***
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“Why do you think that?”
Gilgamesh, possessing Yoon Sejin’s body, stopped laughing and asked Seong Jihan with a serious expression.
“The fruits and leaves earlier were from the World Tree. Though their performance is much inferior.”
“Inferior performance… How lacking did you find them?”
“About ⅕ of the real deal?”
“…That’s all, huh.”
Gilgamesh frowned at Seong Jihan’s words.
“And your answer to my question?”
“Yes. Your guess is correct.”
He affirmed that the Tower of Babel was indeed related to the World Tree.
“Then the power of the Annihilation God’s Secret, Heavenly Tree Descending Spirit, is also ultimately connected to the World Tree.”
“Heh… You’ll find out when you reach the rooftop. However…”
Step! Step!
Gilgamesh turned his back and climbed the stairs.
“Unlike other races, the martial arts of the Martial God could not contain all of my power. Your martial arts are but half of my power.”
“Is that so? Thanks for the kind explanation.”
“If you make it to the top, you can learn more.”
Gilgamesh kept urging him to climb to the very top.
Seong Jihan chuckled.
“You must be hiding something on the rooftop.”
“Hoho, are you afraid? If you’re scared, you can log out. I don’t mind if you come up or not.”
“Ah, but I need to win the championship.”
“I knew you’d answer like that. Then see you at the top…”
Swoosh!
A golden light shot up from Yoon Sejin’s body.
His movements paused for a moment.
“…Did he come and go?”
“Yes, let’s go up. He’s waiting at the top.”
The King Of Humans who turned all of humanity’s rankers into his fanatics.
Whatever he had prepared on the rooftop, it was bound to be extraordinary.
‘I need to be fully prepared.’
Seong Jihan looked at the remaining time of the buff Sophia had cast on him.
About 15 minutes left on the buff’s duration.
Before it ends, he has to reach the rooftop.
“I’ll go on ahead.”
“O-oh, okay?”
“Yes, the rest of you can follow slowly.”
“Mr. S-Seong Jihan… Then the king’s gifts…”
At Seong Jihan’s words, one of the national team players asked with greedy eyes.
Even though Seong Jihan said he would go alone, rather than worrying about him, the players were only interested in the gifts.
Even though eating too much would turn them into chains and disappear, their greed showed no signs of abating.
“You can all have them as you please. I won’t eat and will go ahead.”
Seong Jihan glanced at the national team players, then climbed the Tower of Babel first.
The next floor.
[Pay respects to the king and consume the branch. Then you may ascend to the next floor.]
“No time for that.”
Swoosh!
Seong Jihan found a gap between the steel giants blocking his way and broke through.
Clank! Clank!
Chains shot out from the steel giant’s body to stop him, but…
[Let him pass.]
As the steel giant’s eyes flashed gold, the extending chains retracted.
With nothing blocking his way, Seong Jihan quickly climbed the tower.
After ascending several floors like that,
‘This floor looks a bit different from the others.’
Unlike the previous floors of the Tower of Babel that were filled with a golden glow.
A floor dyed completely in a bloody hue was revealed before Seong Jihan’s eyes.
There stood a single steel giant, Enkidu.
Unlike the other Enkidus, he wore blood-red armor and was tightly bound by golden chains extending from the walls, floor, and ceiling.
[Who are you?]
As Seong Jihan entered, he emitted a red light from the two eyes in his helmet.
‘Definitely a distinct and powerful being compared to the Enkidus so far. But that power feels familiar somehow…’
While thinking that, Seong Jihan looked for stairs to reach the rooftop before the buff ended, but…
“There are no stairs here.”
Do I have to defeat the being in front of me to go up?
Seong Jihan frowned.
If I tangle with that formidable being here, the buff might end. Should I just pierce through the ceiling and go?
As Seong Jihan thought that and looked at the ceiling.
[Seong Jihan… I don’t know how you got here, but…]
Swoosh!
