Martial God Regressed to Level 2

[Translator - Asura]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 566

As the vessel cracked.

Along with this, the internal world, as shown by Gilgamesh's head, collapsed.

Seong Jihan began to absorb the cracked vessel automatically.

['Gift - Blue Vessel' is upgraded to SS-grade.]

[The upper limit of Blue stat increases by 300.]

As the vessel's form half-disappeared, the Blue Vessel upgraded.

The Blue stat automatically rose to 1549 according to the new upper limit.

'I should be able to utilize Red up to 1100 as well.'

Checking the greatly increased stat limit, Seong Jihan continued to break the vessel.

And soon.

Except for the fragment with the World Tree pattern inside the Blue Vessel.

The vessel was completely destroyed.

'As expected, SSS-grade is impossible.'

If he had left that simulation running, it might have reached SSS-grade.

But leaving Gilgamesh's reconstruction simulation running to achieve that would be no different from what the World Tree Alliance bastards were doing.

"Can you still see the inside?"

Seong Jihan asked Gilgamesh's head, which was now separated after the vessel shattered.

He nodded in response.

"The connection is still there. Inside, only the World Tree remains now..."

"Now I have to destroy it. That guy. Is his resolve to die still firm?"

"...Yes. There's no wavering at all."

"I see."

Ziiing...

Blue and Red rose behind Seong Jihan's back.

He cleanly pierced through the remaining vessel fragment with his sword.

Then.

['B-grade World Tree' is absorbed into the Hell.]

[Due to Blue, the absorption efficiency of the World Tree is greatly reduced.]

[Red stat increases by 200.]

The Red stat filled up with the message that the World Tree was absorbed.

At the same time, the light disappeared from Gilgamesh's eyes.

The screen completely turned off.

"..."

Gilgamesh's head had a dazed expression.

Seong Jihan asked him.

"What's the situation?"

"...He said 'Thank you, my son' as his last words and disappeared."

"Ha. Even at death, he says that."

He really called him son for life.

Seong Jihan smirked and asked the head.

"So what will you do?"

"Me? Why... D-Don't tell me you're not going to kill me?"

At those words, Seong Jihan looked down at Gilgamesh's head thoughtfully.

A clone that popped out of Gilgamesh's fragment.

To cleanly wrap up Gilgamesh, it would be better to get rid of this head here too.

"If you swear never to come to Earth for the rest of your life, I'll let you live."

He gave the head a choice with that condition.

"You're telling me not to come to Earth...?"

"Ah. Right. I should include staying on the Dead Star for about 100 years too."

"You want me to stay on that star teeming with only those undead?"

"Yes. It's not a bad offer for you either. You'll need time to recover your body."

"...That's true, but."

"After that, I'll set you free. The BattleNet world is vast, there should be many places to settle besides Earth."

At Seong Jihan's promise, Gilgamesh's head remained silent for a moment.

Then slowly opened his mouth.

"...Why aren't you killing me?"

"Well..."

The main body died long ago.

The Gilgamesh, reconstructed from flesh fallen to the seafloor to become a vessel has also ended.

Now, all that was left was a fragment that broke off from there.

After seeing Gilgamesh ask to be killed, Seong Jihan didn't particularly want to go after his fragment too.

"It's just a whim. So. Will you live?"

"...Of course."

At Seong Jihan's offer, Gilgamesh's head immediately nodded.

Whether it was the other's simple whim, or if he had some ulterior motive.

From his perspective, surviving was the top priority.

'If I just stay alive... opportunities will come.'

A fragment thinking similarly to the former main body.

But the difference was.

'Earth or humanity, once I'm free I shouldn't go anywhere near there...'

Unlike the previous Gilgamesh, he had absolutely no desire to rule over Earth or humanity.

That place was already a hell where Blue and Green Administrators were fighting over.

He had zero desire to return to that den.

'I should start anew in a new land...'

Thinking that.

"Let's go."

Ziiing...

He entered the portal Seong Jihan opened together.

