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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Asura]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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Side Story 27
Christopher's broadcast broke the record for the highest number of viewers on BattleTube.
-Wow, so the Exploration actually works...
-This is completely honey information, Christopher has revealed everything.
-You should speak properly, the Martial God is the one who showed it. lol
Through this live video, people learned that the gift ‘Exploration’ really worked.
-But the Martial God is so strong...
-If that black hole stretched out to a large city, wouldn't it have the same power?
-The Sword King really survived because of his mercy.
-So... he bulldozed all the way to Pyongyang.
They also felt deep in their bones just how strong the Martial God was.
-The Abyss... but is it possible to clear this?
-The scale is too...
-There are no monsters though.
-Instead, if you touch that purple gas, aren't you going to die?
-No, even getting to the bottom is a problem;
-We need to be careful that the Abyss itself doesn't appear...
And by actually seeing the Abyss, they felt its scale and the sense of urgency was renewed, but.
The most shocking scene for Koreans was something else.
-No way, is that Seong Jiah-nim...?
-Uh... she spoke in Korean, right?
-The capture of the statue's face from earlier. It's just a nose and eye but... it's kind of similar to Seong Jiah-nim's picture?
-No way... how could someone who used a sacrifice order during the Dungeon Break be like that...
-But from listening to the conversation, it seems like it's her, right?
-Ah, Christopher should have turned around then.
Seong Jiah, who sacrificed her life to stop it during the Dungeon Break.
There were many people who thought that bad luck had befallen Korea since she had disappeared.
And that was because, the fact that the supporter ‘Saintess’ was gone was a huge loss for the national team.
And since her husband, the Sword King, went to Japan, Korea's BattleNet rankings plummeted.
Therefore, there was considerable public opinion among Koreans that criticized the government's northern policy itself as wrong from the start.
But for the Saintess to become a rock like that and tell her daughter to escape to an outer world...
-Why did we even go to the North Korean expedition...
-Yeah, everything went completely wrong since then.
-Is there no reaction from the Japanese Sword King side?
-Nothing much, he's quiet.
-He definitely saw it though. lol
Thus, the Abyss expedition that had caused so much talk, ended.
Seong Jihan returned to the BattleNet Center.
"Can I stay here for a bit?"
"Of course!"
He began residing in the VIP room, receiving a warm welcome from the BattleNet Management Bureau.
The Martial God Seong Jihan was such a powerful being that he was a burden even for the government, but.
'Still, he doesn't act out of line more than expected...'
'He gets rid of the monsters in North Korea for us. He destroys dungeon portals... we must hold onto him no matter what.'
'If the Martial God leaves for America or Japan... that would be terrible.'
Even though a method to remove dungeon portals had been discovered.
There was no one who could remove them as easily as him.
And since he had ultimately spared the Sword King, it seemed like he was the type to keep a reasonable boundary.
They had to keep him in this country no matter what.
But.
'But, what is he really after...?'
'It would be better if he would just say what he wanted. He doesn't really demand anything, so...'
'Keeping up with the whims of a god is not easy at all.'
Even when they tried to treat him well, no one knew what he wanted.
In the first place, the only thing the Martial God had requested was to stay at the center.
It was difficult to accurately understand his intentions, and it was also difficult to directly ask him what he wanted.
That was when the government officials paid attention to, those around him.
"...So, I'm getting inquiries too."
Lee Hayeon, who entered the VIP room, started with a tired face.
"What kind of inquiries?"
"Everything related to the Martial God."
"You don't really know anything, do you?"
"Exactly... I've answered that so many times, it feels like I'm the easiest target."
Lee Hayeon, shook her head, showing just how much she had been nagged by the government officials.
"So, um... Martial God, do you happen to have any requests for the Korean government? Please tell me, thinking of it as you're saving me."
She asked Seong Jihan directly.
"Request... the government really targeted you well, huh?"
"They can't do anything to Yoon Seah-nim, so it's just me, I guess."
Seong Jihan paused to think about that.
What he wanted from the government...
'There's nothing really.'
There was nothing he could take from this mission world anyway.
Right now, he only needed to focus on clearing sub-quests and defeating the Martial God Dongbang Sak.
'Then, the most urgent issue is Seah's growth, huh?'
Yoon Seah reaching Diamond League.
Considering that promotion matches were only held once a month, this was too tight of a schedule.
