บท 399: Chapter 399
'The Mark of the Taiji Sword…'
The Mark of the Taiji Sword bestowed by the Abyss Owner.
It had disappeared as Seong Jihan successfully drew out the Taiji sword in this world and even destroyed the World Tree with it.
Along with that,
[The skill Taiji Sword escapes its incomplete state and disappears from the skill window.]
The skill Taiji Sword, which had probabilistically consumed martial soul each time it was used, also disappeared.
'Now that I've mastered the sword, I'm supposed to use it on my own.'
But it's still at the level of only drawing out a dagger, yet it says it escaped being incomplete.
'Then…'
Looking at the world shrouded in darkness, Seong Jihan's eyes sank deeply.
The mark had disappeared, and the Taiji Sword skill had also escaped being incomplete.
Now, what remained was to challenge the Abyss Owner.
Seong Jihan recalled his fragment that had been controlling the Abyss Owner from within.
Seong Jihan, who had been sliced apart by the Taiji Sword, was gathered in pieces like a mosaic.
'In the end, they were me who had been sacrificed in the Martial God's repeated infinite regression.'
Recalling the Martial God's infinite regression that Seong Jihan had learned about while entering the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams this time,
He could roughly guess how he had ended up in that state.
'I don't know why they all died to the Taiji Sword, and why they accumulated in the Abyss Owner during the process of turning back time, but…'
These questions could be answered while facing the Abyss Owner.
Seong Jihan recalled the appearance of the Abyss Owner during the human extinction mission.
The giant who had possessed overwhelming power.
At that time, since he hadn't confronted Seong Jihan, he had managed to land a strike, but
Now that he would respond, the situation would be different.
Seong Jihan ran a simulation in his head.
'Compared to then, I've gotten much stronger, but I still can't guarantee a definite victory.'
Compared to when he had received the mission before, Seong Jihan had grown tremendously.
Nevertheless, he didn't feel confident that he would definitely win against the Abyss Owner.
In terms of pure power, he was still formidable.
If there was a variable, it would be the Taiji Sword, from which he had drawn a dagger this time, that would play that role.
'…Against this guy, I need to prepare thoroughly before going.'
If the space where he fought the Abyss Owner was inside the BattleNet game, even with this level of power difference, it would be worth challenging him right away.
But he was a being that existed in the real world, on North Korean soil.
Moreover, he was also holding Seong Jihan's sister, Seong Jiah, captive.
More than ever, he had to enter the battle when he was confident he could win.
'I'll have to make good use of Red and Eternity that have been greatly enhanced this time.'
The authority of the stats Red and Eternity, which had been somewhat neglected while focusing on tempering the Taiji Sword.
Since the two abilities had been greatly enhanced through the red World Tree this time, he had to devise a plan to utilize them.
Only then could he overcome the Abyss Owner
As Seong Jihan was thinking about the next step,
"Shall we go?"
Thud. Thud.
Ashoka walked out of the darkness.
The inner formation had definitely collapsed according to the system message, yet he still maintained his form.
As Seong Jihan looked at Ashoka with curiosity, he smiled slightly.
"I had something to tell you for a moment, so I was delaying my annihilation for a bit."
"What do you want to talk about?"
"Value your own life."
"…What?"
After staying behind to talk, what he wanted to say was to live?
"Of course I value it. I know my life is precious too."
"…A moment ago, when talking about the Taiji Sword, you didn't seem worried at all."
"That's because, unlike your concern, I didn't feel like I would be devoured by it."
"Is that so? A person should naturally have at least a little agitation… You didn't hesitate at all in using the sword."
"I didn't need to hesitate."
Even though he said he was fine, Ashoka continued talking to him with a strange conviction.
Seong Jihan found it odd that he was saying this much.
"What I gave up was eternity, not life. I'll protect my lifeline until the end, so don't worry strangely."
"…I understand. I was worrying unnecessarily. Still, always prioritize yourself. That's natural for a living being."
"Of course I should."
Seong Jihan answered like that and recalled the Annihilation God's Secret.
'The third technique of the Annihilation God's Secret, Return of the Light. That authority must also be Ashoka's.'
Return of the Light, which he had no idea how to use.
Since the other party was worrying about him like this, Seong Jihan decided to ask about it.
"Among the Martial God's techniques, there's something called Return of the Light…"
As Seong Jihan roughly explained the Annihilation God's Secret and brought up Return of the Light,
Ashoka listened to it with a serious expression.
"Return of the Light… is it? A technique the Martial God imitated from me."
"I more or less know how to use the Martial God's other Annihilation God's Secret. But I have no clue about this one. Is there a way to use it?"
"…The time given to me is absurdly insufficient to tell you the method. However,"
Thud!
Ashoka brought his hand to his chest.
Then, a golden piece engraved with the characters 'Forbidden Enlightenment' came out from inside.
A fragment of the golden wheel that had shattered a moment ago.
"Keep this object with you. Then you will be able to use Return of the Light once."
"Just keep it with me?"
"Yes. When the time comes, it will activate on its own."
As the golden wheel fragment engraved with 'Forbidden Enlightenment' that Ashoka handed over touched Seong Jihan,
Swish…
The fragment turned into light and was absorbed into Seong Jihan's hand.
Seeing that, Ashoka smiled.
"Now, the time for me to leave is approaching."
Swish…
Ashoka's body, disappearing from the feet.
He slightly bowed his head to Seong Jihan and left his final message.
"Tell my future self not to forget why I engraved 'Forbidden Enlightenment' on the golden wheel."
"Well, I don't know when I'll have a chance to meet, but if I do, I'll tell you."
"Then…"
Flash!
