Chapter 433

Seong Jihan looked at the message on his phone and thought.

'Gilgamesh must have been used as a shield by Pythia and became gravely injured.'

In that state, if Pythia had wanted to eliminate him, she could have done so at any time.

But the fact that she didn't, and he's still alive like this...

'Does that mean they still have some use for Gilgamesh?'

Even if he can't reproduce, they must still have some use for him.

Seong Jihan coldly stared at Gilgamesh's message saying he would spread his seed, then responded to him for now.

[You didn't die?]

[Oh, you responded! Looks like the message went through well...!]

Gilgamesh immediately replied to Seong Jihan's response.

[Answer my question first.]

[Ah, right. You asked if I didn't die? I almost died by your damn flames, but these guys saved me...]

[Why would they bother? When you can't even reproduce?]

[What do you mean I can't reproduce…! I can't believe that! Pythia's words must be lies. There's no way I, the king of humans, won't be able to have offspring? If I test it again in a lab, I'll be able to see my children!]

Gilgamesh had a fit when the topic of reproducing came up.

It seemed he still couldn't believe it even after hearing the truth from Pythia.

'Well, he must have really looked forward to having descendants... He'd want to deny reality.'

If it's confirmed that he's sterile, he might lose the will to live.

There was no need to shove more facts in this guy's face.

Seong Jihan thought so and changed the subject.

[Whatever. You can figure out the descendant issue yourself... How are you able to contact me?]

[That's...]

[Pythia wouldn't just leave you alone, so how is she letting you send messages like this? Isn't this a trap?]

[...No, the reason I gained some freedom to send messages like this is thanks to Ashoka. After he hit me, the restrictions loosened a bit. I'm not sure why though...]

[Ashoka did?]

[And as humanity gained evolution bonuses, I found a bit more freedom. The evolution of humanity is directly tied to my growth, you see.]

[I see...]

Gosh, what a strange coincidence.

As Seong Jihan suspiciously watched the messages,

[Of course, I also think it's suspicious that I'm able to send messages in this situation... I can hardly believe it myself, so you must find it even more so.]

Gilgamesh readily admitted that Seong Jihan had reason to be suspicious.

[Good thing you know.]

[So listen assuming this might be a trap too.]

[What is it?]

[Remember my Golden Tower?]

[Tower of Babel?]

[Yes. Its original name is Etemenanki though.]

[Tower of Babel is easier, so let's go with that.]

Seong Jihan recalled the time he had entered Tower of Babel in-game before and sent a simple reply message.

[Anyway, I do remember that tower. Why?]

[Tower of Babel is actually a collection of my authority. I tried to realize the domination codes that even I can't perfectly handle yet through this tower.]

[...How did you try to realize it?]

[Once Tower of Babel is completed on Earth, humanity will naturally follow the king they should follow.]

Seong Jihan frowned upon seeing that message.

Trying to spread domination codes through the Tower of Babel.

He was trying to commit quite an evil act.

[Originally, I tried to move the one in Tuseong to Earth. Then, starting with the humans in the Babylonian region, they would follow my orders, and with these loyal subjects, I planned to expand my dominion.]

[Good thing you were ruined.]

[Kuk... Humanity should naturally follow me, Gilgamesh, the progenitor of the species and the first king. Why do you rebel so much?]

[If you're going to keep spouting nonsense, I'm ending this conversation.]

[...Ha, it can't be helped. A parent must endure a child's rebellion.]

[I'm leaving.]

[Ah, alright. For now, I'll make you realize your true position later.]

His true position?

Is Gilgamesh planning to keep involving him later, saying he's his child?

He didn't say such things when they first met.

'It's more annoying that he keeps trying to involve me after seeing my abilities.'

Why did this jerk become humanity's progenitor?

Seong Jihan sighed at this world again and sent a message.

[Stop the nonsense and get to the point quickly.]

[...Okay, got it. I'll talk about the main point. Tower of Babel will be summoned to Earth.]

[What?]

[Martial God and Pythia fused me with the tower. They're going to summon it to Earth. Seems like the preparations are already complete.]

Seong Jihan blinked at Gilgamesh's message.

What are these guys trying to pull again?

