Chapter 154
Chapter 154
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 154
Chapter Title: Searching for the Traces of the Gale Wind (4)
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* * *
-I’m back.
Having reclaimed his flesh, the ancient emperor Chrono scanned his surroundings with a face filled with emotion. Though time had worn it down and changed it greatly, he knew.
This was the place.
The spot he had longed for so desperately, yet cursed just as fiercely.
-First, I’ll clean up these vermin-like异種 scum, then come to you.
Chrono glanced up at the sky for a moment before lightly swinging his arm. A storm of immense power erupted, reshaping the terrain around him. Everything vanished except for a single stele, blown away entirely.
Wuuuuung.
He descended lightly and placed his hand on the stele, revealing the gate he had hidden there.
Judging by how utterly undeveloped the area remained, it seemed no one had discovered it yet. Still, the stele appeared somewhat excavated, which struck him as odd, though he figured it was possible.
After all, someone had come here to retrieve his head.
But the moment he stepped inside, he sensed something was wrong. He hadn’t yet connected to the red orb, but his expanded senses detected the disturbance within.
Chrono’s face, which had shown little expression since his revival, hardened, and the aura enveloping his body surged violently.
-You scum!
What greeted him was the shattered remains of the Red Cross Corps, scattered in pieces.
Of the thousand knights, at least dozens appeared destroyed.
A small number in raw count, but considering each was master-level strength, the loss was catastrophic.
Moreover, these were the loyal retainers who had fought alongside him on the battlefield, pledged themselves to the future, and sealed their own souls into metal puppets.
It was only natural for murderous intent to fill Chrono’s eyes.
And in that instant, the power of corruption nestled in a corner of his mind flowed into him.
-I won’t let this slide. Whoever dared commit this atrocity, I’ll find them and tear them apart.
A faint greenish energy flowed toward the growling Chrono before vanishing.
* * *
“It’s about time we heard something……”
After his rampage, Rokan had returned to Taimura. While waiting out the berserk aftereffects, he uploaded reinforcement stones to the integrated auction house and muttered while gazing at the distant sky.
At Chrono’s speed, he should have reached his grave by now and discovered what Rokan had done.
Given the bastard’s temperament, he wouldn’t stay quiet. Even without the power of corruption, the guy lost all reason when he snapped.
Yet despite that thought, a lingering unease refused to fade.
He had kicked off something grand, but what if he couldn’t contain it?
The Road wouldn’t collapse entirely because of this, but it could falter, stall, or drastically alter the future.
It would be ideal if users bought time like in his previous life, but if they clashed head-on instead, key NPCs could all get wiped out.
[World Event: The Tyrant’s Revival has begun.]
Right then, the world event announcement appeared.
The Tyrant’s Revival.
An apt name. To humans, he was the ancient emperor, but to other races, he was nothing more than a tyrant.
For users, it was back-to-back world events that had never occurred even once before, but they’d soon learn. Just like the Corruption Wave, this was anything but welcome.
[The Tyrant Chrono and the Red Cross Corps have begun their activities.]
[Be cautious. The Tyrant Chrono was the conqueror who once dominated the entire central continent in ancient times. He will do anything to achieve his goals.]
“Level 291…… This won’t be easy.”
Confirming the announcement, Rokan shot to his feet. With what was about to unfold, he couldn’t afford to sit here idly earning money.
Rokan immediately scaled back all external activities of his territories to the maximum, restricting their operational range. He confined all actions within territory borders to avoid drawing Chrono’s attention.
Get noticed, get targeted, get killed.
Knowing that, Rokan chose maximum caution.
“Level 9……”
If he’d only hit level 300, he’d charge right in.
Hitting milestones like level 100, 200, or 300 meant death only dropped experience, not levels. He could fight then.
Sure, there was gear drop risk, but wouldn’t it be fun?
Money overflowed, so replacing gear was trivial. After dozens or hundreds of charges, the Red Cross Corps numbers would dwindle sharply.
Bloody battles with the strong—how exhilarating.
But not now. Rokan was level 291, nine short of 300, in the insane leveling drought zone. A single death would be fatal.
“Where will he head?”
That made the ancient emperor and Red Cross Corps’ movements critical.
If they ignored his bait and hunted the Black Dragon Legion instead, Rokan had little to do. He’d hole up in a hunting ground and grind levels nonstop.
But if they followed his plan, things would get busy.
He might even need the Black Dragon Legion to invade their camps to escape in the chaos.