* * *

The World Tree Alliance's Council of Elders.

"..."

"..."

In the massive council chamber where 1,000 Ancient elves were seated.

A chilling silence hung in the air.

The Ancient elves all rolled their eyes, examining the head seat of the chamber.

Yggdrasil, who had called this emergency meeting.

Had summoned the elders but was not present herself.

[Today's meeting...]

[It must be because of the video the Red Administrator uploaded, right?]

[Did you see it too, Elder?]

[Yes... It was shocking.]

Though the Ancient elves were outwardly quiet.

Behind the scenes, they were communicating using BattleNet's system.

[Who on earth is that person?]

[I'm not sure. I searched through the ancestral records but couldn't find anything about her.]

[She seems to be the original template for the mass-produced elves. Hmph. If she's such an important figure, I don't understand why they used her as the model for mass production...]

[Indeed. It seems she's very precious to Yggdrasil, yet they gave that appearance to mass-produced elves who get used up doing menial tasks...]

The main difference between Ancient elves and other elves was their appearance.

Apart from their large ears, Ancient elves each had unique faces.

But lower elves all had the same appearance.

So the elders looked down on their uniform appearance, saying they were different from "real elves".

They disparaged them as mere accessories of the alliance.

Of course, Yggdrasil also looked similar to this "elf", but.

She was differentiated by her green hair full of life force.

As the Ancient elves were silently messaging each other like this.

Thud.

"I'm late."

Yggdrasil suddenly appeared in the head seat of the council.

She then swept her gaze over the assembly.

"Did you all see it?"

"..."

"I asked if you saw the video. The one with me on the Red Administrator's channel."

As Yggdrasil scanned the crowd with cold eyes.

The Ancient elves hurriedly nodded.

"Yes. Yes."

"Hmm. So? Don't you have any questions after seeing that?"

Yggdrasil spoke as if she would answer if they had any doubts.

However, the elders noticed that the life force emanating from her was surging more fiercely than ever before.

It was obvious what would happen if they gave the wrong answer here.

One of the elder elves near the head seat stood up abruptly and said.

"We simply obey whatever the World Tree does. We have no doubts whatsoever! Please do as you wish."

"Is that so? You've chosen your vice-chairman well."

Yggdrasil raised the corner of her mouth.

"Thanks to him, there won't be an elder to make an example of."

Make an example?

If someone had asked who that person was when she asked if they had any questions earlier.

They could have died?

[Translator - Asura]

[Proofreader - Gun]

As the Ancient elves were inwardly sighing in relief and sending grateful looks to the vice-chairman.

"Then let's get to the main point. We're going to capture the Red Administrator alive."

"Capture... alive?"

"Yes. I originally planned to not leave a single piece of his corpse, but I've changed my mind."

Yggdrasil recalled what had just happened.

The 'original elf' who had been taken hostage by the Red Administrator and suffered burns on her neck.

Given her situation, such injuries should have been impossible to regenerate.

However.

'...Her condition has actually improved from before.'

She wasn't sure exactly what the Red Administrator had done.

But her condition was better than before.

It still took an enormous amount of life force to maintain her living state and extract the Void, but.

The cost of doing so had decreased by about 5% compared to before.

Considering that her condition should have worsened after being dragged outside, if the cost had decreased from before.

The actual effect was likely far more significant than just 5%.

'The Red Administrator... or rather, something about the body he's using, Seong Jihan, must be the cause.'

She wasn't sure exactly what had caused such a reaction.

But after seeing the improvement in the 'original elf', Yggdrasil decided she had to capture the Red Administrator.

"Capturing him alive will be much harder than killing him."

"I'm sure it will be... But it's something we must do. Above all else, this is the priority."

No, it was already hard enough to stop the Red Administrator's attacks, how were they supposed to capture him?

The Ancient elves felt their vision darken at Yggdrasil's demand, but.

They had no choice but to do it if ordered.