[Why are they summoning it? To control humanity as the Tower of Babel was originally intended for?]

[...Who knows. I don't know how they'll use it either. The current me is at my limit just sending messages like this.]

At those words, Seong Jihan recalled when he met Ashoka at the previous tournament.

-In the end, the source of Martial God's power is the Constellation relics and the Golden Tower.

-Dongbang Sak will take care of the Constellation relics, and I will topple the Golden Tower.

Tower of Babel, which Ashoka noted as the source of Martial God's power besides the Constellation relics.

It seemed clear that the tower didn't just possess the authority of domination.

If such a thing was summoned to Earth, it felt unsettling just thinking about it.

[...If the preparations are complete, will it be summoned right away?]

[No. They said I'm grounded for a month for touching a Constellation Candidate. It will be summoned once that's over.]

Grounded for a month.

Was that the penalty for touching a Constellation Candidate?

'A month... The punishment isn't that severe, surprisingly.'

Wasn't the reason Martial God didn't eliminate Seong Jihan right away because he was a Constellation Candidate?

If they knew the punishment would only be a month of grounding, it seems they would have sent Dongbang Sak or Pythia long ago to try to kill him.

Seong Jihan kept this fact in mind and asked Gilgamesh about the location Tower of Babel would be summoned to.

[Where will it be summoned?]

[The original place I tried to summon Tower of Babel was Uruk... But since the ownership was taken, I'm not sure if it will be there. If I find out the location, I'll message you right away.]

[You're being quite cooperative.]

[It's the only way for me to survive now.]

After living that long, his will to live is still tenacious.

Seong Jihan looked at Gilgamesh's message, then asked him something he was curious about.

[If you want to live that badly, why don't you spill everything? Like your contract with Martial God or his identity. If I win, wouldn't your survival chances be higher?]

[Yes. Now that the contract is broken anyway, there's no need to keep secrets. Right now-]

Just as it seemed he would spill everything, the message cut off at 'right now'.

[Pythia came. Later.]

Seong Jihan frowned.

It cuts off at the crucial moment.

No.

'In this case, I should consider the possibility of it being a trap.'

When he asked for information on Martial God, the chat conveniently ended saying Pythia came.

Gilgamesh may not have loosened his own restrictions, but was being used by them.

'If that's the goal, it might be to lure me to where Tower of Babel is summoned.'

If that was their intention, their plan had succeeded to some extent.

Even if it was a trap, he couldn't just ignore the suspicious Tower of Babel being summoned.

'... Still, even if it's a trap, there are ways to make use of it on our side.'

Seong Jihan thought so and recalled the solar core he had received from the Sun King.

If they were to summon the Tower of Babel in Tuseong to Earth, a connection pathway to Tuseong would definitely open.

If he threw the solar core into the pathway then, he could make the troublesome enemies fight each other.

'For now, I should keep receiving information... Even to use it against them.'

Seong Jihan thought that way and looked at the phone screen where the messages had stopped with sunken eyes.

* * *

[Humanity wins the Beginner's Arena without Seong Jihan!]

[Yoon Seah, who was named the MVP of the Beginner's Arena. Evaluated as the undisputed world rank 2 in name and reality.]

[Another fire attribute bonus? At this point, it's hard to see it as a coincidence in the evolution bonuses.]

After the Beginner's Arena ended, articles covering it began to pour out.

The spotlight was focused on the players who won the arena.

And among them, Yoon Seah, who performed the role of a warrior excellently, was highly rated as being world rank 2 now.

But what brought about even more buzz was the fire attribute bonus given this time as well.

– What, they keep giving only fire attribute??

– Just give us +5 vitality ㅡㅡ Honestly, ordinary people don't feel much difference.

– ㄴㄴ We get burned a bit less

– Wow….. Only the magicians focusing on fire attribute are blessed lol

– At this rate; Yoon Seah might have her rank 2 taken by magicians.

– Eh, how is Yoon Seah rank 2? She got the MVP this time as a special case.

– What are you saying; Excluding Seong Jihan, she's the undisputed rank 2; Didn't you see her 100% fulfilling the warrior role?

– I still think Yoon Sejin is better.

