The Martial God who Regressed Back to Level 2

Seong Jihan thought to himself.

‘The increase in Devil’s Intrusion’s threshold and the rise in the red’s distortion… These two happening simultaneously is certainly suspicious.’

The Devil’s Intrusion that Dongbang Sak created by transforming the Martial Soul before he died.

Seong Jihan definitely felt that his power had weakened after the Martial Soul was changed to this.

He wasn’t sure how this affected the Martial God, but it couldn’t have been less impactful than on himself.

Yet, for the threshold to rise from 1000 to 1200, and for the red’s distortion to increase as well…

‘Did the Martial God make use of the red, or…’

Seong Jihan recalled when the Red Administrator was killed by Dongbang Sak.

The Red Administrator, surrounded by the Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Formation, torn to shreds.

Even so, he kept uttering meaningful words until his death.

-Hehe… Isn’t it strange?

-Why hasn’t there been any intervention from the BattleNet even though I revealed myself?

-It’s because the ‘Great Sponsor’ is watching over me.

As his eyes were pierced by Dongbang Sak,

Even as his remains were being sucked into the Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Formation.

-Kill the Blue one. Only then will today’s events be forgiven…

The Red Administrator left those words as if he would still be alive.

And after Dongbang Sak disappeared, the red’s distortion that hadn’t budged an inch began to move, coincidentally.

As Seong Jihan was harboring suspicions about this,

[The distortion of stat ‘Red’ decreases by 1.]

This time, while the Devil’s Intrusion’s activation threshold remained the same, the red’s distortion decreased by 1.

‘The only being I can think of that can manipulate the red so freely is the Red Administrator.’

Raising and lowering the distortion, what excellent control.

Seong Jihan furrowed his brow.

‘I need to unite the Blue and Martial Soul quickly and invade Tuseong.’

If the Red Administrator was involved, he couldn’t afford to give them much time.

He needed to strike quickly and subdue the Martial God while the Devil’s Intrusion was still taking effect.

For that…

‘I need to draw that out.’

The Taiji Sword stuck in the sealing formation.

To wield that sword, he needed to unite the Blue and Martial Soul.

Dongbang Sak had said the unification was almost complete, but Seong Jihan still hadn’t found all the clues.

Originally, he had planned to slowly train and complete the sword now that the urgent crisis was over.

But seeing the red’s distortion fluctuating, it seemed he didn’t have much time left.

As he pondered how to train for this now,

Hiss…

Void began to rise again from his shattered face.

‘The side effect of the face I destroyed myself is showing up.’

The body he had reversed once with the Golden Wheel.

But his face had returned to its original state after he destroyed it himself to fight Dongbang Sak.

He was currently blocking it with the Blue,

But the void flowing out from inside could threaten Seong Jihan at any time.

‘Of course, if I use the Golden Wheel, my face would return to normal, but…’

The Golden Wheel with 2 chances left.

If he used one more here, his face would quickly return to normal.

But with the red stat fluctuating like this, and the possibility of the Red Administrator appearing,

Using the Golden Wheel here felt a bit wasteful.

Wasn’t there a way to heal without using the Golden Wheel?

As he pondered for a moment, his eyes fell on,

The Taiji Sword and the sealing formation drawn beneath it.

‘Come to think of it, I did recover a bit of the fracture through the World Tree.’

The Red World Tree that had healed Seong Jihan’s void fracture.

Last time, he came out quickly after seeing a future where he died to Dongbang Sak.

Now it should be okay to receive treatment.

The Taiji Sword being stuck there was a problem, but.

‘I think I can enter.’

He examined the sealing formation closely and found a gap to enter.

It would be better to try healing without using the Golden Wheel if possible.

‘But if it doesn’t seem to work inside, I’ll have to get out immediately.’

The Golden Wheel returns to the state of 24 hours ago.

If he dawdled inside and too much time passed, it would be neither here nor there.

Seong Jihan, keeping time in mind, prepared to enter the sealing formation.

Before that,

“Everyone, I’ll be ending the broadcast now.”

Seong Jihan decided to turn off the BattleTube he had kept on for the Star Buff.

-Ah… He’s not pulling out the sword?