Blood gathered behind the steel giant who recognized Seong Jihan, and a huge iron blood cross was formed.
It was the cross-shaped blood cross he had seen before in the Russia match.
[If you want to fight, I’ll take you on.]
“You… are Longinus?”
[That’s right.]
The blood-red giant affirmed Seong Jihan’s question.
Meanwhile,
=Ah, Seong Jihan definitely asked Yoon Sejin if he was Gilgamesh, right?
=Yes. I never imagined the identity of the ‘King Of Humans’ would be the ancient king Gilgamesh.
=If he’s a constellation, there might be more constellations among ancient figures!
The conversation between Seong Jihan and Yoon Sejin was broadcasted on the screen for all to see.
In the 5th match, where both the US and Korean national teams had already become a cult worshiping the King of Humans.
The only thing worth broadcasting now was Seong Jihan’s side, the only sane one.
The camera had been focused solely on Seong Jihan for a while now.
And through this, people around the world learned the identity of the King Of Humans.
-‘The King Of Humans’ is Gilgamesh…
-But even if Gilgamesh is an ancient king, calling him king of humans is a bit much, no?
-Everyone, Egypt had the first monarchy.
-But what’s this about the Tower of Babel thing related to the World Tree?
-Don’t know; Were the World Tree Alliance and humanity connected?
-Turns out the lowest-ranked race had a hidden secret…
Viewers made various speculations about the sudden revelation.
-But that giant is Longinus?
-The Longinus who pierced Jesus?
-But that iron blood cross, it’s the one Vladimir summoned in the Russia match. He said it was because his constellation descended…
-Then Longinus is also a constellation? Why are there so many human-born constellations?
-I know, right;
When the identity of the blood-red giant was revealed to be Longinus, they fell into confusion.
“Why are you inside that giant?”
[I’m recovering my strength with Gilgamesh’s help. I need to descend to Earth as soon as possible to kill you directly.]
Seong Jihan looked at the golden chains binding Longinus at those words.
A considerable amount of life force was flowing into the red giant through them.
“Is that so? If I disrupt your recovery here, I’ll buy more time.”
[Disrupt…]
Whoosh!
In those words, the blood cross that was flying on its own behind the giant.
It came down heavily between Seong Jihan and Longinus.
[If you want to try, go ahead.]
Boom!
Blood splattered everywhere, and the blood cross instantly split into hundreds of swords.
Each one carried quite an intense force.
However,
Fundamental Divine Arts, Heavenly Dragon Thunder Fire – Dragon Thunder
Crackle…!
As the Dragon Thunder imbued with the power of fire swept the swords, the blood crosses began to evaporate instantly.
But as the blood crosses evaporated, they multiplied again eventually blocking the Dragon Thunder.
The first attack didn’t go through like that.
‘If I attack a few more times, I can definitely deal damage.’
With that first clash, Seong Jihan grasped the opponent’s strength.
As he fired the Dragon Thunder a few more times.
Boom!
The blood crosses were finally pierced through, and the Dragon Thunder reached the blood-red giant’s body.
[You bastard… You’ve grown even more.]
Crackle…!
The blood-red giant was engulfed in flames.
But as the golden chains binding his body wriggled.
The giant’s body was quickly restored.
Even if the Dragon Thunder dealt some damage, Longinus immediately recovered with the power of the chains.
[But no matter how strong you become, you can’t disrupt my recovery to that extent.]
He looked at his restored body and spoke to Seong Jihan with confidence.
“What confidence do you have while getting beaten one-sidedly?”
[Hah, it’s only because I can’t move my body due to the chains. If these chains were released, I could kill the likes of you in an instant.]
“Is that so?”
[That’s right. However, I’m only bound to recover my strength… Killing you in this space has no meaning anyway.]
Rather than killing Seong Jihan in virtual space.
Longinus would recover his strength, descend to Earth, and then surely exterminate Seong Jihan.