– For now, it's still Oliver from the US.

– ?? Did we watch the same match? Where were your eyes?

"Yes. Even if I can't beat uncle, I can aim for rank 2 now!"

Yoon Seah, who was smiling as she looked at the comment window where debates were unfolding over the world rank 2 spot,

"But why do only fire attribute bonuses keep coming out? Isn't it a bit strange?"

raised a question about the consecutive fire attribute bonuses.

[... Is humanity's deep connection with the Red Administrator manifesting here too?]

"Ah, I knew there was some connection... But to that deep of a degree?"

[Yeah. I think the reason you couldn't do the race change last time is probably due to that influence, Seah.]

"You mean when I got the acupuncture point?"

Yoon Seah recalled the moment she almost unknowingly underwent a race change with the acupuncture point and frowned.

"Was that not possible because of the deep ties with the Red Administrator?"

[Yeah.]

Seong Jiah answered like that and looked at Seong Jihan.

Back then, her brother had clearly said that humanity itself was the Red Administrator.

'... There's no need to tell Seah about this in detail.'

Seong Jiah stopped talking there.

She didn't want to tell her daughter, who was happy about essentially being humanity's rank 2, unpleasant things for no reason.

Meanwhile, Seong Jihan also read his sister's mood and changed the subject.

"This evolution bonus... They must have selectively given it in the arena, right? Then we can say the Void's side was involved."

[Yeah, that's probably the case.]

The race change kit Seong Jiah originally tried to use to transform Yoon Seah was also an item from the Void's laboratory.

It could be seen that the fact that humanity was related to the Red Administrator had already been updated on their side.

As Seong Jihan thought about this, a sudden thought occurred to him.

"Sis, there's one thing I'm curious about."

[What?]

"If you touch a Constellation Candidate, you get penalized. Who judges the severity of that offense, and who gives out the punishment?"

[That? Well...]

Perhaps Seong Jihan's question was unexpected, as Seong Jiah pondered and said.

[Hmm... The penalties are set, as far as I know. I heard they punish it quite severely. Blocking the path of a player who can develop into a constellation is seen as interfering with the proper growth cycle of the BattleNet.]

"No, they said it's a month of grounding."

[What? Just that? That can't be right. Then everyone would try to cut them down before they become a constellation. The frequency of constellations emerging in the BattleNet would decrease significantly.]

"Right? The punishment is too light?"

[A month is practically nothing. As far as I know, it's definitely not that light.]

"I also thought so."

Swoosh...

The shadows deepened on the floor.

The Shadow Queen popped out from within.

"A month of grounding is just a vacation. What kind of punishment is that? I heard rumors that a constellation who attacked a Constellation Candidate had their constellation level greatly reduced. It's a fatal penalty for constellations."

Now that two constellations said so, it sounded believable.

"Who would have to intervene to reduce such a powerful punishment to a month of grounding?"

"For that..."

[It would have to be Administrator-class, right? To reduce the punishment related to constellations...]

The two carefully speculated in response to Seong Jihan's question.

'Administrator-class, there aren't many candidates for that.'

Just White, Black, and Green.

Among them, the one always doing suspicious things was clearly Green.

'But this time, it doesn't seem to be them.'

Wasn't it Green who told Seong Jihan how to become a temporary Administrator because they wanted to somehow prevent the Red Administrator from becoming a permanent Administrator over them?

Martial God also had no reason to help them.

Rather than that,

'The Void side that keeps giving fire attribute bonuses to humanity is suspicious...'

Seong Jihan crossed his arms, carefully considered it, then suddenly thought.

'Hmm... But do I really need to rack my brain over this?'

I can just ask the person directly.

"I'm going to the training room for a bit."

[Training room?]

"Yeah, to ask the owner of the arena. Well."

As the 4th in the Void, he should know something.

"No... If you go to the training room, can you always meet the arena's owner?"

To the Shadow Queen's question, Seong Jihan lightly replied.

"If I say I'll destroy the place, he shows up."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, it's fastest to ask the person directly. I'll be back."

Swoosh!

And so, in the training room he entered,

"You've come."

"... Wow, you were here?"

The arena's owner was already there waiting before he even called.