Chapter 450

Seolleung in Gangnam.

Above the royal tomb where King Seongjong of Joseon and his queen consort rest together,

Chiiik...!

"Huh?"

"What, what's that...?"

The sky split open, and through the crack, a golden light began to shine down.

Near Seolleung, an area with many office workers.

During lunchtime, the office workers who had finished their meals and were taking a stroll around the area were startled by the sudden incident, but.

"Wow, that's cool..."

"What are you doing? Aren't you going to run?"

"It doesn't look that dangerous? Let's take some photos before leaving."

Some of them started taking out their phones to capture the scene.

Even when the golden light touched the ground and slowly began to form a massive tower, there was no harm to the surroundings.

However.

As the tower started materializing from the bottom up, the situation changed.

"Hey, what are you doing? Still taking photos? We need to go in!"

"...Go where?"

"What do you mean?"

"The King of humans has descended to the earth, we must prepare to pay homage!"

The office worker suddenly knelt on the ground and bowed towards the tower.

"Are you crazy?"

His colleague, who had been looking behind, was surprised to see him spouting nonsense and turned his head.

"Ah... you're right... we must pay homage..."

Upon seeing the golden tower, he also knelt beside him.

The people who were taking photos out of curiosity when the light first shone down, as the tower began to materialize, one by one, their eyes glazed over as they submitted to the king.

By the time people were bowing their heads one after another,

"...What a mess."

Seong Jihan arrived.

Floating high in the sky, he immediately surveyed the surroundings upon arrival.

'Not only inside Seolleung, but people outside the fence are starting to bow as well...'

The people strolling inside Seolleung were already bowing their heads to the tower.

Even outside the fence, starting with those near the visible tower, people began to bow.

At this rate, as the golden tower gained more substance and grew taller, not only the area around Seolleung but the entire Gangnam district would likely submit to it.

'I need to stop it quickly.'

After keenly observing the Tower of Babel taking form, Seong Jihan,

Whoosh!

Landed on the ground where the power felt most intense.

Then,

"Long time no see~"

On the 1st floor of the tower, Pythia and,

"You're here..."

With only his head attached to the tower wall, a completely aged Gilgamesh greeted him.

* * *

- Who's that?

- Is that... Gilgamesh?

- Why is he so old. lol

- He went bald with age. lol. Did he spread the baldness gene to humanity?

Seong Jihan had left his BattleTube on to receive Star buff.

The viewers focused their attention on Gilgamesh, who had changed drastically, rather than Pythia.

"You've aged, Gilgamesh."

"If you had not disclosed that fact, this would not have happened."

"That fact? Ah, you mean that the Dragon Lord's head and Martial God's are the same."

"Yes! Because you blatantly said it, I was exposed right away!"

"Hmm... sorry. But you still lived a long time in your youth. Isn't aging meaningful in its own way?"

"What...! You call that an apology?"

Gilgamesh snapped at Seong Jihan's words.

But perhaps because he had become an old man, there was no strength in his voice.

- Does he feel any sincerity in that apology? Lol

- Ikr lol

- But is there a need to be nice to Gilgamesh?

- Nah lol

- But are the people around bowing to that baldie, calling him king?

- Yeah, even seeing Seong Jihan up close, they're entranced by the tower lol

Meanwhile,

The viewers were surprised to see people near the tower bowing their heads towards it.

Despite seeing the reclusive Seong Jihan up close, the citizens paid him no attention and only worshipped the tower.

With their glazed eyes, they seemed to have lost self-awareness.

'The tower is amplifying the power of the domination code.'

After roughly grasping the power the Tower of Babel possessed, Seong Jihan took out two weapons.

"Do not interfere with the king's ceremony...!"

Then,

The people bowing their heads stood up, trying to stop Seong Jihan, but,

"Stay still, everyone."

When he said that without even looking back,

Thud.

Everyone's movements completely stopped.

Ordinary people could not overcome the Martial Soul Domain.

