few humanly shadowy figures.
-“Is Jonprich confirmed dead?”
-“I guess our mission to tame the Spirit King’s daughter is scrapped then.”
This mission on the Earth Server had been the largest and most crucial one that Humphrey had ever undertaken. Even for a Player in the Level 150s, the project was enormous. Moreover, this mission had become available only due to protocols protecting the new Earth Server, which he and Jonprich were assigned to.
-“Well, I never had high expectations to begin with.”
-“I saw this coming.”
The mission involved meddling with the Spirit King and the Spirit Realm. It was a heavy burden for just two Level 150 Players; even the higher-ups at the Black Alliance did not have much hope.
-“So you're telling me that you want to take down the Golden Guardian Tree? And you are asking for military support to provide a distraction?
-“What’s the meaning of that?”
-“You are not planning to use the organization for petty revenge, are you?”
Visibly startled, Humphrey dismissively waved. “How can I dare make suggestions based on such disrespectful intentions? I live for the Black Alliance, and I will die for this organization.”
Humphrey paused before continuing, “The Golden Guardian Tree on the Earth Server has yet to fully take root. It has only just sprouted. Moreover, it is weakened at the moment due to several forced adjustments. We have ample opportunity to take it out and plant it somewhere else.”
? ? ?
A man wielding a pair of enormous axes on his back strolled through downtown New York. The axes were large enough to draw attention, but on a planet where Players had become commonplace, the sight was not entirely foreign.
He took off his sunglasses in a coffee shop. “It’s been a while, Humphrey.”
“Indeed.”
“I thought you never wanted to see me again.”
“I do not like you. That hasn’t changed. But your skills are admirable.”
Named Rumbol, this man was a Lumberjack-class Player with a Level in the 190s.
“Coming into this Server was a pain in the ass, so you better make it worth my while.”
Due to the new Server protection protocol, movements of high-Level Players to a fairly new Server, like the Earth Server, were considerably restricted. The only Server officially connected to the Earth Server was Scanorbia, and breaking into the Earth Server in a shady way required significant resources.
“Here. This is the key to a five-star hotel. You will get the beautiful night view that you wanted.”
“And the escorts?”
“I am going to send one Incubus and two Succubi.”
“Good. Are they all blonde? Like I asked?”
“Yes.”
Seemingly satisfied, Rumbol chuckled before inquiring about the mission. “Is the intel solid?”
“Very. The Guardian Tree has just evolved. We can discuss the details at the hotel.”
Upon arriving at the hotel, Humphrey spread out a map. “This is the area covered by the Guardian Tree.”
“Wow!” Rumbol was shocked by the scale of the area. “That’s over five hundred square kilometers!”
“It’s actually over six hundred. It’s too large of an area for this Level of a Guardian Tree to cover.”
“Never excepted a metropolis of this scale on a Server where the average Level is around 70.” Rumbol grabbed a can of beer from the hotel mini-fridge and said with gleaming eyes, “It would be hard for a Guardian Tree to settle its roots covering a city of this scale.”
He continued, “I think I can chop that tree down. Who is the Planter?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
It seemed like Kihael still did not trust Jin-Hyeok much.
“If something goes wrong, I will get you a job at the MK Foundation. Don’t worry.”
At the mention of the MK Foundation, Kihael’s face lit up. It made Jin-Hyeok realize just how much the reputation of the MK Foundation had skyrocketed recently.
? ? ?
The development of the Scenario was abrupt, to say the least.
[The Sudden Scenario 「Fall of Yeonhui-dong」 has commenced.]
Armies of thousands of Players emerged from three different directions—Gimpo-si to the southwest, Nowon-gu to the northeast, and Gangnam-gu to the southeast. They were all Players from other Servers.
-“So these wretches dare show their faces and invade the land I guard? I will show them what true terror is,” the Guardian Tree declared with bravado. However, its confidence did not last long.
-“A few Players in their ranks can be quite problematic for me.”
Jin-Hyeok estimated that these Players included those in the Lumberjack class, who were a natural counter to the Guardian Tree. They seemed to have done their homework on Seoul.
‘How did they mobilize thousands of Players so quickly?’ Jin-Hyeok wondered.
Undoubtedly, a significant power was behind all this. Jin-Hyeok pondered the possible suspects, and one name came up as most likely.
‘Maybe it has something to do with the Black Alliance.’
The Black Alliance was a universal Alliance infamous for its atrocities against new Servers. It was considered a villainous Alliance from the Earth Server’s perspective, and Jin-Hyeok had clashed with the Black Alliance Players multiple times before his regression.
With Scenarists being involved in this situation, Jin-Hyeok had to assume a powerful Alliance, like the Black Alliance, had to be involved.
‘Has the Black Alliance infiltrated the Earth Server? Is their target the Guardian Tree?’
The chances of them aiming for the Guardian Tree were high.
-“I must unleash my true power.”
Soon, a notification popped up.
[The territory of the 「Golden Guardian Tree」 has shrunk.]
Once covering the entire city of Seoul, the Guardian Tree’s territory had shrunk. The news spread globally in real-time.
-The Downfall of the Safety Zone of Seoul.
-Even Seoul Cannot Guarantee Safety Anymore.
The Guardian Tree’s territory had shrunk to a five-kilometer radius. Only a few districts, like Seodamun-gu, Mapo-gu, Eunpyong-gu, Jongno-gu, and parts of Yongsan-gu, remained under the tree’s protection.
-Continuous Dungeon Breaks, Monsters Emerge!
-Abyssal Monsters Swarm the Gangnam Area.
Cities that had once been safe thanks to the Guardian Tree were now enveloped in chaos. Amidst this chaos, Players from other Servers who had initiated the Fall of Yeonhui-dong demanded a path be cleared.
“Our target is only Kim Chul-Soo.”
“Open a path to Kim Chul-Soo.”
“There is no need to spill pointless blood, Players of Earth.”
The successor to the HARD movement, Erin, proclaimed, “This is heaven’s judgment upon Kim Chul-Soo. He must pay for leading countless people astray.”
The invading Players began their simultaneous assaults from three directions, converging toward Chul-Soo. All eyes were on him, yet Chul-Soo didn’t react for a long time.
Erin had to shout, “Where is the overly confident Chul-Soo? He who said growth comes through risky Play is now hiding. He is nothing but a coward and a hypocrite. We must now abandon the misguided standard that is Chul-Soo and seek true justice!”
A day later, Chul-Soo, the Steamer with three hundred million subscribers, finally went live.
[Why did Players from across the universe flee in horror when an ordinary Earth Streamer brought out an SS-tier secret weapon?]
Jin-Hyeok wrote this trendy title at first but shook his head and went for another.
[Annihilation]
‘Simplicity is best after all.’ He preferred it this way.
“Hello, everyone. This is Kim Chul-Soo.” He began with some rather incomprehensible words. “It’s been a while since I greeted you with some Solo Mode content.”
1. Frag or fragging is military slang for when a soldier kills a superior officer. ?