The Martial God who Regressed Back to Level 2

Seong Jihan gazed at the relics floating in the air.

Countless weapons by the looks of it.

If he could destroy them and gain their stats,

‘Even if the buff ends, there wouldn’t be a problem. I might even become stronger.’

It felt like a treasure trove.

Previously, he couldn’t stand the sight of the relics that endlessly cut him down, but they suddenly seemed beautiful.

Moreover,

‘If I absorb them with sacred flame instead of breaking them with the Taiji sword, wouldn’t I become even stronger?’

So far, he had only absorbed the residual energy after breaking them with the Taiji sword.

If he directly absorbed the abilities while holding the relics, he might grow stronger much faster.

‘Gotta test it right away.’

Whoosh.

Seong Jihan swiftly approached the relics.

Seeing him try to grab the weapons floating in the sky without using the Taiji sword,

[…Are you planning to burn them with sacred flame?]

The quick-witted Martial God immediately drew back the relics.

The weapons, avoiding Seong Jihan, flew far away on their own.

‘His response is fast, as always.’

Nevertheless, moving as quickly as he could, Seong Jihan managed to catch one of the relics nearby with sacred flame.

Initially, the constellation weapon withstood the flames of the sacred flame,

‘Strengthen it more.’

Seong Jihan poured tremendous power into the sacred flame without reservation.

[Stat ‘Red’ decreases by 10.]

[Stat ‘Eternity’ decreases by 1.]

Even Eternity, as well as Red, decreased dramatically.

Whoooosh…!

As the flames blazed fiercely, they ultimately engulfed the constellation weapon, absorbing its abilities.

[Stat ‘Martial Soul’ increases by 80.]

[Stat ‘Red’ increases by 65.]

The overwhelmingly increased stats.

‘So, I consumed 1 of Eternity to greatly enhance Martial Soul and Red.’

Now, it’s a net gain of 55 for Red.

He sacrificed 1 of Eternity, but his stats increased by 135 collectively.

That’s an incredibly favorable exchange ratio.

However.

‘Reducing Eternity will diminish my regenerative abilities soon. I can’t use this recklessly.’

Surviving the Martial God’s relentless attacks was greatly due to his Eternity trait.

Continuously consuming it to absorb stats posed significant danger.

He had to know when to stop.

While Seong Jihan pondered over how many more to absorb,

Whoosh…!

The Martial God, who had distanced himself, was now approaching him.

[Your power has increased. You’ve absorbed abilities from my weapons with sacred flame.]

Zing…!

A bright light shimmered in the Martial God’s crimson eyes.

With his divine eye activated, the Martial God could see through Seong Jihan’s transformation at a glance.

This guy indeed possesses many skills.

Seong Jihan quietly observed the Martial God’s much larger divine eye, then spoke.

“Have you given up on running away?”

[Run away?]

Whoosh…!

As the enormous Martial God spread his arms,

Crackling!

Strange patterns began to spread across the sky and earth.

– What is that?

– Ah… isn’t that the sealing that Seong Jihan used before?

– It looks similar, but the scale is on a different dimension…

A massive sealing formation, covering the sky and earth completely, known as Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams.

Even while bombarding him with attacks, he had prepared this separately.

Strength must be overflowing in him.

‘But I don’t feel anything being sealed.’

Despite the magnificent presence of the grand sealing formation, Seong Jihan didn’t feel restricted.

It seemed like just an enormous pattern had spread across this desolate star.

What the Martial God aimed to seal wasn’t Seong Jihan himself.

[With this, your device is now useless.]

His target was to neutralize the World Tree ignition device.

If Seong Jihan used it, it would be the only condition for the Martial God’s defeat.

“Hmm, is that so? Do you really think the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams sealed it? Inventory.”

Seong Jihan extended his hand into the void.

Signaling to take something out of the inventory.

At that moment, a powerful offensive wave from the Martial God rushed toward Seong Jihan.

Relics attacked, and,

Whoosh…!

The Martial God’s massive hand reached to grab Seong Jihan directly.

Crackle…!

When it touched the Martial God’s hand, even the destruction code began to collapse.

The main body’s power was enough to break through the sacred flame’s defense.

“Didn’t you say it’s sealed by Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams? Why so hasty?”

Whoosh.

Seong Jihan dodged back, smirking.

Though he reached into his inventory, he hadn’t actually taken anything out.

“I didn’t bring anything out.”

[…You…]

“Despite spreading Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams, you still worried it might not work?”

[You bastard…!]

The Martial God, revealing his true intentions, trembled.

Despite sealing it with Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams, the World Tree ignition device could act differently since it wasn’t a typical item.

Activating it could break through the sealing formation.

Naturally, the cautious Martial God would have to respond even to such gestures.

‘Then, he wouldn’t run away again like before.’

Whoosh.

Seong Jihan infused more power into the Taiji sword, thrusting it toward the Martial God’s hand.

Compared to the giant Martial God’s hand, the Taiji sword looked no more threatening than a toothpick.

It seemed like stabbing it wouldn’t even draw a drop of blood.

However, the void-infused sword was so powerful that the Martial God had been avoiding clashes with it until now.

But now,

Shielded by the sacred flame for defense, Seong Jihan,

Teasing with the switch, he couldn’t retreat anymore.

[… I’ll crush you with your sword.]

Thus, instead of retreating, the Martial God stretched his hand toward Seong Jihan.

His hand, so enormous, felt like darkness descending from the sky.

However, as Seong Jihan’s sword pierced its center,

Crack…!

The darkened hand began to split open.