-Looks like he’s not rushing into Tuseong right away.

-He needs to catch his breath first, the Martial God won’t be an easy opponent either.

-Phew, at least he survived!

-I really thought he was going to die this time;

-For real, it wasn’t just Seong Jihan who almost died, we were in danger too…

-Guess I don’t need to wait at Incheon Airport anymore haha

-I’m going to return what I stole from the convenience store.

-Now the opposite lane on the highway to the East Sea is jammed, I’ll be living in my car today…

Seeing the broadcast end, viewers who realized the battle was over,

They started returning to their daily lives, relieved at Seong Jihan’s victory.

-But you know what? You can see the light of that sword from the West Sea lol

-No way, that’s impossible. Do you know how far that is??

-It’s true, people are taking pictures and going crazy. It stretches all the way to the sky.

-I saw verification shots saying it’s visible from China too.

-Wow, it’s really true…

At the same time, the light in the West Sea became a hot topic.

The beam of light emitted by Dongbang Sak’s Taiji Sword, despite originating from the center of the West Sea,

Was being observed from the coasts of both Korea and China.

As photos related to this were being uploaded to the internet,

Step. Step.

Seong Jihan, having turned off the broadcast, was taking steps into the sealing formation.

* * *

Inside the sealing formation.

In the place where the Red World Tree should have been, a massive light was piercing through it.

‘That light… It’s the same nature as the light from Dongbang Sak’s Taiji Sword that was seen.’

The Taiji Sword that had been stuck in the sealing formation.

Was it affecting even this inside?

Seong Jihan couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration as he saw the beam of light that had consumed more than half of the massive World Tree.

Although he had become considerably stronger compared to before,

He still couldn’t analyze what exactly this light from the Taiji Sword was.

Maybe he could understand a bit if he pulled out the Taiji Sword and used the Galactic Sword Scar.

As Seong Jihan was once again recognizing Dongbang Sak as a transcendent of Martial Arts,

[Ugh… Urgh…]

[We, we must escape!]

[If we touch that, we’ll be completely annihilated…!]

Between the lights of the Taiji Sword,

Formless red giants appeared and then were sucked back into the light.

‘Those are… the red ghosts?’

The ghosts of the blood clan that Dongbang Sak had sealed in the World Tree in the past.

The red ghosts, who had shown insane regenerative abilities even regenerating their souls, were disappearing, caught in the light of the Taiji Sword.

‘Maintaining the power of the Taiji Sword while stuck in the World Tree, and even dealing with the red ghosts… It’s killing two birds with one stone.’

Seong Jihan watched the ghosts disappear for a moment, then realized something.

‘This time, the life force isn’t overflowing like before.’

The last time he entered this place, the life force was so abundant it was suffocating.

This time, not even half of that remained.

The cause of this was probably…

‘It seems the Taiji Sword is draining the energy.’

The Taiji Sword that was maintaining its power even after Dongbang Sak disappeared.

So this was the source of its power.

Seong Jihan looked at the light that had split the Red World Tree in half, then touched his face.

The fracture he had inflicted on himself wasn’t healing as easily as before.

The damage was greater than last time,

And with the life force in the sealing formation greatly diminished, he had to be content with the wound not widening further rather than healing.

‘At this rate, I might have to use the Golden Wheel.’

The flow of time was already fast inside the sealing formation.

If he dawdled here with this slow recovery speed, he might miss the chance to use the Golden Wheel.

It might be better to just use one coin without being stingy.

Even as Seong Jihan thought this,

‘Still, it would be a waste to leave without trying anything.’

To save the chance of using the Golden Wheel, he decided to make one attempt.

Fundamental Divine Arts,

Annihilation God’s Secret

Heavenly Tree Descending Spirit.

Drrrr…!

Red chains extended from Seong Jihan’s body.

They stretched towards the split World Tree to absorb the life force.

But.

Just as the chains seemed to connect with the tree,

Bang!

They were blocked by something and bounced back.

‘This… What blocked it?’

Seong Jihan tried the Heavenly Tree Descending Spirit a few more times, but,

The World Tree didn’t allow the chains to touch it.

