Chapter 512
The Completed Vessel.
It was the gift that the Red Administrator required to rebuild the Hell.
Had Gilgamesh possessed the Red Vessel, the matter would have been easily resolved.
It was unfortunately the Blue Administrator who completely shattered that vessel.
The remaining vessel belonged to the Void, and touching it was problematic.
'But maybe I should check it just in case.'
Swoosh...!
The Red Administrator, who had taken the form of a red giant, reverted back to his eye form.
With a single leap through space, he arrived above Seoul.
'There it is.'
Flash...!
A red light sprang from his eyes.
Soon, the Red Administrator spotted Yoon Seah.
"...Why isn't the screen showing anything? Did something happen to uncle?"
[It's strange that only one specific channel on BattleTube has stopped... I'll report this to the Black Administrator.]
"Eh? Why would we need to consult the Black Administrator?"
[BattleTube is under the jurisdiction of the White Administrator. If it's not a server-wide issue but just one channel that's stopped, it might be because of his intentions. This gives the Black Administrator a reason to step in.]
"Why can't he intervene before this?"
[There are circumstances that prevent that...]
Yoon Seah, chatting with the Messenger while the screen of Seong Jihan's channel would not display.
Then...
[Hmm...?]
When the starfish turned to look this way, the Red Administrator quickly withdrew the red light.
He couldn't let the Void side catch wind of his whereabouts yet.
'Who would have expected that he'd have a Messenger stationed at the side of the Void Vessel Yoon Seah?'
Yoon Seah, already designated by the hat, had a Messenger beside her, receiving an excessive amount of care from the Void.
It would indeed be impossible to secretly steal that vessel without the Void noticing.
'I need to think of another method.'
There wasn't much time.
For now, the White Administrator had sealed Tuseong.
But once the Messenger contacted the Black Administrator, there would be a reaction from that side too.
The White Administrator said they wouldn't confront the Black side directly until the Hell was reconstructed.
'Great Sponsor's support won't be available to me any longer either.'
'Hmm... Maybe I should rearrange the order of operations.'
The Red Administrator mused for a moment before quickly finding a solution.
Flash!
Light sparkled in his red eyes.
He again leapt through space to another location.
The place he arrived was above Washington, D.C., the capital of the USA.
The red eyes looked down below.
There...
Tourists were swarming in one place.
"Is this the place? The place with the invitation obelisk?"
[PR/N: Obelisk is a stone statue/monument.]
"Yeah, someone mentioned it looked like an obelisk, it really does."
"More famous than the White House in Washington... so many people."
At the site where people gathered and took photos, there stood the 'Invitation from BattleNet' that descended upon the capital when humanity was invited to BattleNet.
In reality, it was more of an enigmatic obelisk made of mysterious minerals than an invitation.
On all sides, the words of BattleNet's invitation shone brightly in English letters.
"It's really in English... 'Humanity is invited to BattleNet.'"
"Would it change to Korean if our country becomes the world number one?"
"Ah, would it change that much? I thought only the broadcast and system interface would change."
"Who knows? Maybe the invitation would move to Seoul."
"But now that Seong Jihan is no longer a player, can we really reclaim the number one spot?"
"Still, BattleTube isn't working?"
"Yeah, why is that? It's just Seong Jihan's channel."
While Korean tourists discussed the invitation from BattleNet,
"Eh...? That, the text on the invitation... turned red?"
One of the tourists exclaimed with widened eyes.
"Really?"
"What's this...? Did the text color just change?"
The phrase, 'Humanity is invited to BattleNet,' which glowed white,
Began to turn red, starting from the letters at the top.
"Does the color usually change?"
Some tourists, pointing at the 'invitation,' turned to the American guide and asked.
"We've never seen this phenomenon before. It could be dangerous, could you please step back?"
With serious expressions, as they watched the text turn bright red, they hastily dispersed the tourists.
What remained were U.S. government officials and BattleNet Association representatives.
"The text is turning red continuously... Have you contacted the Association?"
"They said they will send researchers right away. They even asked if it converted to Korean yet."
Ah.
Could it be that Korea has reached the first rank, causing the interface letters to change?
As the text color continuously changed to red without any other noticeable changes,
BattleNet Association representatives lived under that misconception.
"No, we still hold the first rank."
"Maybe Seong Jihan defeated Martial God, and Korea got the points?"
"So, is the invitation's text changing first instead of the system? But he's an Administrator, so there shouldn't be a nationality bonus...?"
As people piled up fruitless conjectures,
The text on the invitation steadily turned red.
* * *
[Keuuu... Ehh...]
The enormous snake, impaled by Constellation relics, lost its sanity and could barely groan.
The power he possessed was not to be underestimated.
'It's a good thing I used the Galactic Sword Scar to destroy much of his power... Otherwise, I would've been dead by now.'
Had the Martial God gone mad like this without the effects of the Red Administrator's influence, even Seong Jihan himself would have struggled against such power.
While Seong Jihan regenerated wounds on his body and watched the Martial God,
Sssss...
Some relics embedded in the snake began to detach.
'Here it comes again.'
From the relics suspended in mid-air, each glowed intensely.
Fwoosh...!
From each relic, powerful strikes burst forth.
'All the attacks belong to the Triad of Martial Mastery.'
The Martial God's assault.
Having acquired part of Dongbang Sak's weapon techniques like Seong Jihan through Martial Soul, such moves weren't particularly impressive.
The problem, if any, was the excessive power behind them.
Even when attempting to avoid them, the martial pressure from all directions was relentless.
Seong Jihan was inevitably confronted by each attack.
Still...
Infinite Annihilation God
Dark Shadow Technique
Dark Soul Vortex
As a vortex emerged from the Taiji Devil Sword created in the void,
most of the Martial God's attacks were sucked into it.
