Chapter 564
Chapter 564
[Hmm. We succeeded in angering the opponent.]
\'Indeed.\'
Though it seemed they were a bit more enraged than expected.
Sss sss sss...
Watching Yggdrasil\'s hair glimmer with rainbow colors, Seong Jihan thought.
\'With just this, there\'s no way I can win.\'
The research lab, was practically Yggdrasil\'s home ground.
The dense life force permeating this place was strongly resonating with her.
On top of that.
\'Those twin swords... Their compatibility is quite high.\'
Until now, humanity\'s highest recorded blue sword compatibility was 25%.
But the twin swords Yggdrasil was holding now seemed to have compatibility far exceeding that.
Moreover, the swords\' appearance was somehow identical to the Twin Swords that Yoon Sejin was held...
\'Could they be Sejin\'s?\'
If they were his, that was really not helpful.
As Seong Jihan frowned, examining the swords.
The Red Administrator spoke.
[This won\'t do. Since it\'s come to this, let\'s take a hostage. We might as well try to find out this woman\'s identity too, what do you think?]
\'Sounds good.\'
Since he had already broken the glass and created this situation, might as well go further.
Whoosh...
As Seong Jihan lifted her up by the neck.
Sizzle...!
The area of the neck he grabbed burned pitch black.
"...Let go."
Yggdrasil, who seemed about to charge at any moment, stopped and said that.
[Put down the swords and stand still there, then I\'ll extinguish the fire.]
Seong Jihan delivered the lines as the Red Administrator dictated.
"...Understood."
Thud!
With that, Yggdrasil immediately stabbed the blue swords into the ground.
For that vicious Green Administrator to comply with this threat so readily.
Was this elf that important to her?
[What is this elf?]
"The reason for the World Tree Alliance\'s existence."
[The reason for its existence... If this elf disappears, will the alliance crumble?]
"You\'d die before that happens."
[Hahaha...]
Whoosh...
Seeing Yggdrasil speak with eyes full of killing intent, Seong Jihan extinguished the fire from his hand for now.
A hostage was only valuable if they were alive, after all.
\'Well, since she went as far as to call it the reason for the alliance\'s existence, I could probably demand more.\'
But demanding Yggdrasil to commit suicide or something like that here would be out of the question.
Seong Jihan made his original intended demand to Yggdrasil.
[Hand over Gilgamesh\'s fragment. Then I\'ll release her.]
"So you were after that, as expected. I thought you might be, so I set a trap, but how did you get here?"
She already knew he was after Gilgamesh\'s fragment.
He thought the defenses were too lax, but besides the legion being away, she had set a trap.
\'When I broke through the research lab barrier, it felt like space shifted. That might have been the trap.\'
But how did he end up here then?
Seong Jihan felt puzzled, but for now he responded nonchalantly.
[Who knows? I don\'t.]
"...Wait a moment, please."
At Seong Jihan\'s words, Yggdrasil bit her lip and.
Stretched her hand into the air.
Then.
Whiiiing...
Space distorted, and something began to be summoned from there.
\'It\'s the first time I\'ve seen Yggdrasil act this subservient.\'
Was this elf such an important figure?
A circular elf, with life force almost completely dissipated, seemingly about to die.
[This elf looks like they\'re about to die.]
\'Indeed.\'
There was so much life force, but why was it dissipating so quickly?
The neck area that was burned black showed no signs of the elves\' characteristic regeneration.
At this rate, they would truly breathe their last soon.
\'If that happens, I\'ll have to fight Yggdrasil with all her might... Then my identity as Seong Jihan will be exposed.\'
With just the Red authority, there was absolutely no way to defeat this opponent.
To face her, Seong Jihan would have to muster all his strength, too.
But fighting like that in the opponent\'s home base might be tough for this side due to continuous reinforcements.
Here, the best option was to receive Gilgamesh\'s fragment and retreat before this hostage\'s breath stopped.
\'Why is this taking so long.\'
As Seong Jihan was waiting for Gilgamesh\'s fragment to be slowly summoned.
Sss sss sss...
A pure white light briefly flashed from the elf\'s neck area where Seong Jihan was holding.
Then.
[1 \'Eternity\' stat is absorbed from the opponent.]
[The opponent hands over 100 \'Void\' stat.]
\'What is this crazy exchange rate.\'
The elf who stole 1 Eternity from Seong Jihan was giving 100 Void.
Void.
It was the most powerful ability in BattleNet, but it had a duality of devouring the main body if accumulated too much.
This elf was pouring that into Seong Jihan at a 1:100 ratio.
And after forcibly taking Eternity from Seong Jihan like that, the elf.
Sss...
Was naturally healing their burned neck.
[1 \'Eternity\' stat is absorbed from the opponent.]
[The opponent hands over 100 \'Void\' stat.]
And in less than a minute, Eternity and Void were exchanged again.
At this rate, if the hostage situation continued for about ten more minutes, he\'d be buried in Void.
This couldn\'t go on.
[You seem to be stalling for time. I\'ll be taking the hostage with me.]
Seong Jihan said that while acting as the Red Administrator and.
Fwoosh...!
Opened a red portal behind him.
"How dare you...!"
Seeing this, Yggdrasil\'s eyebrows twitched as she tried to suppress the portal.
Whoosh...!
[It was you who didn\'t sincerely engage in the deal.]
As Seong Jihan said this while reigniting the fire in his hand.
"I, understand."
Gritting her teeth.
She pulled her hand from the air.
Then, a blue vessel popped out from there.
On the surface of the vessel was carved Gilgamesh\'s face, full of agony.
The expression kept subtly changing.
\'That\'s... definitely the Blue vessel.\'
It would certainly increase his abilities if he took it.
Seong Jihan loosened only his index finger from the hand gripping the neck, and wiggled it.
