Chapter 429

On the wall of the Golden Tower.

"Ugh... ugh..."

There, Gilgamesh with a haggard face was only groaning with unfocused eyes.

"Why is he like this?"

"Ah, we're trying to plant him as a human world tree."

To Ashoka's question, Pythia answered with a beaming smile.

"As a world tree?"

"Yeah. You know well how we handled him before, right?"

The 'before' she was talking about must mean before the infinite regression.

Ashoka shook his head.

"I was only at the seal site, so I don't know what happened to him."

"Ah, is that so? You didn't do any external activities. I didn't know. Since I'm not in a position of constantly regressing like you."

"For that, you seem to know well about the past."

"After learning about my past, the performance of Divine Eye has strengthened."

Tap. Tap.

Pythia, tapping her forehead, placed her hand on the golden wall.

Then,

"Aaaaargh!"

Gilgamesh's face contorted greatly as he screamed from pain.

Swish...

From the wall, a golden fruit popped out.

"It's a world tree fruit. Since it's a simple version, the performance is weaker than the original, but it will help with wound recovery."

"Thanks."

Ashoka, receiving the golden apple, glanced at Gilgamesh who was suffering beside him.

"I'm grateful to you too."

While saying that, Ashoka tapped his head.

Gilgamesh, who had been suffering, immediately widened his eyes at this treatment.

"You, you bastard... Are you insulting me?! No matter how I look like this now, I am your ancestor...!"

"I just said thank you. Ancestor."

"Why are you mixing words like that?"

Bam!

Beside them, Pythia slapped Gilgamesh's head as if it was good.

"You can just beat him."

"You, ugh..."

"Looks like you've been quite violent. Seeing how he's become quiet."

"Hmph. Well, I did it moderately. These days are the most enjoyable time of my life."

"Is that so? Anyway, I'll eat this well."

Crunch!

As Ashoka ate the golden apple, the wound on his chest quickly began to heal.

As the energy of the void began to dissipate, Pythia quietly looked at him.

"Ashoka, why do you help our Lord?"

"Suddenly asking that between fellow disciples?"

"Just. I don't understand why someone like you would do this. You were once almost a saint of humanity, right? I'm wondering why such a noble person is helping with the massacre of humanity."

Pythia was smiling brightly, but she was looking at Ashoka with a calmly examining gaze.

"I have a goal."

"What goal?"

"To erase the red fire inherent in humanity."

"Aha..."

"And this can only be solved by Martial God."

"Turns out we had the same goal?"

Pythia nodded upon hearing those words.

"Was this your goal too? Not revenge?"

"This is revenge. Locking me in a lab and turning me into a baby-making machine... Why do you think they did that? It was to put the Red Administrator into humanity and revive him. So I have to interfere with that purpose."

"I see... So the destruction of humanity wasn't the purpose."

"They are still my descendants after all. It's inevitable that they keep getting destroyed in the infinite regression... but when Lord Martial God achieves his goal, they will be saved in the end. I'm just waiting for that time."

Pythia had such an intention?

As Ashoka was calmly examining her with sunken eyes,

"Hah. Trusting a snake? Utterly foolish...! Can't you see my state and still not know?"

Gilgamesh finally raised his face again and sneered at them.

"He even tricked me with the contract. Why would you be any different? Why would he bother erasing the red fire engraved in humanity? He would just burn them all!"

"You still have energy left, huh? Guess I didn't beat you enough."

"Kuk kuk... Utterly foolish. Trusting a snake's promise... You will soon end up like me too. I'll be waiting for you to join me..."

As Gilgamesh was sneering like that,

Bam!

Before Pythia could even raise her hand first, Ashoka struck his head hard.

"Don't worry. I'm more thorough with contracts than you."

"Ugh... ack...!"

"Then, I'll go recover."

"Okay. I'll be planting the tree~"

Pythia smiled as if she liked Ashoka hitting Gilgamesh, seeing him off.

Around the time he disappeared like that,

'...What?'

Gilgamesh, who had been bound to the tower, gritted his teeth and looked at Ashoka, feeling his body becoming a bit more free.

'Is the binding loosening because I got hit? But it wasn't like this when Pythia hit me...?'

Is this a coincidence?

Or did Ashoka intend this?

Although Gilgamesh couldn't understand why he became a bit more free,

"How does it feel to be hit by someone other than me?"

"Shut up, you old hag."

"You're really asking for a beating."

Bam!

When he tried getting hit by Pythia again just in case, the binding of his body didn't loosen at all.

This seems more like Ashoka did it rather than a coincidence.

'...Ashoka, what are you thinking?'

Gilgamesh had questions about why Ashoka did this, but,

'For now, I'll take over the tower again...'

Now that he had regained some freedom, he could take over the Golden Tower again.

In Gilgamesh's dazed eyes, a bit of hope was born.

* * *

Inside the void training room.

"This is... amazing?"

Seong Jihan smiled with satisfaction as he looked at the Phoenix Spear in his hand.

'I didn't expect it to rise to EX.'

The Phoenix Spear that rose to EX grade and even had its name changed just by writing ultimate skill a hundred times as the hand said.

Of course, whenever he wrote ultimate skill, the red stat was sometimes consumed, so the total red stat used was 50.

Seong Jihan was satisfied with upgrading the weapon by shedding the ability that might control him.

He began to analyze the weapon in earnest.

[Red Cloud Phoenix Spear]

-Grade: EX

-A spear with the Red Administrator's letters engraved 100 times on the Phoenix Spear.