As Ashoka's figure was engulfed in a white light and disappeared,
Seong Jihan was able to return to the seabed where the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams was originally located.
'Even though the inner formation collapsed, the formation remains…'
The Nine Palace Eight Trigrams, in which the Six Unions, Five Elements, and Four Symbols had been released.
Since three disappeared each time the outer formation was destroyed, there must be one last formation remaining now.
Seong Jihan looked at the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams, where only the core remained.
Most of the complex patterns of the formation had been dismantled.
Only the red dot at the center and the several lines connected to it were spread out like a spider's web.
'If I want to enter, I could enter right now, but…'
But Seong Jihan instinctively felt.
'I don't have the confidence to break that core yet.'
The core of the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams, which had revealed its true nature as the inner and outer formations were destroyed, possessed an energy that was still difficult for Seong Jihan to handle.
'For now, I should return home.'
Now was not the time to challenge this.
Thinking that, Seong Jihan left the seabed and returned to his home.
The penthouse he returned to,
'No one's here.'
There was no sign of people at all.
'Could it be that the match against China still hasn't ended?'
Seong Jihan, who had left in the middle of playing the match against China.
But since he had spent a considerable amount of time inside the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams, he thought the national team match would have definitely ended.
'Once you enter a sealed formation, the concept of time becomes really confusing…'
He turned on the TV and to check the match.
As Seong Jihan thought that and looked for the remote control,
Beep. Beep.
The door of the penthouse opened, and,
"Oh, what? Uncle came first?"
Yoon Seah entered with her group.
* * *
Yoon Seah and Yoon Sejin, who had quickly finished the 5th match against China and returned home.
With Sophia, who had participated together, joining in, a rather small after-party was taking place.
"Jihan, did your business go well?"
"Yes, it seems… you won the match against China."
"If it weren't for you, Jihan, we would have lost. We were lucky…"
"Seriously, even when we lost the 4th match, they resented Uncle for leaving after using the undead buff, you know? Fortunately, we won, so it's a happy ending."
Yoon Seah sighed in relief while watching the replay of the match against China on TV.
"I even won the series MVP. Hehe."
"I want to win it too… It seems really hard for a supporter to win MVP. The role is too passive."
"Honestly, we relied a lot on Sophia in the 5th match. The MVP evaluation seems to be biased towards the dealers."
The latter half of the match against China, which Seong Jihan had missed.
Highlight videos kept showing how fierce that match was.
Especially the one who appeared a lot on TV was Yoon Seah.
Using the power of the void, she showed a prominent presence by bombing the enemy formation every time she released her bowstring.
"Your void has gotten quite strong."
"Yeah. I can't grow at a super-fast speed like Uncle, but I'm making progress in my own way. But Mom keeps telling me not to raise my void ability any further, which is a bit unfortunate…"
"She says that for your sake. The void… is a considerably dangerous power."
"Eh. But Uncle, why do you use the void so recklessly?"
"My case is different."
At Seong Jihan's words, Yoon Seah shook her head.
"Mom also laments every day. Saying that her younger brother really doesn't listen. That he was like this when he was young and is the same even after growing up. She's even educating me, saying that I should never grow up like that."
"That's what she always said when you were young, Seah. She still says that?"
"Yeah, I'm sick and tired of it."
"Does she not talk about Dad?"
"…Oh, yeah."
"I see…"
Yoon Sejin, who had asked without thinking and couldn't even get his money's worth, poured alcohol into his glass with a gloomy face.
"Jihan! But what did you do and come back?"
"I had an opportunity to upgrade my abilities, so I did that for a bit."
"Upgrading there too…"
"I have to keep maintaining the 1st place position."
"No one's threatening Uncle's position…"
"You?"
"It wouldn't work even with 10 main stats, you know?"
When Yoon Seah looked at Seong Jihan in disbelief upon hearing those words,
Buzz buzz…
Her phone vibrated.
"Ah, seriously."
And Yoon Seah's face crumpled as she picked up the phone due to the vibration.
"Seah, what's wrong?"
"The half-elf community that I was kicked out from last time suddenly contacted me. Saying they really want to talk to Uncle."
"The half-elf community… The one that follows Gilgamesh?"
"Block their spam, Seah."
"I did, but they keep contacting me with a changed number. I'll just change mine."
The half-elf community involved with Gilgamesh.
Hearing that they had contacted Yoon Seah, Seong Jihan asked her,
"What exactly did they say?"
"They just asked if things went well for you, the Constellation. Telling me to send a message to the administrator if you have something to say."
"Really? Then, let me send one message."
"Ugh… seriously?"
"Yeah, I have something to say to Gilgamesh."
Seong Jihan recalled what had happened a moment ago.
The code Gilgamesh had taught him, [It's time to behead the snake],
Had been judged as a fake code.
At first, he thought this guy might have set a trap,
'Rather than that, it seems he was just a foolish customer who got deceived, as the Martial God's voice said.'
Seong Jihan judged that rather than Gilgamesh deceiving him, he was also a victim who had been tricked.
Then he should actively inform him of this fact.
[Gilgamesh. The thing you taught me turned out to be a fake code. The tree caught fire.]
[The Martial God called you a foolish customer.]
[He said the authority wasn't lent to you, but had already been transferred.]
"…Uncle. Are you really sending it like this?"
"Yeah."
"It's a conversation between Constellations, isn't it a bit lacking in dignity?"
"There's no such thing. Between us."
"…Got it. Should I send it?"
Like that, Yoon Seah sent the message to the half-elf community as Seong Jihan had said, and
[What…!? My authority has already been transferred to the Martial God…!?]
Not long after,
A message directly from the administrator arrived at Yoon Seah's ID.
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