Chapter 109
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 109
Chapter Title: 11th Floor - Lv. 765 Stormhowl Armored Brigade (5)
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The little mage was starting to regret her decision to follow her senior.
No, to be honest, she regretted it immensely.
Up through the 9th floor, it had seemed like a good choice. Her party had been ambushed and scattered to the winds, and even the reliable leader, the female archer, had stayed behind with a weary expression.
She should have stayed there with her.
So what if it wasn't the kingdom?
No Sudden Death, under the protection of a powerful cat, tolerable cold weather, and a livable home.
Food? Beasts kept sneaking in from somewhere outside the map.
It would have been more than enough for two women to survive on.
The kingdom be damned.
Her intelligence-pumped mental strength only allowed her to view the situation more coldly.
The little mage's true nature was that of a coward, and she knew it well.
With the mental correction, she could even objectively assess herself more calmly.
Right now, she was utterly terrified.
Up through the 10th floor, her role had just been trailing after the Girl, enduring a bit of hardship.
Ancient hero or whatever—she didn't know much. Just that they were impressive people, probably.
As a mage, she could tell their power was on a level incomparable to hers. But precisely because of that, she couldn't grasp it concretely. The gap was too vast.
But the events unfolding on the 11th floor were impossible to ignore, no matter how ignorant she was.
Armored vehicles, beam weapons, fleet battles, crashing space battleships. Every scene seared into her brain with overwhelming intensity.
The Girl spotted the little mage first, her face on the verge of tears.
"What's wrong?"
"Sis..."
The Girl, for all her looks, had been the type to rescue people outside.
She was familiar with eyes sunk in despair yet clinging to hope.
Her cute, big little sister's eyes looked just like that now.
Unable to fathom why, she comforted her first.
Patting her head felt awkward. It was too high up.
But the Girl tried.
Hugging her was tough. The size difference. But her strength was greater. She yanked her roughly into an embrace; she flinched but soon melted in.
The lanky girl turned out surprisingly cute like that.
The Uncle glanced subtly at the Girl's actions.
Then turned away with a strange expression.
The Girl took it as a sign to comfort her well.
"Was it right for me to come this far?"
From those words alone, the Girl understood what the little mage was thinking.
It was perilous, but the shocking events right before her eyes amplified it.
Fear, especially of death, thrived in this environment.
One moment of "ah," and she could vanish.
Watching that fleet battle in the sky brought those thoughts.
The surreal detachment made it even scarier.
Even with the sun up, they were close enough to see clearly, missiles and beams flying wildly.
Dozens of fleets.
And the explosions? Utterly silent.
Ships swelling huge as they approached, laden with countless deaths, about to crash onto the earth.
Only to be pulverized by anti-air fire and vanish.
As a girl, if she'd seen such scenes earlier, she might have dismissed them as movie-like.
But after so many unreal experiences, they felt like vivid threats now.
If one of those blind beams silently reached them...
It'd be over.
But the Girl smiled. Like when the Uncle shared his hard-won conclusion after deep thought.
Confident, without a single wrinkle.
"It's fine. We'll get to the kingdom. And we'll live well there."
Persuasion toward others doesn't come from word choice or content.
It's the speaker's attitude, expression, tone.
Seeing the little mage's face relax a bit, the Girl smiled.
This time, purely bright and unfeigned.
The Goddess was devoting much time to inspecting every corner of her long-lost followers—no, her nation.
Truth be told, this was normal for a goddess.
She wasn't so idle as to keep peering at a single Exile party.
A god exists everywhere.
Surveying the Gobletaria Federation, the Goddess's impression was succinct.
"Spotless. Utterly spotless."
History was easily accessible. Altars dedicated to her dotted the federation's lands.
Priests were everywhere too.
The Goddess couldn't bring herself to issue divine words to them.
It hadn't been long since her first oracle. The resulting deaths were uncountable.
These loyal goblins would leap up from the toilet at the mere sound of her voice.
Those with deep faith, becoming priests, had foamed at the mouth and fainted.
It wasn't just goblins. Vampires were fewer but similar; many lived as federation citizens.
Goblin vampires abounded. The Goddess was seeing non-human base vampires in such numbers for the first time.