Rokan opened his ears wide through taverns, the homepage, and territory informants, gathering intel on the ancient emperor.
Finally, news hit the information network.
“Did it work?”
[Ancient Emperor attacking Gnomes’ territory! Is this for real?][Posted by: Shiranya]
The homepage exploded. Naturally, because of the ancient emperor.
[Holy shit, is this real? I’m in Gnomes’ Lukoko Village right now—ancient emperor showed up. Everyone thought he was friendly at first since he was killing corrupted monsters, but fuck. He’s massacring corrupted monsters AND Gnomes. That guy’s not human. Golden Lion Alliance is done—brought a massive army too. How the hell do we stop him? He died and revived, and now he’s smashing the walls. Anyone know the history? Tell me so I don’t die confused! Right now as I write this, one soldier is slicing through a bunch of guards;; Hundreds of soldiers at least, and each stronger than guards. Balance patch gone mad. Fuck this game!]
The moment he raised the Red Cross Corps, Ancient Emperor Chrono marched straight to Gnome territory, slaughtering not just monsters in his path but the Gnomes themselves.
A little thought made it obvious. In life, Chrono despised all races except humans with fanatical racism.
Back then, there was no Golden Lion Alliance or anything. It was humans versus all异種. And humans emerged victorious.
‘It worked.’
But Rokan knew the Gnomes weren’t targeted first just for that.
It was the Gnome mechanical devices he’d deliberately leaked. Chrono had found them.
In his era, cases of other races mastering Gnome engineering were exceedingly rare—no room for doubt.
Otherwise, why target Gnomes before the Black Dragon Legion he hated more?
‘He’s catching on.’
By now, the emperor and council would be panicking too. They knew the history, but never dreamed he’d hit Golden Lion races first.
Countermeasures existed, though. The puppet secretary Rokan had passed to the past emperor. Using it, they’d implanted some restraint in Chrono’s body.
He hadn’t activated it initially to avoid provoking Chrono unnecessarily, but now there was no choice.
He’d heard tales of Chrono and the Red Cross Corps’ might, but he couldn’t just trust them and turn all races hostile.
Not until the Black Dragon Legion’s races were subdued, at least.
‘It worked in my previous life.’
And the restraint’s effect had been proven. At least in the previous life he knew.
Current Emperor Kaisman perfectly controlled Chrono, launching a great war against the Black Dragon Legion. The thousand masters’ overwhelming power made it one-sided.
‘But there were weaknesses.’
That tidal advance didn’t last. The Black Dragon Legion countered aggressively.
Targeting undying users, they triggered massive quests and offered huge bounties for destroying Red Cross units.
They aggressively utilized master-level users.
Finally, each race’s top powerhouses stepped up.
To stop Ancient Emperor Chrono required multiple high masters or grand masters of equal realm.
Naturally, the Goblin, Undead, Orc, and Troll champions united, and ultimately slew Chrono.
Chrono and the Red Cross Corps had a fatal flaw.
‘Irrecoverable. Isn’t there a way to exploit that?’
They couldn’t recover.
Especially the Red Cross Corps—metal puppets themselves. Even with souls enabling self-movement, they couldn’t repair their bodies.
Technically possible, but their special metals were unobtainable now.
Chrono was the same.
He’d filled out flesh with random flowers and circulated blood, stuffed with human treasures as ingredients.
A single drop of his blood was elixir and poison alike—recovery beyond basic regen was impossible.
Making him bleed in the first place was a pipe dream, though.
“For now, just watch.”
Rokan held off directly seeking Chrono and the Red Cross Corps. He’d activate the restraint first, observe the reaction, then move.
He needed to monitor his implanted corruption power too.
Thus, Rokan turned away, heading opposite their direction.
A perfect hunting ground to kill time awaited, so he happily dove back into hunting.
“Guess I’ll have to revise the plan.”
Not focusing solely on leveling like before.
With this, levels mattered, but growing Kai to a certain point was key too. Done right, it could enable easier hunting than the original plan.
‘He’ll grow soon.’
Tweet.
Leveled up and slightly larger, but Kai was still only forearm-sized.
More purple sparrow than Big Bird, but more levels would change that. He’d undergo dramatic ‘evolution.’
At level 200, he’d grow enough for mounting, with boosted strength and stamina—like users hitting class expert.
So Rokan picked a slightly different, special hunting ground this time.
“Alright, let’s do this, Kai.”
Spotting prey, he tapped Kai’s head with a finger to boost morale.
[Race effect: Kai’s attack power increases by 30%.]