Chapter 550
Dating the Shadow Queen.
What nonsense was this?
Seeing Seong Jihan's reaction, Yoon Seah nodded.
"So you really weren't dating?"
"Of course not. Why on earth did such a story come up?"
"The Shadow Queen said so. That she and you were like one body, and were lovers."
"What nonsense about lovers."
There was never anything like that with the Shadow Queen.
"I can understand her saying we were like one body. The Shadow Queen acted as my sword for a long time."
"Ah... That shadow sword? So that's why she confidently said you were one body."
"But what's this about lovers?"
"Ah, that... When humanity became a colony of the World Tree Alliance. The Queen was caught while trying to escape."
The Shadow Queen who was active on Earth.
It was natural for her to be captured by the World Tree Alliance.
"But before being dragged away, she appealed desperately for her life, saying she had that kind of relationship with you."
"Really? That's a bit unsightly."
"Well, she probably wouldn't be safe if taken away this time... Anyway, the World Tree Alliance didn't believe it at first. But they say they believed when the Shadow Queen presented some evidence?"
Seong Jihan, who at first thought she must have lied to survive,
Twitched his eyebrows at the mention of evidence.
"Evidence? Is there such a thing?"
"Apparently so. So when I went to look for you, she had been released and was active."
"She was active on Earth? Then why did she go to the junkyard?"
If the World Tree Alliance acknowledged her as Seong Jihan's lover and let her live,
Shouldn't she have stayed here?
The one who answered Seong Jihan's question was,
"Business failure."
Seong Jiah came out of the room.
"...Business failure?"
"Yeah. You know the Queen borrowed money from the Alliance to start a broadcasting business. She messed that up."
Seong Jihan recalled the broadcast the Shadow Queen had attempted before.
It seems he had invested on her behalf when she almost went bankrupt trying to buy broadcasting rights.
'I guess it didn't last long after all.'
He knew she would mess it up even back then, watching her.
It seems that became reality.
"I thought it would fail seeing how she was doing it..."
"Ah, but the reason it failed wasn't because of poor management. The World Tree Alliance colonial government banned viewing the Queen's channel."
"Really?"
"Yeah, how can a business succeed if viewing is banned while running a broadcasting station? She couldn't even pay the interest and was taken away."
For the colonial government to ban the broadcast viewing.
This wasn't much different from forcibly taking her away.
"Then her whereabouts became unknown... Looks like she's working in the junkyard now."
Despite holding out by claiming to be Seong Jihan's lover, now she's a worker dismantling chimeras.
'There's a bit of reaping what she sowed.'
From using the lover excuse to survive,
To being taken away for failing to repay debt, knowing this somewhat weakened his desire to rescue the Shadow Queen.
Still,
"I guess I should get her out of there for now."
"You'll save her?"
"Yeah. I'm curious what 'evidence' she presented for the Alliance to believe her."
"Ah. I was curious about that too. What could she have shown for the World Tree Alliance to acknowledge it..."
"Mom asked a few times too, but she absolutely wouldn't tell."
That 'evidence' was acknowledged by the World Tree Alliance.
Seong Jihan planned to find out what it was while rescuing her.
"Then I'll be going."
"Okay."
Zing...
Seong Jihan opened a portal towards the junkyard coordinates he had obtained before.
* * *
The junkyard.
Unlike its name, in this land where only an earth-colored wasteland stretched out,
When chimeras fell from the sky, void mixed with shadow energy spread like poison gas and eliminated them.
'Well, I don't need to wait.'
Whoosh...!
Engulfed in flames,
Seong Jihan entered Red Administrator mode and looked down at the earth from the sky.
Kim Jihun's body was busy moving around to survive.
But as the Red Administrator, there was no need for that.
Thud.
As he set foot on the ground,
Whoosh...!
Bright red flames spread out in all directions.
"Ugh, aaaaah... What is this?!"
"This, this wasn't the map!"
"It's not even time for chimeras to appear yet...!"
It seemed players were playing the survival map, Junkyard.
Quite a few people were burned to death while panicking at the sudden flames, but,
'Those guys have really bad luck.'
Well, what can you do?
They would just lose some levels.
Seong Jihan incinerated the players as collateral damage while entering underground.
At first, he just kept digging through dirt for a while, but,
After going some distance, a solid metal wall appeared below the earth.
'Oh, it doesn't break right away.'
For the first time, the Red Administrator's advance was blocked by a wall.
But that resistance didn't last long.
Thud. Thud...!
As Seong Jihan stomped on it a few times, the wall soon crumbled, and he could enter the junkyard.
'Is this another kind of laboratory?'
A space similar to the laboratory where he had retrieved Gilgamesh's fragment before.
The difference from there was that purple void was flowing out from here and there.
And,
"The Red Administrator..."
"How did he get here!"
Unlike the previous place where Ancient elves were in charge of experiments,
Here, ancient elves participated as researchers.
'Even these council members are doing experiments at the bottom of the junkyard.'
To think the highest ranks of the World Tree Alliance were in such a state, doing research on the junkyard floor.
As expected, they were ruthless, except for Yggdrasil.
Thinking this, Seong Jihan extended his finger towards them.
Then,
Whoosh...!
The Ancient elves burst into flames immediately.
"Ugh, uuugh...!"
"Re, regeneration... can't keep up..."
They didn't end instantly like high elves, but,
Even ancient elves couldn't withstand the Administrator's flames for long.
After burning two ancient elves like this, Seong Jihan,
Step. Step.
Moved his feet to explore.
'It's quite spacious here.'
