Chapter 587 - Hello, and Goodbye

MacArthur sensed his allies slowly dying. His body trembled from fear as the smoke pipe fell from his mouth for the first time. Neither the native life forms nor the allies from the other civilizations could stop the invasion of the Divine Civilization.

They were destined to lose this battle. His only remaining hope was to request aid from the inner members. The only caveat was that requesting help would inevitably lead to a punishment worse than death. Even so, he preferred punishment over the prospect of dying. His fear of death trumped any punishment the inner members would inflict upon him. Not to mention, he had to survive if he wanted revenge in the future. He had to live on!

“Divine Civilization, I’ll come back one day!” MacArthur growled, dialing the number connecting to the inner members. After three long minutes, somebody finally picked up.

The administrator of the inner members asked with a disinterested tone, “What is it?”

MacArthur hastily replied, “I’m MacArthur, and I request the aid of the inner members. The Divine Civilization is on the verge of destroying the outer members!”

Even when informed of this dire situation, the administrator was in no hurry to arrange for aid. In fact, he even scolded MacArthur, “Are you all idiots? The Divine Civilization is insignificant. Why can’t you even deal with them? You lot should just die. Do you think you deserve the aid of the noble inner members? You’re all a waste of energy. At least if you fight to the death, your bodies could become energy and nurture the Heaven Stair Civilization. That’s the best contribution you could make for us!”

Even though MacArthur was the highest commander of the outer members, he dared not say a peep against the administrator. The last thing he wanted was to offend an inner member.

“Don’t even think of having us save you guys. If you can’t defend against them, you can just die. There are plenty of people who want to serve our civilization.”

With that, the administrator prepared to hang up.

“Wait, don’t hang up!” MacArthur hurriedly said. “I’m MacArthur, the only son of inner member Arthur MacArthur!”

This was his final hope. As expected, the administrator immediately changed his tune. “If you’re the son of an inner member, then that’s a different story altogether. Tonight, at midnight sharp, I will open the gate of the fifty-first floor a sliver. You may enter at that time. Remember, I will save you and only you. I don’t care about the rest.”

“Alright, thank you!” Relief washed over MacArthur at the knowledge that he would survive. All he had to do was follow the administrator’s orders.

There was still a long time until midnight. Many units from both sides had died from the war, and things had died down a little, but the Divine Civilization was still continuously sending in units like expendable pawns.

“That damned Divine Civilization! One day, I’ll kill them all!”

𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

In contrast to his impassioned words, MacArthur sent a signal to recall the surviving elites to his side to protect him. The elites were all still alive, but they were fatigued and wounded from the long battle. He eyed the elites with disdain but said nothing. This wasn’t the time to be picky.

The war slowly intensified as more outer members were killed. Some of the directors were killed as well.

MacArthur paced in the room restlessly. Even though he was a World life form, he was weak like Jia Gui. He would lose to the Divine Civilization if he were to fight for real.

Time slowly passed with him pacing all the while. When there was one more hour until midnight, he ordered, “Follow me and attack! Our target is the gate of the fifty-first floor!”

The elites were confused.

“But isn’t the gate to the fifty-first floor behind us?” one asked. “Are you trying to tell us to retreat?”

MacArthur shouted angrily, “Retreat isn’t a word in my books! We aren’t retreating; we’re simply attacking backward!”

The elites dared not retort due to their inferior rank and could only obey his command. As they departed, the remaining units of the Divine Civilization charged toward them.

He ordered part of the elites to stop them while he and a few others continued onward. They reached the gate with only a minute to spare. The prospect of leaving the warzone and being safe amongst the inner members sent a wave of gleeful relief washing over him.

Unfortunately, the units of the Divine Civilization had chased after them. Several World rank units rushed forward to capture MacArthur, but he kicked the elites into their path as sacrifices to stall for time.

“It’s almost time. Please open the gate. I want to live! I want to go home!” MacArthur urged under his breath.

As if responding to his words, the gate to the fifty-first floor rumbled ajar. A ray of light shone through the gap like a sliver of salvation.

MacArthur’s face lit up, and he rushed toward the opening as if fearing it would shut at any moment. The gap widened until it could fit a single person.

As he was about to enter, he noticed someone coming out to block him.

“It’s me, MacArthur! I want to enter!” He didn’t hesitate to identify himself.

“MacArthur?” responded an unfamiliar voice.

It didn’t sound like the administrator at all!

MacArthur studied the youth blocking him. The youth was holding onto a severed head.

“That’s...” MacArthur took two wary steps back, eyeing the youth with distrustful eyes. “You’re not an inner member. Who are you? Why are you here?”

The youth smiled. “Hello, I’m Han Wu, a Major God of the Divine Civilization. As for why I’m here, I received a mission to open the gate connecting to the fifty-first floor.”

With that, Han Wu tossed the severed head, which had yet to disappear to the energy recycling Law, to MacArthur.

“MacArthur, right? Hello, and goodbye.”

Han Wu revealed his World Ring. Engravings of dragon scales appeared on the rotating ring, and two small wings sprouted from its sides. This form was called the Great Dragon Ring and was the first effect he had learned from his Divine Ring after becoming a World life form.

As his Divine Ring changed, so too did Han Wu’s body. Black scales covered his body, his hands curled into claws, and dragon wings stretched out behind him. He also gained Dragon Fear, which allowed him to intimidate most life forms like a Great Dragon.