As the people who were bowing and trying to stand up all ceased moving,

Pythia, who was watching from the side, let out a light exclamation.

"Wow, you get stronger every time I see you. Well, summoning the Tower of Babel will be useless against you."

"We'll see. If you wanted to do something with the Tower of Babel, you wouldn't have summoned it here in Seolleung."

Shhh.

Seong Jihan pointed the tip of his sword and continued,

"The reason you specifically chose to summon it here is to lure me out, isn't it?"

"Oh my, you figured it out already?"

"If you really wanted to do something with the tower, you would have summoned it farthest away from Seoul."

"That's right."

Pythia readily nodded her head.

"The important thing is to eliminate you, the variable in the grand plan... Controlling humanity can be done anytime. Our priority, Seong Jihan, is to eliminate you."

- Is Seong Jihan >>> humanity?

- Why are we treated like this...

- ?? Isn't it the truth?

- Ikr, if they just keep raising the Tower of Babel, everyone will be brainwashed lol

Most human viewers agreed with Pythia's words.

Seong Jihan heard Pythia's words and chuckled.

"Eliminating me is the priority... But can you two do it?"

"Ha, of course. With the Tower of Babel...!"

Gilgamesh retorted heatedly to that question, but,

"No, we can't."

Pythia answered firmly that it was impossible.

Shhhh...

Then, she slowly reached her hand towards Gilgamesh.

"But we can buy time."

"You, what, what are you doing touching my head...!"

"What do you think? I'm trying to make use of your useless self somehow."

Squish...

Pythia's hand pressed down on Gilgamesh's head and,

"St, stop...!"

"Even if you burst, you'll regenerate later anyway. Stop whining."

Pop!

As Gilgamesh's head exploded,

Red chains began to stretch out from there towards Seong Jihan.

'This is Heavenly Tree Descending Spirit...'

Heavenly Tree Descending Spirit, the last martial art of Annihilation God's Secret.

The red chains that absorbed life energy were a power that even Seong Jihan had used well for a while.

Recently, the enemies had become so overwhelmingly strong that there were few occasions to use it.

'I'll have to cut the chains and tower together.'

As the void energy began to rise from Seong Jihan's sword,

Fundamental Divine Art,

Triad of Martial Mastery

Total Annihilation Horizontal Sweep

Slashing the sword horizontally,

The chains and tower were sliced together.

- Sliced in one strike.

- To think we'd see this in Seolleung...

- Will the tomb get sliced too?

- No, if you look closely, only the Tower of Babel and chains were cut, everything behind is intact?

- Wow... is precision targeting with sword energy originally possible? He's precisely controlling it;

- I guess it's possible... because it's Seong Jihan

- Ah, if Seolleung was sliced, it would immediately become a tourist attraction lol

While the viewers were slightly disappointed that Seolleung's scenery remained intact,

"Gilgamesh, you're not using your full strength? Do you want to live the rest of your life as an old man?"

Pythia said those words and kicked the Tower of Babel.

Then,

[It's a sword strike imbued with the power of the void... Do you think regeneration will be that easy!]

Gilgamesh's voice came from inside the tower.

"Instead of talking, hurry up and do it."

[Against this bastard, we must not fight him head-on. We need to take hostages...!]

Shh...

The red chains began stretching out in all directions from the golden tower.

This time, the chains targeted the people who couldn't move due to Seong Jihan's Martial Soul.

Seeing that fighting Seong Jihan directly was not the answer after being cut down by him in an instant, Gilgamesh's chains persistently aimed for the humans.

- Tsk tsk, look how petty Gilgamesh is.

- The Constellations resorting to taking hostages...

- Ah, what will happen if he does that?? Will he get caught trying to save the hostages?

- Sir Seong Jihan, it would be best to abandon the hostages...

- But still, that's a bit;

The red chains stretched out towards the immobilized people.

'Tch, how annoying.'