Definitely a different level in size compared to the laboratory he raided before.
Unlike the test tubes in the previous lab that contained living beings, void energy was strongly condensed here.
Was it because it was a void-related lab in which ancient elves were involved?
Seong Jihan thought while briefly examining the laboratory.
'If I keep looking around like this, they'll waste time and escape with the Shadow Queen.'
There was nothing to see in the lab except a compressed void.
As he increased his speed,
Screech...!
The inside of the laboratory became completely chaotic due to the flames attached to his body.
Especially when the test tubes melted and the void spread out,
As the flames and void energy mixed, the inside of the laboratory was turning into an environment where no living being could survive.
Meanwhile,
[A-21 Area Void Storage Destroyed. Irreparable.]
[A-45 Area Void Storage Destroyed. Irreparable.]
At the centre of the laboratory,
About 10 ancient elf researchers were gathered, watching the messages that kept appearing.
"The void storage... They're all breaking even though he's not specifically trying to destroy them."
"It's the flames imbued with the Administrator's power. No matter how solid the containers storing void are, they can't withstand it."
"So, about the rescue request..."
"I made it as soon as the invasion started. But they say organising the Blue Knights will take about 5 minutes."
"5 minutes... Can we defend for that long?"
"..."
Everyone remained silent at those words, staring at the screen.
The Red Administrator approaching at high speed, burning everything.
Even for ancient elves, without blue swords in this situation,
They would just turn to ashes.
"But why did the Red Administrator invade this place without a World Tree?"
"I don't know. Could he be after the Shadow Queen?"
"Seeing how he's just blowing up the void storage, that's the only thing to aim for here..."
Swish.
As they said this, an ancient elf looked at the large test tube in the centre of the laboratory.
In that tube filled with pitch-black liquid, the Shadow Queen was floating with her eyes closed.
"Come to think of it, I heard the body the Red Administrator is using belongs to the Blue Administrator..."
"Is he trying to save the Blue's lover?"
"I don't know. The Red took over Blue's body, why would he need to save her?"
"He might be trying to burn her completely instead."
In fact, there was no reason for the Red Administrator to save the Blue's lover.
The ancient elves couldn't clearly identify why he was suddenly acting like this.
Instead,
"Hmm... Speaking of which, I heard they're modifying the Blue Knights' faces."
"Modifying their faces?"
"To see if the Blue Administrator is completely subdued. Or if there's a gap... They're changing all the Blue Knights' faces to look like the niece's."
"Will that... work?"
"Who knows? They're just trying something, I guess."
"Hmm... Then should we try something too?"
One ancient elf researcher pointed at the Shadow Queen as he said this.
"Wouldn't he be more shaken by his lover's face than his niece's?"
"You mean we should pretend to be the Shadow Queen?"
"It's to buy time until the Blue Knights are dispatched. We'll die if we stay like this anyway, aren't we?"
"Huh. To think we elders have to transform into mere Shadow Elves..."
"Still, it's better than dying."
Swish...
As he said this, the researcher who first spoke transformed to look like the Shadow Queen.
"Right. If we can tie up Red's feet even a little, we should try anything."
"Everyone, transform into the Shadow Queen's form."
The other ancient elves also started imitating the Shadow Queen's appearance individually.
In this way, about 10 people transformed to look exactly like the Shadow Queen.
"If we're doing this, we should do it properly. Take off the void processing suits too."
"Yes."
They even took off their masks and reverse-summoned them.
Then, in the centre of the laboratory, ten Shadow Elves stood in a row, all looking like the Shadow Queen.
"Huh. Shadow Elves. What a sight to see in my long life..."
"But will the Red Administrator really be shaken just by copying the appearance?"
"Well... Even if he stops for a moment, couldn't we consider that a gap for Blue to move?"
"I'll transmit the current situation to the BattleTube for now."
If the Red Administrator hesitated even for a moment,
It could be evidence that Seong Jihan's body wasn't 100% controlled.
They waited like this, even turning on the BattleTube.
And then,
Screech...!
Soon, the central laboratory melted down, and
The Red Administrator revealed himself.
'...What? Why are they all pretending to be the Shadow Queen?'
Seong Jihan was bewildered at first, but,
'Ah, like copying Seah's face, are they imitating the Shadow Queen too?'
He quickly grasped their intention.
'Seeing how they're deliberately in the Shadow Queen's form, they must be certain she's my lover.'
What on earth did she present as evidence for them to be so sure?
Thinking this to himself, Seong Jihan,
Snap.
Snapped his fingers once.
Then,
Whoosh...!
The Shadow Elves all burst into flames at once.
"Kuk...!"
"Did, did he... hesitate?"
"But, he's burning us too quickly for that..."
"However, given the speed the Red Administrator has shown so far, he definitely paused for a moment...!"
"...Right. Quickly report this!"
Even as they were burning,
Seeing the Red Administrator delay his attack for a moment, they were urgently reporting this to headquarters.
Was catching this information more important than their bodies burning?
'Well, there's no one here who fears death.'
They were really persistent.
After incinerating all 10 ancient elves at once like this, Seong Jihan approached the test tube containing the Shadow Queen.
'Huh, she seems to be treated better than when I first rescued her.'
It seemed harsher when he had gotten her out of the Alliance before.
Now, the Shadow Queen was just quietly stored in a test tube.
Could this be because the World Tree Alliance certified her as 'Seong Jihan's lover'?
'I'll have to ask her directly what she presented as evidence.'
Thinking this, Seong Jihan,
Bang...!
Shattered the test tube storing the Shadow Queen and took her out.