But if Seong Jihan, like he did in the past, kept taking first place and continued his winning streak,
It was possible that she could have a promotion match to a league one step higher.
"Okay. Tell them to prepare gear for Yoon Seah."
"Yoon Seah-nim's gear?"
"Yeah. The best of the best. If the gear is to my liking, I'll remove a dungeon portal for you."
"Ah... yes. I understand."
Lee Hayeon nodded at the mention that he would remove a dungeon portal.
She slightly watched Seong Jihan's reaction.
"Um... but Martial God, I'm sorry to ask at this time but, can I also get a reward?"
"Reward?"
"Yes. You promised to remove 10 dungeons if I became a guild master last time..."
"Ah."
Now that he thought about it, he had made that promise.
Seong Jihan nodded as if he had remembered it.
"Okay. Is there somewhere you want? I'll remove it right away."
"Ah. Really? Then I'll request a helicopter from the government..."
Lee Hayeon's face lit up and she was about to leave right away, but.
"No. Isn't it just a normal dungeon portal? What you want."
"That's right...?"
"Then there's no need to even go."
No need to go?
How was he going to remove the dungeon portal without going there?
Lee Hayeon just blinked at Seong Jihan's assertion, but
"Just tell me the location of the dungeons. I'll remove them from here."
Seong Jihan asked for the coordinates of the dungeons with an indifferent expression.
* * *
BattleNet Center's war room.
Seong Jihan sat in the seat of honor in the war room with Lee Hayeon.
"Is it okay for me to use the war room?"
"Of course!"
"Then, tell me the location of the portals."
"It's over there..."
As Lee Hayeon told the location to a center employee.
Zzzzzz...
The dungeon portals started to appear one by one on the war room monitor.
"The location of the portals show up right away. Were they always monitoring them?"
"Ah... the government mainly monitors the portals near the city. Fortunately, the locations of the portals that Lee Hayeon-nim gave were all near the city, so we were able to pinpoint them."
It seemed too difficult to monitor all dungeon portals in real time.
So they had chosen to focus and prioritize.
Seong Jihan nodded and then stretched his palm upwards.
Then.
Zzzzz...
A sword made of blue light was created.
"What's the closest one?"
"Ah, the dungeon portal near Wonju, Gangwon Province..."
"Let's start from here."
After checking the location once again, Seong Jihan moved his hand.
Shuk!
It seemed like the sword disappeared as it soared up into the sky.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Asura]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Join our Discord for release updates!w
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"Uh..."
"Over, over there...!"
Inside the screen that was monitoring the Wonju dungeon portal in real time, the blue sword appeared.
And then.
As the sword lightly passed by the dungeon portal.
Shuuuuu...!
The surface of the portal distorted and swirled.
Soon, the monsters nearby started to get sucked in.
"No way…”
"It's disappearing like this...?"
As the employees in the war room watched this with surprised eyes.
Pssssss...!
Even the dungeon portal itself was sucked in.
And everything was cleanly removed.
"Okay. What's the next closest one?"
"It's near Jecheon..."
Every time the center employee gave a location, the blue sword moved.
And it didn't even take 10 minutes to remove 10 dungeon portals.
"With that, I've taken care of my monthly payment for this month."
"Uh... well, I guess so?"
Lee Hayeon only nodded, looking dumbfounded.
He chuckled at her expression.
"Then please negotiate for the gear."
"Gear... ah. Yoon Seah-nim. Yes, yes. I'll do everything!"
She had certainly become quicker after getting paid for the month in advance.
Seong Jihan then asked Lee Hayeon to take care of the rest and went to where the BattleNet connector was.
'My sister acted like she would take Seah soon, but she hasn't reached out yet.'
Still, in the sub-quest, Seong Jiah had said ‘Sometimes enticing her with words, and sometimes forcing her with power.’
It felt like there should be some kind of action soon.
Seong Jihan waited for Yoon Seah to come out of the BattleNet connector with his arms crossed.
'Once Seah comes out, I'll go absorb the Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams in earnest.'
Up until now, he couldn't open a portal and move like he did in reality due to the lack of stat Blue,
But now his ability had grown to some extent and the range he could teleport had also widened.
What he had done when he remotely destroyed the dungeon portals that Lee Hayeon had requested was.
A test of how far he could teleport from this place.