Whether it was because of the Taiji Sword being stuck there, or for some other reason,

In any case, the Heavenly Tree Descending Spirit was currently useless on the Red World Tree.

“In that case, I have no choice but to use the Golden Wheel…”

As Seong Jihan reluctantly thought about using one of the two remaining coins,

[Abnormal movement detected…]

[The threshold of stat ‘Devil’s Intrusion’ is changing.]

[Devil’s Intrusion will activate when the stat value reaches 1300.]

[The distortion of stat ‘Red’ increases by 1.]

The threshold of Devil’s Intrusion rose again, and the red’s distortion increased along with it.

‘Hmm, seeing this happen again, it really seems to be related to that Red Administrator bastard…’

This would be one thing if the opponent was the Martial God with his limbs all cut off.

Assuming the Red Administrator was involved, using the Golden Wheel here seemed too wasteful.

Wasn’t there any way to extract life force from that World Tree?

Seong Jihan thought for a moment and recalled something.

‘Right… Gilgamesh, even with only his skull remaining, he tried to suck it somehow, didn’t he?’

Even with only his skull left, extending the chains of Heavenly Tree Descending Spirit from the back of his skull,

Gilgamesh had tried to somehow stick a straw into the sealing formation.

If it’s him, maybe he might have a method?

‘Fortunately, it’s in my inventory, let’s take it out.’

Thinking it was good that he had kept it last time, Seong Jihan took out Gilgamesh’s skull from his inventory.

“Hey, Gilgamesh.”

Tock. Tock.

As Seong Jihan tapped the skull with his finger,

[Is, is this… outside?]

Gilgamesh’s voice was heard from the skull.

“Yeah.”

[How, how much time has passed… 1, 10 years? 100 years?]

“Well, I don’t remember exactly, but at most, it’s been a few months.”

[Only that much… time has passed?!]

Whatever happened inside the inventory,

Gilgamesh was shocked at Seong Jihan’s words that it had been at most a few months.

“Yeah. What were you doing in the inventory that you’re so surprised?”

[That place was a space where I couldn’t do anything… I was just trapped in darkness.]

“Really? Then why are you talking about ten or a hundred years?”

[When you’re in there, you lose all sense of how much time has passed. I thought at least 10 years had passed based on how it felt… Huh, to think so little time has actually passed.]

“Hmm, I see.”

Well, it seems a lot happened for him in the inventory.

But that’s his business.

“Anyway, moving on. My Heavenly Tree Descending Spirit was bouncing off that thing, do you have any method?”

[That… yours bounced off?]

“Yeah. I took you out wondering if you had a way.”

[…This energy.]

Gilgamesh’s skull, examining the Red World Tree at Seong Jihan’s words,

Paused for a moment before answering.

[…There is a method. However, I’ll only tell you if you promise to revive me.]

“Hmm, alright. I’ll revive you if you’re useful.”

Well, he could just kill him again after reviving him, right?

Seong Jihan thought this, but,

[You… You’re planning to kill me again after reviving me, aren’t you?]

“Come on, can’t you trust people?”

[You’re underestimating me too much after what I suffered from the Martial God…!]

Gilgamesh, having been tricked once by the Martial God, wasn’t going to fall for it so easily.

[Swear on your Administrator position. That you won’t kill me again after reviving me!]

“Hmm, that’s a bit difficult.”

[As, as I thought, you’re full of thoughts of killing me…! Then, I won’t cooperate either…!]

This guy, he was being annoying.

“Fine. I guess I’ll just have to use the Golden Wheel. You can go back into the inventory.”

[Wh, what…]

“What?”

[Wa, wait. Don’t put me back in there…]

“Okay. I’ll put you back since you’re useless.”

[Don’t do that, le, let’s negotiate…!]

Gilgamesh panicked at Seong Jihan’s words.

[Right. First, shouldn’t we see if my method works? At least let me try, try it out!]

He went further, shouting to let him test if his method works.

‘He really hates going into the inventory that much.’

He reacted like this just because he said he’d put him back.

Seong Jihan watched Gilgamesh’s skull’s behavior for a moment, then,

“Alright. Let’s test it out.”

He picked up the skull and approached the Red World Tree.