[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-global-lords-building-the-strongest-civilization":3,"chapter-global-lords-building-the-strongest-civilization-global-lords-building-the-strongest-civilization-chapter-26":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Global Lords: Building the Strongest Civilization with SSS Rank Talent",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":20,"prevChapterSlug":21,"totalChapters":22,"novelImage":23},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":16,"volume":17,"translator":18,"content_hash":19},831905,1094,"Chapter 26: Vex- The Intruder","global-lords-building-the-strongest-civilization-chapter-26",26,"\u003Cp>In the Void, silence was usually a comfort. Today, it was a weight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Red floated on his back—or the spectral approximation of it—with his arm thrown over his eyes. The obsidian slab buzzed softly, a constant, low-frequency drone that felt like it was drilling into his temples.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He felt drained. Not physically—he didn't have muscles to ache—but mentally hollowed out. It was the specific, gritty exhaustion of a gamer who had pulled a 48-hour raid session without sleep. His thoughts were sluggish. The UI seemed too bright, the text too sharp.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Status,\" Red mumbled, not opening his eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[ SYSTEM STATUS: STABLE ]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[ USER CONDITION: MENTAL FATIGUE (MODERATE) ]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Gods sleep?\" Red scoffed weakly. \"That sounds like a vulnerability.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He tried to drift off, to let the darkness take him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>CRASH.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A noise from the speakers jolted him. Red groaned, cracking one eye open. He pinched the screen, zooming in on Bastion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a domestic dispute in the Plaza. A Mangrove Treant had shaken its branches, dropping a pile of wet moss onto a sleeping Shell-Kin. The Tortoise was now ramming the Treant's shin repeatedly in slow-motion rage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Idiots,\" Red muttered. \"Figure it out.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He watched Krug step in, shouting the Third Tenet (\"The Tribe is the Body\") until the Tortoise stopped.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Red sighed, ready to close the map and truly rest. He zoomed out, the camera panning up and away from the city walls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That's when he saw the glitch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It wasn't a notification. It was a ripple in the darkness outside the Southern Wall. A shadow that was darker than the night around it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Red rubbed his spectral eyes. \"Am I hallucinating?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He zoomed in. [ THERMAL SCAN ].\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There, clinging to the trunk of a perimeter Cypress tree, was a heat signature. It was small, compact, and moving with impossible fluidity. It wore goggles that masked its face, but the thermal outline showed jagged, filing teeth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[ INTRUDER DETECTED ]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[ IDENTITY: VEX (THE NIGHT-CARVER) ]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[ AFFILIATION: OBSIDIAN-CLAW TROGLODYTES ]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[ STATS: AGILITY (S), STEALTH (S) ]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Red's fatigue evaporated instantly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"A spy,\" Red whispered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His finger hovered over the [ SMITE ] button. He could vaporize the little rat right now. He had 1,000% charge loaded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But he hesitated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He looked at the Bastion. He looked at the patrol of Grey-Fin guards walking the wall. He looked at Krug cleaning his axe in the Temple.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If I kill him,\" Red reasoned, \"they learn nothing. They need to know they are being watched.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Red pulled his hand back. \"Let's see how good your security is, Krug.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The walls of Bastion were impressive—living stone held by Treant roots. But Vex had climbed the glass stalactites of the Under-Dark. A tree was nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He adjusted his quartz goggles. The thermal view showed the heat signatures of the Treant sentries. They were massive, but their sensory range was poor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Vex didn't climb over the wall. He waited for a Treant to shift its weight, creating a momentary gap between two roots.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zip.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was inside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He landed in a crouch behind a stack of iron crates in the Kobold District.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Too easy,\" Vex thought, his lip curling in contempt. \"They rely on the trees to see for them.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He moved deeper. He counted the huts (Population estimate: 300). He counted the spears (Military estimate: 150). He inspected the Smeltery (Tech level: Iron Age, decent quality).\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But his goal was the Source.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Warlord said the God killed a Hydra. Vex didn't believe in God's powers. He believed in artifacts. There had to be a machine, a crystal, or a wizard controlling this place.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He looked at the center of the city. The Temple.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It radiated heat. Not just fire heat—Faith heat. To Vex's sensitive goggles, the Temple was glowing like a miniature sun.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Found you,\" Vex whispered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He drew his twin obsidian daggers. They were glass-edged, sharper than steel, coated in a paralytic venom harvested from cave spiders.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He slipped past a sleeping Kobold guard. He vaulted silently over the Temple gate. He stood before the open maw of the Hydra skull entrance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He stepped inside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Temple was empty, save for the violet fire burning in the center.