The history during her absence was astonishingly clean. Any potential issue was swiftly handled by some vampire.
The Goddess addressed that vampire.
「You've worked hard. Is it at least bearable?」
"It's been a while."
Doubts aside about calling an old vampire "old," Barbaroi—visibly more aged than before—responded.
As before, but with sharper poise, he knelt and prayed.
With followers surging suddenly, it looked awkward.
"Much has happened. We've awaited the day the Goddess and Master would return."
The Goddess pondered her words. A common Exile plight: her time and theirs flowed differently.
A few days for her, 500 years of service for this faithful one.
Ignoring that could disappoint him.
Especially as a god.
「You've toiled for long ages. Do you desire anything?」
The Goddess wanted to tear her hair out.
In the past, running the church, key figures were like friends. No need for authority.
Now, acting superior felt alien.
Her personality, injected via the throne, had somehow pulled it off.
But Barbaroi smiled faintly and replied.
"Once the final task is done, I wish to rest."
The Goddess nodded in understanding.
1,500 years.
Barbaroi, the named one, was a clan master forever wandering for sanctuary.
Like his name meaning outsider, destined to endless exile.
Even without falling behind, his settlements never lasted.
Barbaroi had achieved all. Now, time to let go and embrace death.
"And I'd like to see that child. A moment for you, Goddess, but an eternity for me."
The federation's guardian vampire rose, smiling as if knowing she watched.
The Goddess watched.
Same named NPC each world, yet endings varied.
Like Trdongt.
Breaching the capital's walls should have been grueling.
Not planet-wide defense, but the emperor's city had towering walls.
The 11th floor's impasse dissolved with one command from the Goddess.
The fleet commander turned the prow of one of three flagship battleships earthward.
Halting just shy of anti-air range, light gathered at the prow.
Like a second sun, then the main gun fired groundward.
The intense, destructive beam sought to incinerate the earth.
Orbital satellites became first shields.
Empire's quirky tech crippled drones.
Ogres aboard strained to activate mana reactors.
The surge seemed to weaken the beam slightly.
But they shattered like glass.
Next, atmospheric defenses.
Mobile fortresses above the capital moved.
All energy to shields, blocking with hulls. Light scattered, sowing destruction.
Ornamental walls crumbled in spots.
Screams or cheers from within rose.
For the Empire, luckily, one fortress lost power and crashed—crisis averted. Even a main gun couldn't do more in one shot.
But it wasn't over.
The battleship approached.
Full throttle.
Anti-air guns blazed.
The flagship took no critical damage.
The palace corner opened, revealing a larger barrel.
Federation ship recharged its main gun.
Fierce beams clashed over the capital.
Vast mana collided, birthing a small sun in the sky.
Heat, mana glow, harmful elements spawned.
Radiation was mana too.
Non-vampire party members raised mana barriers.
"Still, ramming? Really."
"This is getting a bit worrying."
They asked what she'd told the Goddess.
「Hm, I just said the stairs are there, so handle it.」
"That's the problem! Telling zealots like them that is basically 'figure it out or perish horrifically'!"
「I-is it?」
"Give specific orders."
So now they're hurling a flagship as a kinetic kill vehicle on a word.
Cannon fire canceled each other; ship loomed larger.
Capital-sized. How many aboard? Empire's motley ships pursued from afar.
Federation ship ignored rear attacks.
Critical damage mounted. But mass unchanged. Unless stopped, capital-destroying doom loomed.
"Wait, won't this kill us too?"
"This is going too far."
The ship filled vision. Burning, crashing, yet momentum held.
Not user-influenced Empire ships, yet imposing.
Fighters launched at the last second.
Shuttles scattered. Anti-air engaged but overwhelmed.
Symbolic palace unprepared for brute force.
Cannon fire weakened.
Semitransparent mega-shield, final defense, unfolded over palace.
Immense mass slammed it.
"Good, it won't shatter immediately. Hurry inside."
Even symbolic, Empire shields packed power.
Flying city-sized ship collided physically—and held.
Precisely, still holding.
Prow crumpled thunderously. It tilted, losing balance—away from them.
