Chapter 173: The Road Had Narrowed

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The dangerous ‘Civilization Annihilator” had launched an all-out war against the entire Milky Way.

They did not explain any reason for declaring war, nor did they create any excuse for war. They merely ‘notified’ the other civilizations that they wanted to destroy them and then launched an attack.

Before that, the Milky Way civilizations had also learned from the news leaked from the ‘Sanctuary’ circular world that the ‘caterpillar fungus disease’ that had ravaged the Milky Way was caused by the ‘Civilization Annihilator.’

They just wanted to play the good cop and the bad cop to trick the Milky Way civilizations into putting their entire civilizations under their control.

Now that everything had been exposed, they no longer hid anything. Instead, their style changed. They had turned from benevolent hosts to cruel exterminators.

Some native civilizations had already been killed by them. The ignorant natives who had yet to fly did not even need to do anything themselves. They could control an entire native civilization by spreading parasitic spores on the planet.

Their goal was not to simply ‘destroy’ but to complete specific things at specific times. For that reason, they needed to use that kind of complicated method to ensure that the outcome could be achieved according to their ideas.

There were already fleets from the ‘Civilization Annihilator’ attacking everywhere in the Milky Way. Those who used the warp drives to beat up the ‘sky natives’ did not feel that they were bullying the weak.

Although all the ATilky Way civilizations were ‘natives’ in their eyes, regardless of whether they were in the sky or not, they felt that as the ‘Enlightened Ones,’ they had to crush the determination of those civilizations to resist the ‘divine punishment.’

Just like how the elephants did not care about the resistance of the ants, they attacked other civilizations at will, but they also dyed the Milky Way star map red with extremely high expansion efficiency.

At that moment, a large group of people was carrying a precious instrument on the mother planet of the ‘Civilization Annihilator,’ the Cradle.

It was a dense ball. It looked like an iron ball with uneven luster and no technological content.

However, that was the treasure of the ‘Civilization Annihilator.’ It was evidence that they were the rightful heirs of the ‘Enlightened Ones.’

They named it the ‘Reality Penetrometer’ because they felt they could see the ‘truth’ of the world through that device.

They believed that the ‘Enlightened Ones’ must have spent the entire country’s resources to build that instrument and wanted to use it to warn the world.

Then, they chose to commit suicide and leave that world.

That was the conclusive theory they had come up with after countless experiments. It was definitely not wrong.

“…These pitiful little fellows are still stubbornly resisting. The person who created that ‘virtual world’ is really detestable, making these people have no choice but to indulge in a ‘beautiful nightmare,’ forever unable to extricate themselves….”

A higher-up of the ‘Civilization Annihilator’ once again expressed his pitiable thoughts and felt sorry for them.

Over a long time, ’embracing the truth’ had become their fanatical belief. That fanatical belief was even worse than that of the ‘Watcher,’ and it had already distorted their thinking.

With their twisted thinking and extremely arrogant attitude, the ‘Civilization

Annihilator’ decided to ‘commit suicide with the others.’

To them, that was a good thing. They ignored the wishes of other civilizations and forcefully applied that to every civilization.

They were the ‘Enlightened Ones.’ They were ‘Gods.’ It was their privilege to decide everyone’s life and death, and it was their responsibility to let everyone ‘escape from the sea of suffering.’

“…It doesn’t matter. They will realize the difference. We are now prepared to activate the ‘Reality Penetrometer’ again and let the deceived civilizations see the ‘truth’….”

Another higher-up watched as the ‘Reality Penetrometer’ was moved to a certain place on the ‘Cradle’ for a series of adjustments.

That relic of the ‘Enlightened Ones’ had a complicated method of use and conditions to activate it. Even they needed to spend some time preparing it.

“We’ve been waiting for this day for a long time, haven’t we? To surpass the great cause of the ‘Enlightened Ones,’ the mere thought of it makes me tremble….”

They felt that they were about to do something that even the ‘Enlightened Ones’ could not do – let the other lifeforms in the Milky Way leave the virtual world together.

That sense of pride, honor, and the supreme feeling of enjoying the admiration of all living things excited them from the bottom of their hearts.

“That’s right. Therefore, to achieve the great cause, this is a necessary decision…! believe that when the day comes, they will understand.”

It would take some time before the ‘Reality Penetrometer’ was activated, but it didn’t stop those people from fantasizing.

They had never considered what would happen after committing suicide or whether the ‘Enlightened Ones’ really couldn’t accomplish such a ‘great undertaking.’

At that moment, they were like lunatics who believed in false justice. They didn’t care about the surrounding gazes and rushed to the end of the unclear road.

But would the end of the road lead to heaven or a never-ending hell?

“…It is time to go and look at those little fellows’ struggles. As the opening ceremony for welcoming the ‘truth,’ perhaps a gorgeous performance was needed to liven things up.”

Those higher-ups discussed among themselves and then left.

The ‘Reality Penetrometer’ was moved to a suitable location and underwent final adjustment.

Everything seemed to be developing in a good direction, and they also started to do their old job – observation.

They looked at the civilization that resembled them in the past. That civilization had always resisted their teachings and was also the civilization that was struggling the most.

“…I think it’s called the ‘Pyro Alliance’? Their willpower is really tenacious. If they haven’t been trying to get the other few…well…lost empires? What kind of strange form of address is that….”