[Throw it first.]
"Please release her first. She can\'t stay outside for long."
[That\'s your problem.]
"..."
Fierce killing intent rose.
But Seong Jihan didn\'t even flinch.
[Haha. Perhaps it would be better for the alliance\'s reason for existence to disappear. For me, at least.]
"...Here, take it."
Whoosh!
With those words, Yggdrasil threw the vessel.
Seong Jihan caught it and.
[Good. Then I\'ll be going.]
He seemed to obediently release the elf\'s neck, but then suddenly threw her into the air.
"...!"
Whoosh!
As Yggdrasil saw that and immediately leapt towards the elf.
Seong Jihan quickly entrusted his body to the red portal he had opened.
At that moment.
Fwoosh...!
The twin swords that were stuck in the ground instantly transcended space.
And tried to reach his face.
Sizzle...
As his face touched the blue swords, and top-grade ones at that.
The fire on his face quickly extinguished.
\'As expected, not fighting was the right answer.\'
With just the Red authority, this was absolutely an opponent he couldn\'t defeat.
As Seong Jihan resigned himself to having his face cut and entrusted his body to the portal.
The twin swords that had been moving on their own suddenly stopped.
"What are you doing?! Why aren\'t you moving?!"
Just as Yggdrasil, who had caught the elf, roared at the swords.
Flash...!
Seong Jihan safely entrusted himself to the portal.
As the Red Administrator disappeared like that.
"I brought you because I was told you had the best performance... How dare you disobey?!"
Yggdrasil, who had been glaring at the two blue swords floating in the air with terrifying eyes.
Looked at the elf she was holding with worried eyes, then her expression changed.
Clearly, the elf\'s neck that the Red Administrator had scorched.
Had recovered.
"How... did you recover?"
After watching her with a confused expression for a moment, Yggdrasil said.
"This isn\'t the time for that."
She hurriedly carried the elf and moved back to where the rainbow-colored tree was.
After putting her back inside it, Yggdrasil.
"..."
Quietly muttered while watching the elf\'s neck heal on its own.
"Red Administrator... I\'ll have to capture him alive."
It would be much harder to capture than to kill.
But having seen the elf recover on her own, Yggdrasil had no other choice.
She looked at the elf with sunken eyes and then looked towards the blue swords.
"For that... the swords need to work properly first."
The blue swords that could have cut the Red Administrator, but stopped when Seong Jihan\'s face was revealed.
Yggdrasil\'s face was stiffly set, having missed a golden opportunity.
As if she would vent the grudge from today\'s encounter with the Red Administrator here.
Step. Step.
She quickly approached the twin swords.
* * *
[That was dangerous.]
\'Indeed.\'
Seong Jihan, who had successfully escaped through portals via several detours.
Caught his breath after arriving at the Dead Star.
The blue swords seemed to have quite high compatibility.
If they hadn\'t stopped midway, he would have certainly been wounded on the head.
Of course, with Eternity, he would quickly recover from most wounds.
But if he had overcome the swords, his identity might have been suspected.
\'The elf\'s original form... In the end, we didn\'t find out much about her.\'
[Should we have continued the hostage situation a bit longer? I\'ve never heard of an elf being the reason for the alliance\'s existence.]
The Red Administrator regretted not finding out more about the elf, but.
\'Just holding onto her raised Void by 100. It\'s already at 400 now.\'
[Void... That elf raises it?]
\'Yes. She absorbed Eternity and gave Void.\'
[Hmm... Then it couldn\'t be helped.]
He quickly understood after Seong Jihan\'s answer.
[Perhaps the reason the World Tree Alliance is creating Void processing facilities is because of her.]
\'Isn\'t it for Yggdrasil to live forever?\'
[Considering Yggdrasil\'s age, there were too many Void processing facilities.]
\'How old is she?\'
[It\'s known to be only about 50,000 years.]
Ah... So that was considered not very old by their standards.
\'Then is that elf older?\'
[Maybe. Hmm... Would it be alright if I looked into it? Even with the information I have, I can\'t deduce anything about this elf... I\'m curious.]
The Red Administrator seemed to have his curiosity piqued by the unidentified elf.
He requested permission from Seong Jihan to investigate separately.
Since Seong Jihan was also curious about her identity, he easily agreed.
\'Go ahead.\'
[So, I have one request for the investigation.]
\'A request?\'
[Yes. How about uploading the video we took of the elf earlier to BattleTube?]
BattleTube?
Seong Jihan raised an eyebrow at the unexpected suggestion.
\'BattleTube... With the account I made back then? The one the White Administrator is stalking?\'
[Yes. Upload it there. Don\'t create a new one.]
\'Hmm... Why?\'
[The White Administrator might know about her.]
What connection did he think the White Administrator has with that elf?
Seong Jihan couldn\'t understand the Red Administrator\'s reasoning yet, but.
\'Well... Alright.\'
As he had no better ideas, he decided to follow his suggestion.
\'Then I\'ll have to change coordinates from the Dead Star.\'
Fwoosh...!
Seong Jihan moved through a portal to near a World Tree Alliance planet he had previously devastated.
Before uploading the video the Red Administrator had recorded earlier, he watched it himself first.
\'This elf. Her eyes had no pupils and instead flashed with pure white light, but...\'
Other than that, there was nothing that seemed related to the White Administrator.
Connecting everything with white light to the White Administrator would be unreasonable.
\'Well, we\'ll probably get a reaction from the other side when we upload it.\'
Thinking that, Seong Jihan accessed the BattleTube account he had sealed away.
Then.
\'...This crazy bastard has spammed it.\'
His account\'s main page was.
[\'White Administrator\' wants to grant you the stat White Light.]
[Will you accept?]
Completely filled with messages to accept White Light.