"To do that, we first need to complete the blue sword force. Starting today, I'll personally go down to Earth to supervise."

"St-Starting today, you say...?"

"Yes. From now on, we stop all other projects and focus solely on this."

A million blue swords had already been made, and they were already putting considerable effort into it.

To go even further from here.

'What will happen to the alliance's existing operations then?'

'It doesn't seem like efficiency will improve much just by investing more resources here...'

As the elders felt uneasy seeing Yggdrasil take such an extreme stance.

"And."

Ziiing...

As Yggdrasil spread her fingers.

Two blue swords appeared above her hand.

The blue light swords that should have been well-condensed.

Had holes all over them.

'Those swords...'

'Are they the ones that stopped themselves from cutting the Red Administrator?'

At the last moment in the video.

The twin swords that had almost succeeded in Yggdrasil's surprise attack, but stopped themselves and ruined it.

The elders broke out in cold sweat as they saw the blue swords riddled with holes.

For her to bring out these swords here...

"Who was the elder that recommended these?"

"I-It was me..."

"Ah. Vice-chairman. It was you."

As the vice-chairman who Yggdrasil had just praised coincidentally stood up again.

She raised the corner of her mouth.

"What a shame. You were a capable child."

"That..."

"But you must take responsibility for recommending such swords."

Sss...

Flower buds began to rise from the vice-chairman's face.

As rainbow colors rippled from there.

"Ugh... Ah...!"

The vice-chairman's body was instantly sucked in.

Thud...

Leaving behind only the half-mask he wore on his face, he completely disappeared.

Yggdrasil quietly watched this, then.

Whoosh!

She threw the twin swords into the center of the council chamber.

"Now then, next vice-chairman."

"Y-Yes! Yes!"

"Find out why these swords acted like that."

"Ah. Understood...!"

As the Ancient elf who had suddenly become vice-chairman hurriedly retrieved the swords.

Yggdrasil glared at the twin swords and said.

"And you're responsible for finding other usable swords."

"Yes. Yes...!"

Sss...

With those final words, Yggdrasil disappeared.

The Ancient elves silently looked at each other.

The Council vice-chairman.

He had been praised as capable by the World Tree herself and served the longest term of any vice-chairman in history.

To think he would die so meaninglessly.

'This matter...'

'We must succeed at all costs.'

If even the vice-chairman could be so easily replaced, the lives of the elders here were even more precarious.

A strong sense of crisis swirled in the elders' eyes.

* * *

Meanwhile.

'What started as a search for Gilgamesh's fragment turned into quite a big deal.'

Seong Jihan, who had returned to Kim Jihun's body on Earth, reflected on this expedition.

He had more than achieved his original goal through the hostage situation, but.

The 'hostage' he had seen in the process was bothering him for some reason.

If even the White Administrator knew about her, she was certainly no ordinary figure.

'Hey. Have you found anything?'

[It hasn't been long since I started.]

'Looks like it'll take some time?'

[Probably. I'll let you know right away if I find anything, so just wait.]

'Alright.'

Even for Red, it seemed the investigation wasn't easy.

After hearing his answer, Seong Jihan decided to check on the situation on Earth.

First.

'Let's start with some light news.'

He picked up his smartphone and searched for news.

Then.

[Sword King Yoon Sejin Achieves New Record!]

[Compatibility Exceeds 35%!]

News of Yoon Sejin achieving a new record was headlining various media outlets.

'So those were indeed the Sword King's.'

The twin swords.

They were quite threatening.

As Seong Jihan was thinking this, he tapped on the headline to see more details.

[This article has been deleted.]

Suddenly, a message saying the article had been deleted appeared.

And not just one.

From all media outlets.

The articles about the Sword King that had made headlines were being deleted in real-time.

'Hmm...?'

Why was this happening all of a sudden?

As Seong Jihan was wondering about this.

[Breaking news from the Colonial Government.]

The news pages all began to cover breaking news from the Colonial Government.

[Translator - Asura]

[Proofreader - Gun]