Chapter 140: The 50th Floor (2)

“Mmm…. Even I get startled when someone appears out of nowhere like that…”

“!!”

“Max!!”

“Captain…”

Their expressions were a mix of urgency and disbelief. And for good reason.

“Wha…?”

Where Max had been—after teleporting behind Karlstein—now lay a body on the cold floor, half its head missing. The culprit’s words only twisted the knife.

“You really should’ve been more careful…”

The Hunters could not process those words at first. While it had appeared to be an instinctive response to a surprise attack, response was not quite right. The movement had been too quick to follow. It happened so instantly that they could not even see it.

Max lay motionless, utterly dead.

“…”

Karlstein cleared his throat unnecessarily out of awkwardness.

“Ahem.”

“Y-you…!”

“How dare a mere monster kill our captain…”

“M-Max!”

“Hick!”

Team Supreme fell into panic at the sudden loss of their strongest member. Karlstein had little to say about that.

“…Um, sorry?”

The attackers trembled with barely contained rage, while the Korean Hunters who had guided him here stood pale-faced and shaking.

Karlstein sighed.

“There goes my porter act, I guess?”

“…”

Not that he had been much of a porter to begin with. He had simply followed the Korean party, taking in the sights.

“Now that we’re here, I’d like to ask a few—“

Karlstein figured he might as well satisfy his curiosity, given the situation. But to Team Supreme, his peaceful(?) demeanor felt like mockery. Perhaps they even thought Max’s death was merely accidental.

“I’ll have you dead…”

“You’ll pay for what you did to Max!”

“Attack formation!”

The American Hunters went absolutely crazy. Faced with such hostility, Karlstein could only offer one kind of apology…

“Hmm. I guess one mouth should be enough?”

Shiver-

…and that was to forcefully bring them to their senses.

***Tremble-

The Korean Hunters quaked in fear.

“Hm… Is that so?”

“Yes sir… So please spare my life…”

Gone were the raging members of Team Supreme. All that remained was a single small lamb faced with overwhelming terror.

Alice, the team’s healer and sole survivor, kept her eyes fixed on the ground. She shook uncontrollably, as if meeting his gaze might spell her doom.

On the other hand, Karlstein wasn’t very interested in the information he heard from them. Yet Karlstein found little interest in their revelations about Hunters, the Towers of Trials, System, or Items. Such trivial matters held little weight for the Galactic Emperor, who had witnessed far greater things.

His expectations had vanished the moment he witnessed that one fellow brandishing a lightsaber as if it were the ultimate weapon.

Perhaps sensing Karlstein’s tedium, even the Korean Hunters scrambled to offer information.

“Hm… But I guess I’m still curious.”

“…!”

They hung on the hidden boss’s every word, but for Karlstein, only one matter held his interest.

“Korea…”

A Korea similar to his past life, closer to a parallel world than an exact match.

“Since Perpe isn’t coming, shall we take a look outside the Tower?”

“Sorry?”

“…?”

His words seemed to baffle them. The Hunters questioned it unconsciously.

Karlstein merely replied with innocent curiosity.

“Why?”

Why, indeed… While Outbreaks did occur, they only involved mindless common monsters. No boss monster had ever left a Tower.

“Er…”

Even the Berserker Witch was no exception to this.

In the first place, they had guiltlessly leaked information because a hidden boss could do nothing much with it. Had they simply survived by his mercy and escaped the Tower, all would have been well.

But now this mighty hidden boss spoke of leaving the Tower? It would be an utter catastrophe. Their certainty only grew as they watched him idly burning his own arm with the lightsaber as if it were some massage tool.

“Shall we go then?”

“…Yes sir.”

“Of course.”

“…”

It was all the more reason why they could not voice their concerns.

***“So you’re saying, Team Supreme’s life signs are lost?”

“…Yes.”

“Haah…”

A short-haired woman in office attire, her eyes shadowed by dark circles, sighed deeply. The government agent who had delivered the report flinched at her response. After all, though retired, the woman before him was a former A-rank Hunter who had fought on the frontlines.

Yet even she had her limits in politics.

“Damn it.”

She clutched her head in frustration. America had recently shown pointed interest in Korea, particularly regarding the Items the hidden boss had been freely distributing. From Korea’s perspective, such attention was hardly welcome, as treasure they could not protect would only invite trouble.

