Chapter 50
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: Encounter
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This was Gwanghwamun Street in Korea.
Seeing the massive crowds marching along, Jeremy steadied his breathing and scanned his surroundings.
"Alex! You damn bastard."
Jeremy, known as the U.S. diplomat and spokesperson, had a meeting today with the owner of the Grimoire of the Universe himself.
He figured that meeting Moon Byul would let him uncover the source of the unease he'd felt.
A living corpse—there had to be a connection between Moon Byul and Alex Scott, just as he'd suspected. And once again, his hunch proved spot-on.
While waiting at the Mangul Guild to meet Moon Byul, who should he run into but "Solo" Alex.
The moment their eyes met, a flurry of thoughts raced through Jeremy's mind, but in the end, there was only one thing to do.
"Alex!"
"Jeremy, what the hell are you doing here?!"
Send Alex back to the United States.
But of course, Alex wasn't going to come quietly.
His initial visit to Korea had been to recover an ownerless grimoire, but now the situation had spiraled, changing everything.
He'd approached the Mangul Guild on a hunch that it might lead to the suddenly missing Alex, only for the man himself to show up.
It was proof that Jeremy's deductions had been right on the money.
After tracking the escaped Alex, he'd ended up here on Gwanghwamun Street.
As the saying goes, the best place to hide a tree is in the forest. Blending into the throngs of people made Alex a needle in a haystack.
One silver lining: he'd confirmed that Alex's personal motives weren't aimed at hostility toward the U.S., at least.
Whatever reason Alex had for hiding out and going solo, it didn't seem harmful to humanity as a whole.
If he really meant to go rogue, he wouldn't bother with this game of hide-and-seek.
No matter what anyone said, Alex was one of the top climbers in the world—he could just crush anyone pursuing him with raw power.
So there was still room to talk this out.
"Roni, too many people around. He's still nearby. Shout."
"...We're here in Korea as diplomats right now. If we start yelling..."
"It's fine! Securing Alex is priority one. Just make people flinch a bit."
Roni sighed deeply, resigned, then opened his mouth.
"Raaaaah—"
As Roni's mana-infused shout echoed briefly across Gwanghwamun, everyone who heard it clutched their ears and collapsed, legs giving out.
The noisy square fell deathly silent in an instant, with only a few who hadn't crumpled visible amid the chaos.
Only those awakened with even a sliver of mana resistance could withstand Roni's mild "Shout."
Among the ones still standing, Jeremy spotted someone who'd hesitated before slowly dropping.
"There! After him!"
"Goddamn it! Let's talk this out!"
Alex veered into a deserted alley. Hiding among crowds wasn't viable anymore.
"Alex! Stop so we can talk!"
"Bullshit! Talk while you chase!"
The pursuit dragged on. If Alex had unleashed his power like he did in China, not only escaping but overpowering them would have been a breeze.
The fact that he wasn't using magic gave them a shot.
The moment he did and crushed them, hiding in Korea would be impossible.
In the end, Alex got cornered in a dead-end alley.
"Time to go home, Alex."
"......"
In the empty alley with nowhere to run, the atmosphere shifted in a heartbeat.
It felt like Alex might resort to force to break free, catching Jeremy and the others off guard.
"Hold on! Let's talk—just you and me. I'll send the rest away. Depending on what you say..."
As Jeremy stepped forward slightly, a wall of bone erupted behind him.
Now, the space held only Jeremy and Alex.
"Jeremy, why the hell are you in Korea?"
"Shouldn't I be asking you that?"
Despite it being their reunion in ages, neither trusted the other.
An awkward tension filled the bone-encased space.
"This is all for our own good. Can't you just pretend you didn't see me?"
"Come on, Alex. I get it, but do you think the higher-ups will buy that?"
"......"
"You secretly conquered the 65th floor, Phase 2 kicked off right after, and you bolted from the U.S. You turned Shanghai into a wasteland, and now you're puppeteering corpses in Korea for some scheme."
Hearing his actions recounted by someone else for the first time? Alex looked utterly baffled, like he had no idea what Jeremy was talking about.
"People died in Shanghai. Even if the U.S. wants to protect you, we have to show China some minimal response. I don't know what you're plotting here, but reviving corpses for a grimoire? That's abandoning all humanity..."
"Hold up! Stop! What the fuck are you even talking about?"
"No use denying it now. I know everything."