“If they hadn’t been asking for help from the ‘lost empires,’ we wouldn’t have noticed them….”

A higher-up of the ‘Civilization Annihilator’ looked at the broken battleship wreckage in the picture with great interest and commented occasionally.

Their fleets were crushing the unyielding civilizations at an extraordinary speed. Several civilizations had already been completely defeated, but those civilizations had loaded most of their citizens onto transport ships in advance to play hide-and-seek and had yet to be found.

However, even though they were beating up the young civilizations, the other lost empires were not among their targets.

It was not that they were afraid. The arrogant ‘Civilization Annihilator’ still believed that they were a civilization standing at the peak and that no civilization could compete with them.

The ‘lost empires’ that the Milky Way civilizations thought were of the same level as them were just a bunch of ‘stronger ants’ in their eyes.

Most importantly, they felt that those ‘lost empires’ were useless.

The main species of the lost empire, known as the ‘Administrator,’ the ‘Mediator,’ or the ‘Voyager,’ were a group of robots. In their theory, those robots were artificial intelligence in the ‘virtual world.’ Even if they committed suicide, there would be no effect.

As for the ‘Presolin,’ they felt that the population of those lifeforms was too small, and it would not make any difference whether they had it or not.

So until now, they had coincidentally not come into conflict with any of the lost empires.

As the ‘Civilization Annihilator’ observed, they also set their eyes on the mother planet of the Pyro Alliance.

They had lost 75% of their territory, but they had gathered all their population on their mother planet…

It was a choice that they had no choice but to make. They did not know why the ‘Civilization Annihilator’ was so interested in them that they had blocked their path long ago, preventing them from organizing the ‘tinder,’ as if they wanted to make them the first resistance civilization to be forcibly controlled.

The Pyro Alliance knew their defeat was inevitable, so they decided to give the ‘Civilization Annihilator’ a final blow.

They were furious at the corruption of that role model. The feeling of the sky falling turned their worship into an extreme hatred.

The depth of their love was the depth of their hatred. They were prepared to commit suicide so the Awakened Empire would not get anything.

They weren’t Gestalt consciousnesses. Logically speaking, it was normal for some people to have their own thoughts and not want to do so, but the truth was so unexpected.

The remnants of the planetary bomb that the ‘Civilization Annihilator’ had used to destroy the natives were reverse-studied by them, and similar bombs were placed on their mother planet.

As soon as the ‘Civilization Annihilation’s’ fleet approached, they would detonate the planetary bomb and let that Awakened Empire experience the ‘unyielding of life.’

The activation device of the bomb was also handed over to the leader of the Pyro Alliance. All the people trusted him and entrusted their fate to that leader.

At that moment, the ‘Civilization Annihilator’s’ fleet had arrived at the ATilky Way and was heading for the mother planet of the Pyro Alliance.

However, the leader did not detonate the bomb immediately. Instead, he remained silent and seemed to be waiting for something.

Seeing that the signal of the ‘Civilization Annihilator’s’ fleet was getting closer and closer, the adjutants around gradually became anxious. They looked at their leader from time to time, wondering why he was still not taking action.

The feeling of waiting for death was not good. They hoped to end their lives with a ‘big firework’ immediately.

However, the leader remained calm. When the ‘Civilization Annihilator’s’ fleet was about to arrive on their mother planet, he suddenly smiled in relief.

A powerful and familiar signal covered the entire Milky Way, just like what they had experienced a long time ago.

Naturally, the Pyro Alliance had also received the signal. However, even without looking, the leader knew who gave that signal.

Their civilization had been fated to have many difficulties. As soon as they flew into the sky, they found themselves born next to the ‘Silent,’ who was very sensitive to border issues and encountered a crushing war.

After recovering the country with great difficulty, many civilizations hated them because of the ferocity of their words.

They had once delightedly unlocked the barrier of a planet, only to be scolded by the civilization inside. Even more humiliating was that they had yet to regain their dignity.

The ‘Nature Reserve’ galaxy they had focused on was also destroyed because of the sudden appearance of ‘Presolin.’ The large amount of resources invested had turned into a bubble.

The civilization they regarded as their role model had also mercilessly betrayed their beliefs and even wanted them to be the first sacrifice.

They had been unlucky all their lives, and ending their civilization with a glorious sacrifice seemed like a good idea.

However, the leader of the Pyro Alliance had always believed that life would not always be so unlucky and that their efforts would not be in vain.

And finally, hope had arrived.

[…Detected signs of the large-scale withering of the Milky Way civilizations, the ‘custody agreement’ has been activated.]

[‘iVLilky Way menace’ confirmed, executing war policy.]

[Target: Civilization Annihilation. Attitude: Threat removed]

[Note: Please do not approach the battle zone. Refugees, please proceed to the following areas: ‘Hatchery,’ ‘Beacon of Infinity,’ ‘Delta Shelter,’ ‘Super Invincible And Absolutely Reliable Nano-Smart Nursing Home’…]

As the signal covered the entire Milky Way, the terrifying fleet that had once resolved the ‘Ring Crisis’ was again revealed to the world.

On the mother planet of the Pyro Alliance, a fleet that was different from the ‘Civilization Annihilator’ had appeared. They looked even more ancient, but they were reassuring to the soul..