-When operating the red stat through the spear, it greatly amplifies firepower, and when using the special skill [Phoenix Incarnation], the power of the red stat increases by 50%.

-As an additional effect, if the user is a guild owner or guild master, it increases all traits levels of the affiliated guild by +15.

'The buff effect that increased ally stats by 35% changed to Phoenix Incarnation.'

From a 35% all stat buff to increasing only the red stat by 50%.

Moreover, this effect was completely useless for allies, so this change could be called a downgrade.

'In the first place, the 35% buff effect didn't apply to me these days. This is more useful.'

Perhaps because his stats had developed so much compared to when he used to receive ally buffs by planting the Phoenix Spear.

Seong Jihan was barely benefiting from the Phoenix Spear's buff effect unlike before.

If the buff effect had remained useful, the spear wouldn't have been left unused in the inventory.

'It's a shame that the ally buff is gone, but the battles I'll face from now on are things I have to win alone anyway.'

He also had to fight 1:1 when fighting the tournament winner.

And when fighting Martial God, he couldn't bring people along.

The only place where he could use the ally buff was in the Space League's race versus race battles.

But in these, if Seong Jihan could just participate, the game would end whether he gave buffs or not.

In the end, the Phoenix Spear's buff wasn't that useful currently.

Rather than this, it was better to increase red by 50%.

'On top of this, the guild traits +8 has grown further.'

The guild traits that the Administrator's hand had tried to make him give up on creating the Spear of Total Annihilation, saying it would inflate the item grade.

This also rose by 8 levels from +7 to +15 as the spear's grade changed to EX.

This was also quite substantial.

Although it wouldn't have a big impact when fighting Martial God, it would make leveling up a bit faster.

'But if this is EX, what grade would the Spear of Total Annihilation get?'

Originally, he thought the Spear of Total Annihilation would be around EX grade.

The EX grade appeared too easily just by writing ultimate skill a hundred times.

If there was a next stage, he couldn't even guess what it would be.

'Well, anyway, since it became EX, I should use the spear often.'

Thinking that, Seong Jihan left the training room.

And when he came out to the living room from his room,

"Oh, Boss! You're here!"

Lee Hayeon, who was in the living room, hurriedly ran to him.

"What in the world happened? I was startled enough when it rose by Level 4, but it rose by another 4!"

"I upgraded an item a bit."

"...No, was it that easy to raise the guild traits level by +8?"

"It probably won't rise further now. Since the item became EX-grade."

"E, EX?"

Lee Hayeon doubted her ears upon hearing the grade Seong Jihan mentioned.

EX was the final stage even among item grades.

How does this get made in a day just by entering the training room?

'No matter how much it's Boss... no, is it possible because it's Boss?'

Lee Hayeon thought it was absurd, but quickly dismissed that thought since the person was Seong Jihan.

How many times had Seong Jihan produced such results?

He's just someone playing a different game alone, so she should just faithfully support him.

"Wow... At this rate, our guild might really become the world's No. 1."

"Wasn't it already the world's No. 1?"

"If we consider the overall evaluation, it was still hard to beat American First, but thanks to the Phoenix Spear, we can aim for the No. 1 spot!"

"No. 1..."

Could they achieve that before fighting Martial God?

Seong Jihan smiled slightly and answered Lee Hayeon, whose eyes were shining.

"It would be nice if we could. No. 1."

"Of course! But Boss... how can you talk about this guild, which is yours, as if it's someone else's business~"

"These days, my opponents are all constellations, so it's hard to pay attention to the guild."

"Ah... right. The constellations are holding a tournament for Boss's hand."

Compared to battling constellations, honestly, the waiting guild issue was trivial.

Lee Hayeon quickly acknowledged the reason for the owner's indifference.

"Then, I'll leave the handling of additional guild traits to you."

"Yes. I'll recruit more waiting guild applicants. And I'll have to raise more GP from existing members."

While Lee Hayeon was finishing her calculations,

=Ah, player Yoon Sejin! An exquisite defense!

The living room TV was in the midst of the beginner arena.

"Is that still going on?"

"After this match ends, they will enter the finals. Everyone is anticipating what race bonus will come out."

The beginner's arena that was suspected of being hosted by the arena's owner to push humanity.

Perhaps because of the strict conditions, humanity was showing quite an advantage in the battles between races that met these conditions.

"I'm curious what they'll give as the race bonus if they win."

"Among people, there's a rumor spreading that it might be another fire attribute bonus."

"That's quite possible."

Last time, the race bonus Seong Jihan obtained as a reward for winning the tournament was also fire affinity +1 and vitality +3.

Thanks to the fire attribute bonuses that the arena had been crazily giving out since some time, even non-players had the perception spreading that it might be that again.

'If they give fire attribute again this time, it's not random. We should see it as intentional...'

He'll have to see what bonus that beginner arena gave this time.

Thinking that, Seong Jihan said to Lee Hayeon,

"Hayeon, I'll go level up a bit and come back."

"Ah, you mean the Challenger game? Yes. I'll be waiting. 10 minutes will do, right?"

"10 minutes is long if the matching is fast."

When fighting Level 8 constellations, Challenger League 8 is nothing.

Seong Jihan immediately started matching.

Beep!

[A game has been matched.]

As the system message popped up, he waved his hand at Lee Hayeon.

"Then I'll be back."

And so, in the Challenger game he entered,

"We have found the location of your planet. Hand it over."

"Then, will the Sun King spare us..."

"If you defy this, your planet will burn."

"...What are you doing?"

Seong Jihan was threatened out of the blue.