Alex genuinely seemed clueless—at least, that's how it looked to Jeremy. No hint of deception.
"Shanghai was a misunderstanding, and I haven't done shit in Korea yet. Corpses? No idea what nonsense you're spouting, but I..."
—BOOM!
Suddenly, a massive explosion rocked from outside.
Screams from countless people, the ground shaking like an earthquake.
Alex and Jeremy's eyes met in midair.
Without a word, they both rushed outside.
The scene outside mirrored what Alex had witnessed in Shanghai.
A mechanical monstrosity shaped like a human with a single dog head hovered in the sky, indiscriminately bombarding the city.
Missiles launched en masse from its body, while the massive, unfamiliar gun it wielded sliced the earth with laser fire.
Instinctively, he summoned low-tier minions as shields to minimize damage.
"Why now? The Conqueror shouldn't be showing up yet!"
"Conqueror? That thing from Phase 2?"
"Hell if I know! It's crazy strong. If it's not a climber, gotta be a Conqueror."
The Conquerors' existence hadn't been fully disclosed to the world yet. Alex had vaporized the first one on sight, leaving no chance for proper observation.
Aerial attackers were always a nightmare to raid.
Alex summoned his wyvern and took to the skies. He focused on veils and ranged undead mages to pin down the Conqueror's feet first.
To gauge how it handled incoming attacks from all sides.
The Conqueror slung its enormous gun onto its back and unleashed a barrage of missiles from its body toward the undead mages.
—KABOOM!
The moment Veil spotted an opening and soared toward it, sword at the ready...
Bang!
Veil's blade bounced off an invisible barrier.
With Veil's attack blocked, even Alex panicked.
He'd known it was stronger than the Heavenly Demon, but this Anubis-like machine was on another level.
'Why the hell is something like this popping up?'
Alex couldn't make sense of it. The next Conqueror shouldn't appear for at least three weeks—and even then, only slightly stronger than the Heavenly Demon.
This machine's power level looked like something from four years in the future.
Judging the wyvern too risky, he observed from a nearby building's rooftop.
The dog head attacked indiscriminately, no targets spared. He'd hoped its ammo would run dry since it looked mechanical, but no such luck.
Strategy unchanged: Among Alex's summons, Veil was best suited for humanoid foes.
It ignored the undead mages but blocked Veil.
"Jeremy!"
Jeremy got the message and evacuated his team and civilians.
Too open an urban area for AOE blasts.
The enemy was wary of Veil. The breakthrough lay in overwhelming that shield with heavy melee.
Drawing its eyes with Bone Spears, Veil leaped high and struck from behind.
Crunch.
Blocked again, but he heard it clearly—something cracked. The shield had limits.
But the enemy didn't just take it.
Clank.
The massive back-mounted gun swiveled toward the falling Veil.
Weeeeeen!
Scorching heat blasted this way. The giant cannon fired a laser cannon—super-science tech beyond modern capabilities.
"......"
Veil lay embedded in the ground where the high-output laser had swept, motionless.
The link hadn't severed yet. But could Veil keep fighting?
Conquerors usually required a swarm of S-rank climbers to take down safely.
Even then, in late tower raids, few returned unscathed.
This machine's specs were beyond what Alex could solo.
'Run?'
Even if Korea's S-ranks arrived, victory wasn't guaranteed.
This thing was likely another third-run butterfly effect. Alex couldn't imagine what the hell was going down in Korea.
Clank.
'Oh shit.'
That laser cannon must be capable of rapid fire.
After reloading, the dog-head machine targeted Veil again. Without Veil, no strategy came to mind, so Alex unsummoned him.
With Veil gone, the barrel swung toward the rooftop. Meeting the muzzle's gaze, myriad thoughts hit Alex.
Block with Bone Shield? No. Dodge? No.
Couldn't block or evade. Hadn't reached Floor 70—no second chances.
'Lose just like this?'
Then the Conqueror's barrel tilted skyward. A vertically fired laser pierced the clouds, triggering something bizarre.
A colossal laser, dwarfing the cannon's beam, descended from above, swallowing the shot whole before engulfing the Conqueror.
KABOOOOOM!
As the ground stopped quaking, a massive sinkhole yawned where the unbeatable foe had been.
Hard to see against the sunlight, but a human figure slowly descended from the sky.
Its long bound hair fluttered beautifully in the wind.
Their eyes met. No sound, but he read the lips clearly.
'Regressor'
It had definitely said "Regressor."