Korea was not stupid. How could they not recognize the worth of these Items? Unverifiable by the System, clearly alien in origin—these were Items born of pure technology, not mystical elements like mana or mana stones.

Naturally, research was ongoing, with decent results. If they could maintain exclusivity, Korea’s future would be assured.

However…. other nations would not remain ignorant or idle, be it America, China, Russia, or Japan. Unlike Korea, trapped below their Tower’s 50th floor, these countries showed prominence in the mana stone industry.

Korea, lagging far behind, was unable to withstand their pressure. Even if these powers suddenly emerged and declared their intention to defeat the Berserker Witch, Korea would be powerless to respond.

“Haah…”

At least if the floor was cleared, Korea might advance beyond the 50th floor, opening the possibility of a different future…

But the conquest had failed, Team Supreme—America’s fully-backed team—was completely wiped out.

America’s reaction was predictable, and her deep sighs were inevitable. She regretted leaving the field for misplaced patriotism.

“They must have offended the hidden boss. What an oversight. Even the Berserker Witch showed no mercy to the disrespectful.”

“…I suppose they were certain of victory.”

Their worst fears had materialized.

“Haah…”

As she grappled with this impossible situation…

Bang.

Someone barged into the office.

“Director!”

“What? Can’t you see I’m reporting to the Director right now?”

“It’s fine. Must be urgent. So, what is it?”

“I, well!”

The Director’s jaw slowly dropped at her subordinate’s report.

“The hidden boss left the Tower?”

But an even more shocking development followed.

Bzzzt-

The office computer activated on its own, crackling with noise.

Bzzt-

The static cleared, revealing a man’s face on screen.

“Huh? I never turned that on?”

Her confusion was cut short.

[Ahh. Can you hear me?]

“!!”

“What the?”

[I am Karlstein Babylon, Emperor of the Galactic Empire.]

The Director wondered if he was deranged, or if this was some case of hacking.

What a concept…

But her mind went blank at her subordinate’s exclamation.

“Th-that’s him! The newly discovered hidden boss!”

What are you—

[Starting now, I’m taking over Earth.]

Excuse me?

She could not process what was happening.

***

ㄴdid yall see too?

ㄴye lol looks insane

ㄴscared me when my screen suddenly changed at work lol

ㄴmfer i was sneaking in some game time lmao

ㄴtotal chaos at the internet cafe rn haha

ㄴFFS I WAS IN MY PROMO MATCH!

ㄴwe in middle of epic teamfight wen dis guys face suddenly pops up lol almost smashed my monitor

ㄴu dipshits. does that rlly matter rn?

ㄴwat matters then?

ㄴ…

People were dismissive at first. After all…

ㄴGalactic Empire LMFAO

ㄴhilarious concept yo

ㄴman rlly called himself EMPEROR.

ㄴwao lel guess u gotta look at least dat gud to be emperor

ㄴbro’s lost his marbles ye? lol

ㄴEven chunibyou is on a different scale these days.

ㄴKEK whats the government saying about dis?

ㄴThey’re still quiet.

An emperor from some galactic empire taking over the world and whatnot? It was perfect fodder for internet mockery. But then…

ㄴLooks like it’s not just our country.

ㄴbros, I’m studying in Canada and it’s the same here.

ㄴim in japan. same here too.

ㄴthis is happening worldwide?

ㄴlmao earth getting owned by one hacker

ㄴSeems like the higher-ups aren’t taking this lightly.

ㄴI’m on phone now but even our intranet is the same.

ㄴeh?

The hacking was not limited to just one region or broadcast channel. It seemed the entire country—no, the whole world was affected.

This would have been far-fetched even in a movie…

Bzzt-

[Ah, the representatives of each country should come meet me. We have things to discuss. Over.]

Yet it happened not just once, but twice.

However, it was still hard to take seriously, especially given the man’s insincere attitude. His tone was playful. Or oddly light-hearted, perhaps.

[This is fun. Haha.]

What’s more, his amused muttering was caught on broadcast at the end of the second video. Who knew if it was intentional or not?

ㄴ?

ㄴdef insane….

ㄴIs this real? Fake?

ㄴlmao bro’s enjoying it too lol

ㄴQuite a unique concept.

ㄴso all this was for laughs?

ㄴbro got skills dat for sho.

ㄴGalactic Emperor lmfao

None of them could seriously believe his claim about conquering Earth.