'Since the Abyss is close, I can just go there like a neighbor.'
It was good that Seoul and Pyongyang were close in this case.
As Seong Jihan was thinking that,
Pshuuuuuu....
The BattleNet connector slowly started to open.
"....Ugh."
Yoon Seah, who had come out through the opened door, looked more tired than usual when she played games.
"Yoon Seah."
"Ah. Martial God...? No, were you waiting for me?"
"Yeah. The Witch of the Void is targeting you."
"Ah. The Witch-nim..."
Yoon Seah, who had been surprised to see Seong Jihan, nodded as if she understood as he mentioned the Witch of the Void.
"I was being harassed so much in the BattleNet."
"Inside BattleNet?"
"Yes. The Witch of the Void kept telling me to accept the void... Even when I wanted to talk a bit, she just kept forcing me to absorb the void."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. I did refuse though..."
She was reaching out inside the BattleNet.
Since it didn't seem to work here because of Seong Jihan, was that what she was doing?
'She's using her head.'
Seong Jihan thought that and looked at Yoon Seah in detail.
Then, the void began to be slightly detected.
It seemed like she had left a part of the void even though Yoon Seah had refused.
"There's void hidden inside your body."
"Inside my body...? No. I clearly refused, saying I was okay..."
"It seems like she can put it in even without your consent. I'll remove it. Is that okay?"
"Yes, yes...!"
As Yoon Seah nodded.
Swoosh...
Purple smoke flowed out of her body and scattered into the air.
When he pulled it out, there was much more void than the amount he had detected at first.
'If she could do this much without consent... if Seah were to consent, she would be quickly taken by the void.'
Right now, Seong Jiah was just one-sidedly forcing Yoon Seah, which is why she wasn't being persuaded.
But if she regained her senses and started persuading Yoon Seah using the fact that she was her mother,
Void Assimilation would progress faster than Seong Jihan had expected.
She was also naturally using honorifics with the Witch of the Void.
'It's already a tight schedule to get her to Diamond, and there's a new variable in the BattleNet game.'
The BattleNet game here was a mysterious world that Seong Jihan could not touch.
He frowned as he realized that the Witch of the Void's approach was effective.
'Then, should I make her fight monsters in dungeon portals?'
Sub-quest 1, get Yoon Seah to Diamond League.
It was the first quest given since the sub-quest window had appeared,
But it was actually the most difficult one to clear.
Seong Jihan decided to think about other measures for Yoon Seah's level up.
"Right now, is your condition okay?"
"Ah. Yes...! I've easily suppressed everything with martial arts, so I'm overflowing with stamina!"
"Then let's go to the sealed area together."
He decided to go to the Abyss again with Yoon Seah.
Swoosh.
As he spread his hand.
Paaah...!
A blue portal was created.
"Uh. This is..."
"A portal to move to the Abyss. Let's go."
"Wow... Martial God. You use magic too."
Yoon Seah was amazed and put her body into the portal with Seong Jihan.
Then.
Paaah...!
In the blink of an eye, their bodies arrived at the bottom of the Abyss.
Since the Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams was located on the surface of the Witch of the Void's statue here,
They had to go straight to the south to attack it.
However.
'The north here was where Dongbang Sak is... should I take a look?'
He hadn't gone there before because Christopher was with him.
But now he could at least do some exploration.
"Are we going that way...?"
"I'm just going to scout for a bit."
Seong Jihan slowly walked north with Yoon Seah.
Then, before long, they discovered that the Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams was drawn all over the Abyss walls in a chaotic manner.
'The Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams is located on the Abyss walls in the north.'
But there were so many of them.
Were these all the souls of the Taiji who had died by Dongbang Sak?
As Seong Jihan was examining the Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams.
"Uh...?"
Yoon Seah pointed to the largest scale formation among the various Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams.
"Um. Martial God. There are... letters floating above that formation."
"Really? What does it say?"
"Uh... it says that you need to be accompanied by either 'Lee Hayeon' or 'Lim Gayeong' to enter?"
He needed to enter with either Lee Hayeon or Lim Gayeong?
Seong Jihan blinked at that.
For some reason, the Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams that he had been sucked into with Sophia came to mind.
' ...No way, did I get married inside that formation too?'
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Asura]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Join our Discord for release updates!w
https://discord.com/invite/dbdMDhzWa2
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