And the crack extended,

Not only through his hand but also along his arm,

Reaching up to his shoulder, creating a massive rift.

[What is this power…!]

A single touch of the sword,

Lifted the dark veil, revealing the form of the Martial God’s arm.

– Wow…

– The sword actually works…

– So that’s why the Martial God was avoiding it!

– The power of that black sword is no joke;

While the humans cheered at Seong Jihan’s counterattack after a period of one-sided defense,

Whoosh…

The darkness completely retreated from the Martial God’s arm.

Exposing his form.

* * *

– Is that the Martial God’s arm?

– Why does it have so many eyes embedded in it?

What the viewers saw was a giant’s arm.

An arm with red skin, covered with countless eyes.

– Another eye giant? Hilarious.

– But the eyes look dead.

– Why does it have so much graffiti on it?

– It’s not graffiti. Seems more like characters in a similar arrangement.

Having watched Seong Jihan’s channel for a long time, human viewers were somewhat familiar with the red eyes.

The Martial God’s arm resembled that of the Blood clan.

However, the eyes had lost their light and appeared dead,

With some dense characters engraved all over, unlike typical members of the Blood clan

While regular people couldn’t read the characters,

‘The 17777th son of the Sun King…’

Seong Jihan could.

The 17777th son of Sun King’s was etched all over the Martial God’s arm.

Seeing the letters crammed into every inch of the giant arm, he felt a sense of maniacal obsession.

‘If even the Martial God’s power can’t erase it, I understand why he’s wary of the Sun King.’

Despite having the upper hand, sending Dongbang Sak to intercept the Sun King hurriedly,

He feared facing the Sun King and potentially obeying his command.

Losing his power to the Sun King would mean truly giving away all he had worked for.

[To reveal my weakness to the world…]

“Indeed, the 17777th son of the Sun King.”

[Can you read this text?]

“It’s readable, isn’t it? The King must love his son. Such graffiti everywhere.”

[Ha…!]

At Seong Jihan’s mockery,

Rumble…

The ground of Tuseong began to shake violently.

The earthquake didn’t affect Seong Jihan in the air,

But,

Buzz…!

Dark crimson light shot from the relics, converging on the Martial God.

‘Far more than 500 now…’

Previously, the Martial God maintained the connection with just 500 weapons.

But after revealing his arm in anger,

He connected all the relics to himself.

As the Martial God’s body swirled with tremendous power,

‘Is he going to grow until he reaches the end of the universe…?’

Before he could absorb more power, Seong Jihan decided to attack the Martial God with the Taiji sword.

However,

Flash!

Before he could strike with the sword again,

The enormous Martial God’s body suddenly scattered into darkness and vanished.

– ??

– Where did he go?

– The light connecting to the weapons disappeared too?

– Did he run away? haha

– Did he absorb too much power and explode?

Seeing the sudden disappearance of the Martial God, the viewers speculated about his whereabouts.

‘Hmmm…’

Shooosh…

Hovering in the air, Seong Jihan squinted his eyes.

A massive gravitational pull concentrated on him from the center of Tuseong.

He had blocked countless attacks from the Martial God,

But the pull from the star’s core was too strong.

‘What is this…!’

Falling to the ground,

Crash!

Seong Jihan’s body smashed into the earth.

He regenerated after being shattered by the fall,

Blinking his eyes and looking up.

The brilliant relics,

Between them, two red lights,

Menacingly gleamed at Seong Jihan.

Like eyes.

[You’ve exposed my weakness to the entire world, Seong Jihan.]

“You… are you the Martial God?”

Staring at the two red lights in the sky, Seong Jihan spoke in a trembling voice.

Seeing the giant connected to the 500 weapons earlier already seemed impossible to defeat.

But when he pierced with the Taiji sword, it seemed to do some damage, giving him hope.

‘No… this is hopeless.’

Lying in the ground, Seong Jihan instinctively knew.

The Martial God’s star, Tuseong.

The star itself had now merged with the Martial God.

[Before I became an administrator, merging with Tuseong… this is outside my plan.]

Rumble…

The land quaked, and Seong Jihan’s arms and legs began to sink into the ground.

Seong Jihan resisted, but the power of the Martial God merging with the star,

Was in a different league than before.

Only his head and the Taiji sword remained above the earth.

Everything else was bound by the land.

‘When we first encountered, he said he would use his full power. That wasn’t his full power at all.’

The Martial God had become one with Tuseong.

This was his true full power.

And the displayed power of the Martial God,

Was so overwhelming that even Seong Jihan couldn’t muster the will to resist.

[I will never let you die peacefully.]

Proclaimed the Martial God, now merged with Tuseong.

Given his personality, if he said it to this extent, he was surely planning something very cruel.

It might be better to end his life himself before that.

Seong Jihan’s eyes momentarily lost hope.

‘…No, I’ll find a way out.’

He rekindled his determination.

No matter how hopeless the situation seemed, he couldn’t just die here.

As his left hand, which held the Taiji sword, was relatively free from the earth’s binding,

‘Using the sword to free my body, I can shake him with the World Tree ignition device…!’

Even while being buried in the ground,

He sought a way to counter the Martial God.

If he died here, everything would end.

No matter how bleak it seemed, he had to forcefully find a path.

‘Yes. If the Martial God became the star, I’ll destroy the star…!’

Now that he became the star, he couldn’t run as before.

As Seong Jihan rekindled his fighting spirit,

Thud. Thud.

Footsteps approached from behind him.

And soon.

“O Martial God.”

A low voice echoed.

It was Ashoka.