Seong Jihan thought.
‘If I use the Destruction code, Destroy, I can definitely deal a blow to him.’
The most powerful technique Seong Jihan could use right now was the Destruction code.
If he used it on Longinus, he could certainly inflict devastating damage on him.
However,
‘If I do that, I’ll have no energy left to use at the top floor.’
Even for the grown Seong Jihan, writing a single character of the Destruction code was taxing.
Although he had Sophia’s buff now, writing one character wouldn’t leave him in a groggy state like before.
Still, he wouldn’t have enough stamina left to write it here and then again at the top floor.
He could only use the Destruction code once.
‘Using the Destruction code here to damage Longinus and then logging out is one way…’
The most pressing issue for Seong Jihan right now was Longinus, who would descend to Earth.
This constellation with the Spear of Judgment was a threatening existence no matter how powerful Seong Jihan became.
So originally, he had planned to lead the 5th match to victory and become a constellation candidate to prepare for him.
But blocking Longinus’ recovery with the Destruction code here and logging out was also a method.
By doing this, even if he couldn’t immediately become a constellation candidate.
He could delay Longinus’ descent to Earth and ascend to candidacy during that time.
‘Even if it doesn’t work this time, I’ll soon become a candidate anyway.’
Becoming a constellation candidate, which didn’t have much time left.
It would be best to win this match and be selected as a candidate right away.
But this second option of damaging Longinus was also a path in its own way.
Moreover, with this method.
‘I don’t have to go to the top floor.’
The top floor of the Tower of Babel, where Gilgamesh might be hiding some scheme.
Rather than setting foot there, Damaging Longinus here and returning to Earth might be the safer option.
As Seong Jihan was contemplating what to do for a moment.
[What are you doing? Not attacking… anymore?]
Longinus, who was bound by the golden chains, threw a question at Seong Jihan.
“Why? Do you want to get hit?”
[I can take that petty attack as much as I want.]
“Oh, is that so?”
Longinus provoked him, saying he would gladly take the hits.
Seeing the opponent coming at him like that, Seong Jihan passed on the second method for now.
Come to think of it, the idea that damaging the chained Longinus would slow his recovery was just a judgment based on his words.
Whether it would actually harm the constellation’s main body was, in fact, unknown.
“I won’t hit you if you call it petty.”
[…Ha. Is that so?]
“Hey, where’s the way up?”
[I don’t know either.]
While saying that, the eyes of the blood-red armor flashed red, looking behind Seong Jihan.
[He would know.]
Step! Step!
As soon as he finished speaking, Yoon Sejin climbed the stairs.
His eyes were now filled with a golden light, not even trying to hide it.
“Seong Jihan. You’re cautious. But that Longinus is a gift for you, whom I favor… Damage him here and delay his recovery.”
“Why? If you favor me, you don’t have to help him recover.”
“Hoho, I can’t harm a fellow race… It’s a stage set up for you to handle him directly. If you strike him here, his descent will be delayed quite a bit.”
Gilgamesh blatantly told him to quickly deal with Longinus.
He added.
“When he has taken appropriate damage. I will create stairs leading to the top floor.”
“That damn top floor… When will it appear?”
“We’re almost there. It’s right above.”
Yoon Sejin’s finger pointed straight up.
Just one more floor to the top.
“Can’t go if I don’t handle him?”
“That’s right. You should accept the gift, shouldn’t you?”
“I see…”
To Gilgamesh, who said he would only open the way if Longinus was definitely damaged.
Seong Jihan smiled.
“Then I’ll go up on my own.”
Whoosh!
Seong Jihan dashed towards the ceiling.
“Pointless act. The paths inside here won’t open without my permission.”
Gilgamesh saw that and scoffed, but.
As tremendous energy gushed out from Seong Jihan’s body, characters were drawn on the blood-red ceiling.
“You, what the hell are you doing…”
For the first time, his expression stiffened.
***
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