Seeing this, Seong Jihan clicked his tongue and moved towards the tower.

His sword was already swirling.

Fundamental Divine Arts,

Annihilation God's Secret

Myriad Ghost Sealing Gods.

Whoosh!

The black vortex fully manifested in front of the Tower of Babel.

It completely sucked in Gilgamesh's chains that were trying to take hostages.

[Pythia! At this rate, everything will get pulled in! Buy some time, even if only briefly...!]

"Hey, don't order me around."

[You crazy bitch, don't you need to accomplish the plan!]

"I'll handle it myself."

Bam!

Pythia kicked the Tower of Babel and charged towards Seong Jihan.

Shh shh shh!

The onslaught of ice swords.

Pythia's attack utilizing Ice Sword Rain was threatening, befitting her Level 8 Constellation status, but,

"Is this all?"

As flames rose from Seong Jihan's spear,

The rushing ice swords all melted away.

"Wh-what? It's not Total Annihilation..."

While Pythia was flustered,

Sss!

Red lightning grazed her face.

"Euk...!"

Pythia's face instantly caught fire.

Despite coming out saying she would buy time, the Level 8 Constellation was subdued in less than 10 seconds, rendering her statement meaningless.

"Ahhh, you monster... What will you do about my face?"

Shhh...

Pythia, who retreated after being hit by red lightning, regenerated her face.

Seong Jihan pointed the tip of his spear at her.

"You regenerated quickly despite that."

"Martial God favors me. Unlike someone else, I'm definitely maintaining my youth."

[Ha! What's the use of youth, you useless thing! You can't even buy that short amount of time!]

Gilgamesh flared up at Pythia's words, but,

[However... by changing our approach, the plan has succeeded. There's no need to forcibly take hostages...!]

Soon, he announced that the plan had succeeded.

"What?"

Seong Jihan was certain he had absorbed all the chains with Myriad Ghost Sealing Gods.

When he looked around at those words, a triumphant voice came from the tower.

[The chains were blocked, but there are many high-rise buildings around this royal tomb... I showed the true nature of the golden tower to the people fearlessly watching from there.]

When Seong Jihan raised his gaze at those words,

The golden tower, which had been gaining substance from the bottom, had only materialized at the very top while the middle remained in the form of light.

'Since taking hostages with Heavenly Tree Descending Spirit seemed difficult, he brainwashed the people in the buildings around Seolleung Station.'

For once, Gilgamesh made the right judgment in that short time.

As Seong Jihan frowned while looking at Gilgamesh's chains he had sucked in with Myriad Ghost Sealing Gods,

[So stop resisting now. If you act recklessly, countless people will fall from the buildings. You wouldn't want to see people committing mass suicide, right?]

Holding the hostages, Gilgamesh was threatening him to stay put.

After realizing he was no match in terms of power, he resorted to taking civilians hostage in the end.

- Ah, crazy...

- Why is the tower materializing only in midair, not from the bottom?;

- We shouldn't even look towards Seolleung Station right now...

- Then what happens in this situation, did he really succeed with the hostages??

- Dammit, how petty are Adam and Eve ㅡㅡ

- So pathetic;

The chat window began to fill with swear words upon seeing the current situation.

Seong Jihan assessed the situation with subdued eyes.

'In the end, the problem is the domination ability the Tower of Babel possesses...'

The Tower of Babel was fully utilizing the power of the domination code.

If left alone, he would inevitably fall victim to their strategy of exploiting civilian hostages.

Then the solution is...

'I'll take over that tower.'

Just then, Gilgamesh's chains that had been sucked in by Myriad Ghost Sealing Gods caught Seong Jihan's eye.

If he could use that to gain control in reverse, it should work.

Fundamental Divine Arts,

Annihilation God's Secret:

Heavenly Tree Descending Spirit.

Chains of Heavenly Tree Descending Spirit stretched out from his body and,

Squish!

Grabbed onto Gilgamesh's chains.