Chapter 407

"The elves, as experience points?"

"Yes."

The green-haired elf smiled brightly.

"Kill as many as you want. I'll keep resurrecting them."

"Resurrection... Was that possible? Here?"

"Since I've descended through an avatar, it's possible in this Sky Forest map."

"...Are you Yggdrasil?"

"That's right."

Yggdrasil twirled her hair with her fingers.

[PR/N: Just so it's not confusing, the avatar is a girl.]

"I had to make quite a lot of sacrifices to incarnate in this fragile elf body."

"Sacrifices..."

"I used up almost all the life force of the World Tree installed in the 55th colony. Isn't it great for humanity? One of the top-ranking teams will fall."

"The ranking will fall?"

"Yes. Because the World Tree will wither."

So that's why the elf proxy had such a gloomy face in the coach's room.

Seong Jihan looked at her with darkened eyes.

"...What are you scheming?"

"Oh my. This time it's truly out of good will?"

"Hah. You're giving up the World Tree for my level up?"

"For me, World Trees and colonies are abundant. Even if I give up one, it's a negligible loss in my world."

As Yggdrasil gestured behind her,

Crunch! Crunch!

The sound of elves' bodies being shattered from the inside could be heard.

And not long after,

Poof!

From within, violently squirming hearts popped out.

Swish...

Yggdrasil floated those dripping bloody organs and neatly lined them up in front of Seong Jihan.

"Here, I specially made them easy to kill. If you swing your sword once, the hearts will burst."

"Weren't elves beings that regenerate even without hearts?"

"That's right. But if I say they should die, they must die."

Swish.

Yggdrasil raised the corners of her mouth and brought her finger to one of the hearts.

Pop!

The organ burst like a balloon.

As blood splattered from it, Yggdrasil's face was dyed red.

And at the same time,

Shhhh...

One of the elves behind her suddenly turned to dust and vanished.

"See. They die just by touching like this. Isn't it convenient?"

"...There's no need to go out of your way to make it easy to kill them."

"Since I've incarnated like this, you should level up sufficiently. You should kill at least 10,000, right?"

"10,000?"

"Yes. Hmm... Is 10,000 too few? If we push it, I think 100,000 is possible."

Smiling brightly, Yggdrasil kept urging to execute the elves, saying she'll keep resurrecting them.

- Look at that twisted personality lol

- Deserves to be called the elf boss...

- The elves were annoying, but this is unpleasant to watch

- No, don't you remember they tried to execute us? Sympathy for elves is a luxury.

- Yeah, and if one World Tree Elf falls, isn't it a huge benefit for us? Lol

- But can we trust what that Yggdrasil is saying...

While the viewers were arguing whether it was good or not to accept that proposal,

"Going that far, what do you want to tell me?"

"Going that far... This? This is just an experience point gift."

Yggdrasil counter-questioned Seong Jihan as if she found it strange.

She seemed to have no understanding of what was wrong with the act of ripping out elf hearts and giving them.

From her perspective, was it not a big deal for them to die like that?

'Well, as the leader of the World Tree Elves, this much wouldn't be significant...'

Seong Jihan thought so and looked at the pulsating hearts in front of him.

'It's one week until going to the abyss now.'

Elf hearts that looked like they would burst with a single touch.

Bursting 10,000 of these was an extremely easy task for Seong Jihan.

'At the current leveling speed, I definitely won't reach 500 by the promised time, so destroying these would be the easier path.'

Bursting elf hearts and killing 10,000.

It wasn't a burdensome task for Seong Jihan.

Because of them, didn't humanity get pushed to last place in the league and eventually get demoted in the previous life?

If he continuously burst the hearts as Yggdrasil offered,

He could easily raise his experience points and reach the target level 500 and beyond.

However,

'I can't trust the good will of the elves.'

They say not to view the other party with colored glasses no matter who you interact with,

But when dealing with the World Tree Elves, you definitely had to start with suspicion.

'Let's see.'

Swish...

Seong Jihan brought a squirming heart closer.

The life force felt was very faint.

If this was burst, would the life force of the main body disappear and the elf die?

But for that, the force was too weak.

'Should I try tracking it?'

Seong Jihan amplified his senses and closely examined the life force contained in the heart.

His domain expanded in an instant.

The life force in the heart was stretching out very faintly towards Yggdrasil.

When Seong Jihan felt this and looked at her,

"You're not going to burst that?"

Yggdrasil asked with a smile.

"I was taught to first suspect the good will of elves."

"Hmm... You're well-informed despite not having entered BattleNet for long."

She's not denying that statement either.

As the domain of Martial Soul reached Yggdrasil,

She twirled her hair.

"Well, you've passed the first stage."

"First stage?"

"Yes. The test of 'not gobbling up whatever others give you'."

Slurp.

Yggdrasil licked the blood on her face and continued.

"Now, investigate and see. What's strange."

"You're not denying that you tampered with the hearts."

"When you clearly know, is there a need to deny it? You expanded your domain like that."

She figured out the Martial Soul Domain right away.

Seong Jihan continued tracking the life force for now.

The life force stretching towards Yggdrasil completely disappeared by the time it reached her.