That side's districts? Obliterated.
They slipped through crumbled wall gaps. Inside, Greenskins showed hellish chaos.
No one noticed the human group infiltrating.
No sane ones left anyway.
The old man clicked his tongue.
"This is our Greenskin style."
"Goblins are Greenskins too, Elder."
"...True."
The old man paused, then chuckled ruefully.
"Yes, those are valiant warriors too. Why did we past Greenskins scorn them for small size and weak strength?"
The veteran shaman's lifelong goblin disdain flipped in one blow.
Amazing, goblins. Amazing, Cult of Chaos.
Stairs roughly located.
Before War God's temple.
Running, ill omen hit. Stairs mocking War God openly? They'd notice.
War God wouldn't sit idle.
This future favored him impossibly, yet mirage-like.
His death here? Gone like a dream.
Sure enough, not the dazed guards outside—taut orcs and trolls defended stairs.
No gun-only scrubs.
Uniform gear.
Like Lavahammer Shock Brigade, uniform Greenskins meant elite of elites.
"Force through! We just need to reach those stairs together!"
Of course, machine gun nests complicated it. Pondering spell combos to breach.
Spotted.
One troll drew a rod from back.
Gripped two-handed.
Whirring light pillar surged.
Magitech aura blade. Near-3m lightsaber gleamed.
"Damn, fall back first. They won't pursue."
Fighting a lightsaber troll? Bad idea, win or lose.
Clubs deflectable or dodgable; weightless, graze=instant death blade too risky.
Hated seeing this.
Shooting started. Cover, but good gear or zeal? Bullets pocked temple wall.
"Invisibility first..."
Explosion roared.
Even he peeked startled.
His dilemma vanished.
A fighter embedded in machine gun nest.
Sky: parachuting, praying goblin.
"What in the world."
Then their position leaked; forces surged from elsewhere. Orcs sprayed fire, charging.
Sky dumped more.
He knew it: goblins small, easy drop capsules.
Fervent goblins poured everywhere.
Some vampires too.
Disciplined paratroopers rallied to apparent goblin commander.
Ignoring foes, crisp drill.
Goblins perfectly aligned before them. Instant.
One drew lightsaber... wait, aura blade.
Anyway, he dashed forward, halted at front.
He'd lived solely for this moment. Endured grueling paratrooper training, rose to officer—yet Goddess absent.
Disappointed sometimes. Maybe abandoned us? Training purged such thoughts.
Swing sword ten thousand times to sleep.
Shooting insufficient for impure mind.
Paratrooper lightsaber close combat perfect for sweating out disloyalty.
Always loyal soldier, ready to offer life to Goddess.
Post-training prayers.
Sword swings faster over time.
Soon prayers outlasted swings.
Faith deepened daily.
One day, not magitech plasma, but something else coated his blade tip.
He didn't know.
Vampire mage witnessed, reported shocked.
He became people's hero.
Ancient power few swordsmen grasped: Aura Blade.
Small stature complex lingered subtly in goblins.
"Back then..." etc.
No more.
Now, show fruit to great Chaos warrior.
Tears welled, but heroes don't cry.
Goblin Swordmaster bulged eyes, bellowed.
"Salute to the great leader of Chaos!"
Tiny goblins became Goddess's vanguard collective.
Not only he felt training's fruition.
Roaring cheers followed.
"This life to the Goddess! Chaos with my death! Red Chaos across the galaxy!"
Enemy fire began.
Rear one toppled.
Yet he died saluting: right fist up, left palm on heart.
Quiet, disciplined end.
Devoted to Chaos.
The great Chaos champion and high priest declared solemnly.
"About face! Annihilate our foes!"
It was done.
"What the hell is this."
Left alone, they'd parade forever. Hurried attack order.
Truly bewildering.
But not good position.
Escorting goblins resisted valiantly, but more Greenskin troops.
Die here?
「Ugh. Can't let that happen.」
Short oracle, choked voice.
Party dashed into stairs as Goddess declared sanctuary for soldiers.
Melting sensation, floating.
[TIP: Behold the future you've shaped. If displeased, you might change it. But beware other Exiles' interference. You're not the only one craving the future.]