Even though the Martial God had the upper hand in terms of the sheer power of the martial arts,
the level of martial skill was now clearly different.
'That's the limitation when you just rely on the Triad of Martial Mastery after obtaining Dongbang Sak's martial arts.'
Although Triad of Martial Mastery was a fundamental technique refined to the extreme in terms of stabbing and slashing,
it was hard to deliver a meaningful strike to Seong Jihan.
It could not be considered a truly threatening opponent by this alone.
But...
[Kraaaah...!]
As the snake opened its mouth wide,
a gathering of red light was shot towards Seong Jihan.
The Total Annihilation used by the Red Administrator as a weapon of attack.
The Martial God was also manifesting it without difficulty.
'This is truly threatening.'
Whoosh!
Although Seong Jihan swiftly dodged the Total Annihilation,
the firepower was so immense that he couldn't avoid getting scorched.
Ssssss...
Seong Jihan regenerated his burned skin while thinking,
'Despite Blue having an inherent advantage over Red, it's tough to block.'
When Dongbang Sak fought against the Red Administrator, he easily sliced through using Blue.
But the Total Annihilation shot by the Martial God was oddly difficult to defend with Blue alone.
'Is something else mixed into the Martial God's Total Annihilation...'
The wild pressure of the berserk Martial God was out of control,
thus the Total Annihilation was not emitting its original precision power.
If Seong Jihan possessed equal strength to the Martial God, he could output Total Annihilation that could overwhelm him.
However, maybe because of the opponent's immense power,
Total Annihilation mixed haphazardly, making it more difficult to handle.
'Still, stalling for time itself isn't difficult.'
The martial arts exhibited by the Martial God through the Constellation relics were all derived from Dongbang Sak.
Seong Jihan, having acquired his weapon techniques, could easily handle this.
The Total Annihilation coming intermittently from the snake's mouth was powerful,
but it could still be dealt with from a distance.
Even as the Martial God rampantly unleashed power,
Season Jihan was confident he wouldn't die.
By managing like this, Martial God couldn't maintain that state indefinitely.
The Constellation relics amplifying his power,
as well as his berserk state, would eventually come to an end.
However,
'...Dragging this out indefinitely isn't feasible due to lack of leisure on my part.'
If it weren't for the Red Administrator, he might not have said,
'I have much to do and must leave.'
There wasn't time to keep battling with the Martial God inside this veil of light.
Somehow, the battle with him needed to be quickly resolved.
Then it would be feasible to handle the Red Administrator as well.
'I need to switch to offense using more power.'
Sssss...
Cracks began to form on Seong Jihan's face, and the void within the Taiji Sword was greatly amplified.
[Kraaaahah...!]
Together with a scream, a torrential bombardment from the Martial God ensued.
'This follows the lineage of the Light Sword...'
Truly, this thing solely depended on Dongbang Sak for everything.
Seong Jihan threw himself into the onslaught, approaching the snake's body.
Though blood flowed from his whole body due to the powerful resistance, he managed to close the distance.
Immediately, he extended the Taiji Sword.
Chiieeek...!
He completely severed the snake's body.
[Kraaaak...!]
The Martial God screamed as he was bisected.
Having lost his mind, he was nothing more than a gigantic monster now.
Seong Jihan didn't stop, he continued his offensive.
Pssshhht...
One of the relics embedded in the snake disintegrated completely.
Flash!
The bulk of the Martial God's body bathed in a bright light and was moved far away.
Then,
Ssssss...
The snake quickly began to regenerate.
'This is...'
Just when he thought he had completely sliced it apart, there was a sudden activation of white light and spatial movement.
Seong Jihan's powers couldn't stop it.
The spatial movement activated on the Martial God was of a different caliber.
Seong Jihan stilled his gaze and looked up at the sky veiled with light.
"White Administrator. If you're going to intervene like this, why don't you come out and fight yourself?"
At Seong Jihan's words,
Rustle. Rustle...
Just a slow movement of the white veil.
Seemingly without any intention to show up personally, it appeared he only intervened when the Martial God was on the verge of death.
'If you're almost showing up so openly, what's the problem with not fighting directly?'
The White Administrator.
Could there be some restrictions?
Seong Jihan contemplated briefly while looking at the veil of light.
[Grrrrr...]
He then turned his gaze back to the Martial God, now utterly beast-like.
The regenerated snake was in a state where one relic of the Constellation was completely extinguished.
It seemed the White Administrator used that power to save Martial God.
Continuing to slash at the Martial God in this manner, once all the Constellation relics burst from its body, perhaps the snake would eventually die.
'The problem is, there are too many relics embedded in its body.'
Just by the number of weapons embedded in the snake's body, it had hundreds of lives.
No, likely more.
Fighting like this, although eventually defeating the Martial God was possible, it would take too much time, preventing him from thwarting the Red Administrator's plans.
'With a normal exchange of offense and defense, it won't end...'
To suppress the enemy quickly, extraordinary measures were necessary.
[Kraaaak...!]
As the snake once again opened its mouth wide, a burst of red light emerged.
Even the power of Blue couldn't fully defend against the Martial God's Total Annihilation.
It would usually be necessary to avoid this and counterattack.
'...It seems I have to use the Golden Wheel.'
There was no more time to delay.
Seong Jihan bit his lip and charged into the Total Annihilation.
His final target was inside the vast mouth of the snake.
'Inside the snake, I'll subdue him.'
Whooooosh...!
Seong Jihan's body was engulfed and burned by the Total Annihilation.
Particularly his left face completely collapsed and was filled with the void.
Swoosh!
Seong Jihan's body entered inside the mouth of the snake.