'Is it because the force is too weak?'

Seong Jihan looked at the heart and tried inserting a bit of his own life force into it.

Then, the life force of the heart became clearly distinct.

Unlike before, the force didn't disappear as soon as it reached Yggdrasil.

It was advancing towards a definite target.

That was none other than,

The green hair possessed by Yggdrasil's avatar.

"It was connected to this."

Swish.

The green hair caught in the Martial Soul Domain.

"...Hehe."

However, Yggdrasil only watched this with a smiling face.

And,

Snap!

As the hair was severed,

"Oh my...! You precisely figured out which hair and where it was?"

Yggdrasil let out a delighted exclamation.

"I'll give you the reward for the second stage."

Shwoosh!

The body of Yggdrasil, who said she would give a reward, began to shrink rapidly.

Pop! Pop!

At the same time, hearts burst in all directions.

And elves turned to dust and disappeared.

The trees in the Sky Forest also withered rapidly and twisted.

[The opposing team has been annihilated.]

[The 1st match will end soon.]

A message appeared saying the game would end soon.

* * *

- ?? What?

- The game ends when you cut her hair?

- So anticlimactic;;;(

The reaction of the viewers watching the 1st match was the same.

What is this?

Seong Jihan and Yggdrasil confronted each other, exchanged a few words,

Then as soon as part of Yggdrasil's hair was cut, her body suddenly shrank and the game ended.

Among the games Seong Jihan had finished so far, it wasn't like there hadn't been ones that ended quickly.

But they had never seen a game end so absurdly like this.

However,

- But why isn't it ending?

- It said it would end soon earlier.

- Shouldn't it end right away when the opposing team is annihilated??

- I know...

- The game progress is really strange ㅡㅡ

- Is it because Yggdrasil descended... Is she up to some nonsense?

Even though the opponents were annihilated, the word 'soon' was attached,

And seeing the game not ending, the viewers felt uneasy.

And,

'...This was her aim from the beginning.'

Seong Jihan, the directly involved party who faced Yggdrasil, was experiencing firsthand why the word 'soon' was attached to the game ending.

'Following the route I searched the life force, Yggdrasil's power is coming in.'

[Stat 'Eternity' increases by 5.]

The life force possessed by the green-haired elf.

It was entering Seong Jihan's Eternity through the path he figured out.

[Stat 'Eternity' increases by 5.]

Eternity, which was really hard to raise, had already increased by 10.

While it was good that the ability increased,

[Hello?]

From the World Tree contained within Seong Jihan,

[I'm happy to become one.]

Yggdrasil's voice could be heard.

"...Was this your purpose?"

[No. I really came to talk. Since I can't openly talk to you who has the Eye Of Light installed. I have to enter inside.]

"What do you want to talk about that you're doing this?"

[Wow, this World Tree. It grew really well? Looks delicious. Seong Jihan. Why don't you really become one with me instead of this? You raised the tree so well?]

Yggdrasil prattled on cheerfully inside Eternity.

Seong Jihan frowned deeply upon hearing those words.

When did she enter like a parasite and now she's saying let's become one.

[If you just hand over the control of Eternity, I'll get to work right away. The gardener of Yggdrasil. How about it? Isn't it cool?]

"Is that your main point? I'll kick you out right now."

[Geez... Why are you rejecting so much? I'm saying I'll make you the Administrator's companion.]

Even after trying to entice Seong Jihan several times,

[Eh. You won't come over yet... I got it. I'll bring up the main point. Don't you want to stop the Red Administrator?]

"...Go ahead, tell me."

Is this her main point?

Seong Jihan said that out loud for now,

But inside, he was looking for a way to clean up the foreign substance that entered his internal Eternity.

'Should I burn it with Sacred Flame?'

The Sacred Flame he had been refraining from using openly since BattleTube was on.

But burning my own body wouldn't be caught by others.

[Now just send your thoughts to Eternity. The White one might hear.]

'Got it. So, what's the way to stop the Administrator?'

While Seong Jihan was stalling for time and trying to drive Yggdrasil out from inside,

[You seem to really intend to stop him?]

'If you're going to play with words, I'll burn you right now. Get to the main point.'

[Ah~ okay. Your fire is threatening. I'll bring up the agenda right away.]

Yggdrasil said she would get to the main point, but started with the introduction again.

[But before that, first. Don't you want to know who the 'Red Administrator' is?]

'The Red Administrator... I suspect it's the Martial God.'

[The Martial God... He is, of course, one of the Red candidates. However. This time, as humanity evolved, I abducted, confined, and experimented on them, and reached a new conclusion.]

When did this bastard abduct people?

Seong Jihan frowned and asked,

'So what's the conclusion?'

[Humanity! The human race itself was the Red Administrator!]

'...What nonsense is that?'

He was wondering what she was going to say, but it's absurd.

Humanity is the Red Administrator?

'If we were such a great race, why are we the lowest grade?'

[It's certain.]

'What's the basis for your conviction?'

[I helped with this before. The Red Administrator.]

'...What?'

Yggdrasil revealed to Seong Jihan in a cheerful voice that she was an accomplice.