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Vex crept forward. He scanned the corners. Nothing. He scanned the ceiling. Nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He looked at the altar. There was no machine. Just a stone slab with three symbols carved into it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Where is it?\" Vex hissed. \"Where is the weapon?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He stepped closer to the fire.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>CLACK.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Vex froze and spun around.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Standing in the shadow of the Hydra's jaw, blocking the only exit, was Krug.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The High Priest wasn't wearing his ceremonial robes. He was wearing heavy plate armor made of Hydra scales and iron. He held a massive battle-axe, the head resting on the floor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Krug's eyes weren't looking at Vex. They were closed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The air tastes wrong,\" Krug rumbled, his voice echoing in the chamber. \"It tastes like... a rat.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Vex analyzed the threat instantly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Target: Large. Slow. Heavily armored. Exposed neck. Exposed armpits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You smell well for a lizard,\" Vex whispered, dropping into a combat stance. \"But can you see in the dark?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Vex moved.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He didn't run; he vanished. He was a\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He didn't run; he vanished. He was a blur of black leather and glass. He lunged for Krug's throat, the obsidian dagger aimed perfectly to sever the jugular.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>CLANG.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Vex's eyes widened behind his goggles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Krug hadn't dodged. He had moved his axe handle with terrifying speed, blocking the strike inches from his neck.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Fast,\" Krug grunted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Krug swung the axe—a horizontal cleave that would have cut a tree in half.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Vex backflipped over the blade, landing on the altar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Too slow, meat-sack!\" Vex taunted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He jumped off the altar, landing on Krug's back. He stabbed downward, aiming for the gap between the helmet and the shoulder plate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The dagger sank in.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>CRUNCH.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It didn't hit flesh. It hit the Hydra Scale underlayer. The obsidian blade shattered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What?!\" Vex gasped.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Krug reached up, grabbing Vex by the leather strap of his armor. He ripped the assassin off his back and slammed him onto the stone floor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>THUD.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Vex scrambled back, gasping for air. His ribs were bruised. He drew his second dagger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You have good armor,\" Vex spat. \"But you are still just a savage.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Vex threw a smoke bomb. A cloud of grey ash filled the room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the confusion, Vex circled. He activated his thermal goggles. He could see Krug's heat signature perfectly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He lunged for the exposed ankle, intending to hamstring the giant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But as he moved through the smoke, Krug's eyes opened. They were glowing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[ ABILITY ACTIVATED: APOSTLE'S SIGHT ]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Krug didn't need to see Vex. He felt the malice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Vex lunged, Krug stomped.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>CRACK.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The heavy iron boot came down on Vex's wrist, pinning it to the floor. The bones shattered instantly. Vex screamed, dropping the dagger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Krug leaned down. He grabbed Vex by the throat with one hand, lifting the assassin into the air as if he weighed nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Vex clawed at the iron gauntlet, his legs kicking. \"Wait! I have information! I am... I am an emissary!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Krug brought Vex's face close to his own.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You are not an emissary,\" Krug growled. \"You brought a knife to the House of God.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Vex stared into the violet eyes. He saw no mercy there. He saw only the Red Spiral.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Who sent you?\" Krug asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The elders...\" Vex choked out. \"The Warlord... they watches...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Good,\" Krug said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He tightened his grip.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>SNAP.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Vex went limp. The Night-Carver, the ghost of the Onyx Hall, was dead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Krug dropped the body. He looked up at the ceiling, as if looking through the stone to the Void above.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Intruder purged,\" Krug reported simply.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Red, watching from above, let out a slow breath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Brutal,\" Red whispered. \"Sloppy start, but a solid finish.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Red checked the notifications.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[ ENEMY DEFEATED: VEX (ELITE ASSASSIN) ]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[ FAITH GENERATED: +500 (DEFENSE OF THE TEMPLE) ]\u003C\u002Fp>",1335,"2026-06-03T04:18:47.295Z","2026-06-03T04:18:56.938Z",1,"novelbin.me","15efa88fff919bd3f4feee2c4482b53f8f87a05ec5fc54024452690dec5e1dc6","global-lords-building-the-strongest-civilization-chapter-27","global-lords-building-the-strongest-civilization-chapter-25",256,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fglobal-lords-building-the-strongest-civilization-cover.jpg"]