Chapter 480

Late night at the Incheon coastline.

Standing in a secluded spot, Gilgamesh looked beyond the sea, a smile forming at his lips.

"So, the World Tree was indeed in the sea."

[Yes, but it's quite a distance from here. Can you make it?]

"Even though I have weakened... crossing the sea is not an issue. More importantly."

Gilgamesh looked at the back of his hand.

A desiccated, wrinkled hand.

It showed that his aging had progressed further.

"Before I age any more, I need to draw life energy from the World Tree."

[Right.]

"Your response is lukewarm. You need life energy too; that should free you from that eyeball form, shouldn't it?"

[Because I don't think you'll give it to me. Didn't you plan to discard me after using me?]

"Haha. How could I treat my first wife so harshly?"

Gilgamesh's lips curved upwards as he looked at the divine eye.

"If you sincerely cooperate this time, I will share some life energy with you. As the King of Humans, I promise."

[So if I help, you'll just let me live?]

"Haha. There will be a small restriction. But it's nothing too significant, so don't worry."

Gilgamesh's smile deepened as he mentioned the small restriction.

[...Fine. Let's go.]

Following the light guided by the divine eye, Gilgamesh began running across the sea.

No matter how much his strength had dwindled, the power he had amassed up to an 8th-level constellation remained.

He soon reached his intended destination.

[From here, you must go to the bottom of the sea.]

"Indeed. I can sense it now..."

Gilgamesh's eyes glowed as he gazed into the sea.

Once he absorbed life energy from the World Tree, which was sealed there, he could halt this aging.

Quickly diving into the water, he reached the place where the World Tree was sealed.

Standing on the seabed, he noticed the seal.

'This is the seal formation.'

Most of the complex patterns had disappeared due to Seong Jihan's interference.

Only the red dot at the center and several connecting lines of the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams formation remained.

The shape itself was simple enough to seem easy to dismantle.

'But the power contained within it is immensely strong.'

Ssshhh.

As Gilgamesh moved his hand underwater, a barrier formed around his body.

The barrier repelled the seawater, making conversation possible.

"Pythia, do you hear me?"

He spoke as he looked at the divine eye.

[What is it?]

"That seal formation, it's not easy to dismantle. Do you see anything with your divine eye?"

[...Hmm. It seems you shouldn't touch the center. The rest, I can't quite figure out.]

"Tch, even the divine eye isn't helpful."

Clicking his tongue, Gilgamesh scrutinized the seal formation underwater.

He had come all this way, but this was a problem.

'The World Tree is surely inside the formation...'

Despite the strong seal, life energy was faintly leaking from the red dot.

If it were fully released and the World Tree revealed itself,

he could not only stop aging but also return to his youthful days.

[Aren't you going to do anything?]

"Wait... This is precious life we've barely held onto. I can't risk it here."

[So you can't break the seal.]

"You're really noisy! I'm merely lacking power at the moment. Hmm. Hold on... But..."

Gilgamesh grimaced as if struck by an idea and walked over to the seal formation.

"Come to think of it, there's no need to dangerously dismantle the seal."

[...Why not?]

"Even by just absorbing the life energy leaking from here, I can slowly regain my former strength."

[It seems like it will take decades, no, even centuries to regain your former power with that...]

"Hmph, what's a few centuries?"

Gilgamesh sneered at Pythia's words.

"I am someone who has lived since the beginning of time. I can wait that long."

[...]

"While absorbing the life energy here, I will wait for Seong Jihan to collapse on his own."

He then looked down at the divine eye.

"So, this is where we part ways."

[So there's no life energy for me?]

"Yes. If I had enough power, I would've inscribed the domination code on your body. But there's no room for that now."

[As I thought...]

Pythia responded indifferently, as if she expected nothing.

Ssssshhh.

She turned away from Gilgamesh, looking towards the side.

[Am I right? There's nothing in this guy for me anymore.]

"...Who, who are you talking to?"

Gilgamesh nervously turned and looked to the side.

"There you are. Just as I thought."

There stood Seong Jihan, calmly crossing his arms.

* * *

Why was Seong Jihan here?

Gilgamesh widened his eyes before quickly coming to a conclusion.

"You, you... You betrayed me?!"

[You and I were never in a relationship that valued loyalty.]

"This mad..."

Krrrr.

Gilgamesh clenched his fist, trying to crush the divine eye,

"Whoa."

Swish!

As Seong Jihan moved his hand, Gilgamesh's arm was severed cleanly.

At the same time, the floating divine eye moved close to Seong Jihan.

"You... monster!"

"I wondered how you'd deal with the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams formation, but in the end, you're just stalling."

The final disciple of the Martial God, Gilgamesh.

Though he had often shown pathetic behavior, his power of regeneration was a potential subject of research.

Hoping he might manifest some new ability upon nearing the World Tree,

He had observed Gilgamesh discreetly.

In the end, Gilgamesh's solution was to stall and wait for Seong Jihan to die.

That was not helpful at all.

"Urk..."

"Utter disappointment until the very end, Gilgamesh."

Step. Step.

Seong Jihan slowly approached and held his dark sword up to Gilgamesh's throat.

"You've lived a long time, haven't you?"

"Urgh..."

"I have many things I'd like to ask you..."

