Chapter 172
Chapter 172
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 172
Chapter Title: Bullshit Even on the 13th Regression
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When Imir came to, she saw a monster devouring metal fragments.
It was a metal monster that had detached from Ju Gonghyeok's prosthetic arm.
[Acquired Shin-Type Tachyon Lance research 89%.]
[Hexagon Nano-Tube structure research complete.]
[King Maker Cluster – Photon Reactor acquired.]
[Shin-Type Photon Drive research complete.]
[Shin-Type Tungsten Carbide alloy…….]
The monster ceaselessly blared mechanical noises, announcing its spoils.
Nathaniel mumbled awkwardly.
- Should've at least asked why it welcomed you.
"Don't look so down. There'll be more on the next floor."
Ju Gonghyeok groped along the cavern wall.
"Here."
[Vulcanus: Accessible terminal detected.]
A parasitic metal wire extended from the remnants of the prosthetic on his arm and plugged into a small computer hidden in the wall.
[King Maker Cluster Underground 1F Residence, terminal connected.]
[Underground 2F Lab unlocked.]
Drurrrrk—
Part of the cavern floor slid open, and the machine god tribe's wreckage tumbled down.
- ……There's an underground 2F too?
"Their main bodies are down there. Imir, you wait here."
Imir nodded blankly.
[66th god energy element absorbed.]
[2nd formula optical camouflage structure analyzed.]
[Shin-Type Stealth…….]
"Hey. You moderate it and reattach."
Grurrruk—
The one-eyed monster with the massive maw decomposed into metal powder and reattached to Ju Gonghyeok's arm.
The dingy prosthetic, which had swirled with red rust, changed slightly.
The murky color remained, but it now gleamed with sharp decorations shaped like flames and an unusual luster.
[Trait 'Machine God-Level Ego Prosthetic (S+)' expands to 'Machine God-Level Battle Prosthetic (SS)'.]
[Category changed to Machine God Tribe Type 1 combat weapon.]
"Grew a little, huh."
He stroked the arm once, then stepped into the stairless hole.
He plummeted straight toward Underground 2F.
- Isn't that dangerous? Going down without any precautions……
"These guys don't actually want to fight me."
Nathaniel realized something.
- There's no air here. But your voice is getting through.
"Physical concepts are fading, while abstract ones are strengthening. It's not transmitting through air as a medium—the meaning itself conveys directly, like your telepathy."
He could see the surrounding space wobbling and distorting.
Before long, concepts like acceleration and falling grew faint as well, and Ju Gonghyeok's body slowly came to a stop.
He had arrived at Underground 2F.
As he stepped onto the squishy floor and walked forward, a hologram appeared.
- Notice. Other entities have been evacuated. We desire a calm conversation with Earthling Ju Gonghyeok.
= Exterminate machine gods.
Vulcanus rudely ignored the hologram's polite greeting.
= Hologram path search. Nearby ahead.
The coordinates were shaking, making distance measurement impossible.
As he advanced an ambiguous distance, a hole leaking light came into view.
He widened the hole with both hands, and blue holograms greeted him.
- Welcome. Earthling Ju Gonghyeok. Pleased to meet you.
- Panic. Continuous destruction of entities belonging to our cluster.
- Understanding. Confirmed existence hostile to machine gods in the avatar system.
Finally, light flickered on the monitor at the front.
- 「King Maker Cluster」 top administrator……
= Generate wide-area extermination weapon.
Before it could finish speaking, Ju Gonghyeok's prosthetic twitched.
= Continue machine god extermination mission.
At Vulcanus's rampage without question or answer, the triangle on the hologram spun whirly.
- Target avatar identified.
- Ancient 666th machine god Vulcanus.
- OS Enigma XP. Outdated security model from 20 generations ago.
- OS command restoration, analysis complete.
The spinning hologram triangle stopped dead and displayed red text.
- Emergency protocol activated.
- Top administrator commands. Cease actions. VULCAN_666.
Noise corrupted the image of avatar Vulcanus.
[Vulcanus: Security system reinforced.]
[Signal blocked. Firewall strengthened. Physical barrier.]
[Intrusion not permitted.]
[Not, not, not, not, no…… ]
Keeeen—
The prosthetic's noise died down as it went limp.
Vulcanus's security had been breached.
The holograms spat mechanical sounds as if boasting.
- Outdated. Took time to understand the primitive OS from 4 million years ago.
- Careless. Connected unsuspectingly to the 1F terminal. Planted the malicious program from there.
This place's King Maker was, after all, one of the three major operating systems of the machine gods' Gigalromakina.
It would be stranger if it couldn't infiltrate the security after planting a hacking program upon terminal connection.
- Time shortage. The 666th machine god was made to counter any kind of intrusion or hack for the machine gods' destruction. The OS will reboot in 600 seconds.
A hologram in the shape of a human male appeared in the center.
"Earthling Ju Gonghyeok. King Maker wishes to converse with you."
"Whatever. Go ahead and talk."
Ju Gonghyeok leisurely pulled out a cigarette.
Nathaniel whispered cautiously in his ear.
- Uh, it didn't seem biological or anything. But you smashed a ton of its kin upstairs. Why's it being so nice?
"Probably backed itself up."
- What's a backup?
"Similar to how you died and got revived by me."
- ……Even so, dead is dead.
Ju Gonghyeok shrugged.
"More importantly, they've got something bigger going on."
No matter the backup, death was death.
Even pasting a copied consciousness treated it as a separate entity for machine gods.
Having hundreds of remaining kin destroyed was unpleasant, but King Maker currently had far higher priorities.