As the fifth disciple of the Martial God, Gilgamesh had many secrets worth extracting.

Starting with his power of regeneration,

his initial agreements with the Martial God, and his connection to the Void.

He held many keys that could unlock several mysteries.

However,

'I bet he would try to trade his information for his life, and I can't let that happen.'

The first human to bear the Red Factor, Gilgamesh.

He had to disappear for good today.

Only then would humanity be completely freed from the loathsome Red Factor.

The dark purple energy began to swirl around Seong Jihan's sword.

"It's time to rest."

"Wait, wait...! Spare me!"

"Don't embarrass yourself in front of your descendants. Die with some dignity."

Thud.

Groveling on the seabed, Gilgamesh fell to his knees.

"To live, what wouldn't I do...! Seong Jihan, spare me. I will sincerely help you from now on!"

"What could you help with?"

"Ruling humanity is bound to have trials and errors, even for you as an Administrator...! With my experience, I can solidify your rule."

"Ruling again, huh."

Domination of humans and the desire to live.

Even in the moment of death, Gilgamesh displayed his two strongest desires.

"Why don't you just rest, old man?"

"Wait, wait...!"

Swish!

Without hesitation, Seong Jihan decapitated Gilgamesh.

Thud. Thud.

Gilgamesh's head fell to the seabed.

Without its head, his body

sss...

failed to withstand the Void energy and soon dissipated.

[So he's really dead now. Is he?]

"Since he used whatever power he had left to come here, subduing him was easy."

Seong Jihan lightly replied to the startled Pythia at Gilgamesh's death.

'His head... still remains.'

He noticed Gilgamesh's skull lying on the seabed, resisting the Void energy that had swept away the rest of his body.

Seong Jihan chuckled meaningfully.

Despite being bathed in the Void energy, mere flesh and bones had survived.

While reflecting on this,

Sssss...

Purple Void energy began to consume Gilgamesh's skull, causing it to wither away, with the bones beginning to melt.

Unlike the body, the head took longer to succumb to the Void.

[...]

Flash.

Pythia's divine eye flickered, observing the strange phenomenon intently.

"Alright. Since Gilgamesh is dead, time to hand over the divine eye."

[So Gilgamesh is dead, you say...]

"Isn't he?"

Seong Jihan blinked one eye as he spoke.

[...Yes. He is.]

Pythia responded and asked Seong Jihan a counter question.

[So, what will you do with the divine eye? Will you accept it?]

"I'll accept it."

Seong Jihan pointed to his forehead.

"Put it here. But you know you'll die once the eye is transferred... Are you ready for that?"

[Yes. Now that the Red Factor is gone, I want to rest.]

The divine eye slowly moved, adhering to Seong Jihan's forehead.

Flash. Flash...

The light began to fuse into Seong Jihan's skin.

[Seong Jihan, please... handle it all until the end.]

Pythia's voice weakened as she mentioned the 'end.'

As the light from Seong Jihan's forehead faded,

[Special Authority: Divine Eye has been transferred.]

[Received Divine Eye from a lower-tier player. The effects are significantly reduced.]

The system message confirmed the transfer.

'Hmm...'

Seong Jihan touched his forehead.

The divine eye had indeed entered, but its power was weak, as the message indicated.

Moreover,

'...I don't even know how to activate it.'

The method to harness the divine eye remained a mystery.

Maybe, he should have received it before becoming an Administrator.

'No. If I hadn't become an Administrator, she wouldn't have given me the eye.'

The whole reason for getting the eye was that Seong Jihan had eradicated the Red Factor.

If he hadn't become the Blue Administrator, Pythia would have continued helping the Martial God and fighting him.

'Well, I'll ask my sister about this later...'

Seong Jihan moved his hand away from his forehead.

"Hey."

He grabbed Gilgamesh's skull from the seabed.

"Got anything else to say?"

He saw several small bones forming chains inside the inverted skull.

"Whoa. He's actually using regeneration even in his skeletal state."

He marvelled at the sight.

Wriggle. Wriggle.

The bone chains weakly moved in the air.

[Seong... Jihan...! Did you figure it out...]

"Of course. Your body was gone, yet your skull remained intact."

[Urgh... Urgh...]

"You really... have a strong will to live."

Seong Jihan examined the half-dissolved skull.

'Can I store this in my inventory?'

The thought struck him.

"Inventory."

To satisfy his curiosity, he opened his inventory and placed the skull inside, then took it out.

At that moment,

[You... I'm not an item...!]

Gilgamesh's skull shouted at Seong Jihan.

"Oh... You're still conscious?"

Amazing.

Seong Jihan admired Gilgamesh's tenacity for survival once more and shoved the skull back into his inventory.

'In this state, there's no rush to make him disappear.'

He could extract more information later.

Seong Jihan finished dealing with Gilgamesh and looked at the ground.

'The final seal of the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams formation... should I enter now?'

He had lacked the power to break it before.

Now, he felt strong enough to withstand the forces within the formation.

Should he dismantle the seal right now?

As Seong Jihan contemplated the seal,

Flash!

A light flickered from his forehead.

The divine eye, whose activation method had been unknown, responded on its own when focused on the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams formation.

And what the divine eye revealed was...

'...What is this?'

Next to the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams formation,

was Seong Jihan's severed head lying on the ground.