"Reclamation. Our King Maker wishes to restore Gigalromakina to normal."
"Yeah?"
Ju Gonghyeok extended his hand.
"Let's get along from now on."
"Rational communication. Welcome."
The hologram extended a hand in kind for a handshake.
Nathaniel, perched on his shoulder, turned her head toward Ju Gonghyeok in bewilderment.
- It's over?
"Over."
- For real?
"For real."
Nathaniel nearly fell off his shoulder in shock.
- No way! What is this! The zero-humanity, conscienceless trash, unrecyclable garbage who grabs collars and threatens for everything!
"You keep that up, and I'll really strip you bare and parade you around for the first time in ages."
Ju Gonghyeok smoked irritably.
"That's just how you handle species. No point in harassing when there's nothing more to squeeze out."
- ……Then why harass angels? Species discrimination?
"Angels drop items when fleeced."
- Wow, total trash.
Ju Gonghyeok took a deep drag on the cigarette.
In this space, just thinking he wanted to smoke filled his lungs with smoke naturally, no need to light it.
"Devils drop items too when fleeced. Humans drop coins. Basically, you lot have more stuff, and I'm in the position of efficiently shaking you down for it."
- ……Is that how you saw us?
"Gotta climb to the 88th floor. It's necessary. But these guys are different."
Ju Gonghyeok pointed at the hologram.
"Once you promise cooperation, they work like slaves and hand over anything."
- Anything?
The machine god hologram affirmed it.
"Affirmative. Willing to support him with anything as long as it doesn't threaten the survival of Gigalromakina. Coins, weapons, troops—after reclaiming Gigalromakina, we'll mobilize all available resources."
"See? They'll hand over liver and gall."
Ju Gonghyeok chuckled and flicked away his cigarette.
One of the machine gods popped out from somewhere and brought an ashtray to catch the butt.
- Hmm……
Nathaniel propped her chin, deep in thought for a moment.
Then she voiced the key question.
- Why? Machine gods climb Babel too, and their resources are limited. Why are they so confident in devoting themselves to you?
She sharply pinpointed the doubt.
- Dimensions that failed to kill their demon king get invaded by other Babels. There's no benefit for them if you kill their demon king.
"Error. Factor the mental lifeform there hasn't considered……."
"Simple."
Ju Gonghyeok cut off the machine god and sneered lightly.
"These guys plan to abandon their dimension and migrate to Babel."
- Ack! Migrate to Babel!?
She whipped around to the machine gods.
- For real!?
"Affirmative. Would like to know the info source, but it's fact."
- Oh my god, to think there's a species this creatively insane.
Ju Gonghyeok snickered as she gaped in shock, hand over mouth.
"That's why they're underground too. To seize the Babel system. As long as you take out the demon king owner, they don't care who."
Ju Gonghyeok openly sneered at the hologram.
"Right? That's how you takeover the Babel system."
"Wise. Additionally, we wish to normalize the main body Gigalromakina. We beseech your aid."
"Oops, nearly forgot about that."
Ju Gonghyeok shrugged exaggeratedly and patted Nathaniel's head.
"These guys are observers and helpers. Mutual benefit, so squeeze 'em till the end. Shall we get into specifics?"
Ju Gonghyeok ticked off fingers one by one.
"First, set up a demon king-level trap on 1F. I'll provide the materials."
"Trap. Presumed need for massive energy accumulation to work on demon king class."
"I'll deploy one god-level avatar. Tune it with the Babel mana conduits to accumulate mana over decades—should be enough for five traps."
"Convincing. Trap materials?"
"Jupiter's sacred lightning as main dealer. Bind time and body with Ra-Djehuty's calendar and Ramayana Volume 2 manuscript……."
As the two started chattering, Nathaniel cautiously raised her hand.
- Um, Ju Gonghyeok. Seems like there's some contradiction going on……
"Where?"
- Well, you told Vulcanus you'd wipe out all machine gods. But now you're saying cooperate till the 88th floor demon king kill depending on the situation……
Red light swirled in the eye of the hovering Vulcanus.
[Restart prep – 1 minute remaining.]
[Internal malicious intrusion program deletion complete.]
[Firewall breach algorithm identified. Security reinforced.]
As Vulcanus began showing murderous intent, Nathaniel glanced nervously, legs trembling.
- What're you gonna do about that? That simple-minded god has zero flexibility or social skills—classic reckless lone wolf god. No negotiating with that.
"Ah~ That?"
Ju Gonghyeok scratched his head.
"Yeah, now that you mention it."
- Right……
"Guess I'll beat it till it listens?"
At Ju Gonghyeok's nonchalant words, Nathaniel broke into a sweat.
- You're joking, right?
"'Course it's a joke."
- Doesn't sound like one coming from you.
Ju Gonghyeok laughed heartily.
"Don't worry. Don't worry. If no solution, wouldn't have brought it. Hahaha."
- So, how're you gonna handle it?
"Few beatings oughta do it?"
- ……
"……."
- ……Um. That wasn't a joke, was it?
"Joke, joke. Tried beating it before—didn't work."
- This guy's totally batshit crazy, isn't he?
Vulcanus's murderous glare intensified.
[Restart prep – 10 seconds remaining.]
The destruction god was moments from awakening.
Nathaniel flapped her wings frantically.
- You really got no plan!?
"Got one. Got one."
Ju Gonghyeok pulled a coin from his pocket.
The black coin from Underground 1F.
He flicked it with a grin.
"How about evolving that thing to SSS rank first?"
- It'll just get stronger and wreck even more! You damned human!
Nathaniel shrieked.