Chapter 579
[Translator - Asura]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Chapter 579
"The grade of Blue has risen to SSS...?"
Seong Jihan's eyes widened.
With only 1 million Blue left, he thought it would be hard to maintain Blue and Red.
For the grade to increase at this point... the timing couldn't be more perfect.
[Hmm... What's happening? The seal of Blue and Red is getting stronger again...]
And as if it was his own business.
No, the Red Administrator, who was more excited about losing Blue than Seong Jihan himself, regained his composure as the seal of Blue and Red rapidly stabilized.
"The grade of Blue has increased. It seems to have broken through Urd's authority."
[The grade... increased just now? Huh. You're quite lucky.]
"I guess so."
Even when he absorbed humanity's Blue, he couldn't break through to SSS grade.
But now that he finally achieved SSS grade,
He could understand why it hadn't increased like this until now.
"This is... at least 5 times stronger than before."
Even though he wasn't yet accustomed to the SSS grade,
It was similar to 500 Blue from before, with 100 stat points.
Seong Jihan thought that once he got used to the current Blue, he could draw out even more powerful efficiency from it.
This must be why the seal of Blue and Red was safely maintained even with only 100 stat points.
"Moreover, the limit has disappeared."
The stat Blue that had stopped growing at 999.
He had temporarily extended this limit by obtaining the Blue Vessel.
Nevertheless, there was still a limit to ability growth.
However, the Blue that had risen to SSS grade was now in a state where the previous limits had completely disappeared.
Of course.
"It won't be easy to reach 999 from the current 100..."
Still, growth wouldn't be blocked like before.
Seong Jihan reversed the Golden Wheel with a lighter heart.
Creak.
Creak creak...
As the Golden Wheel began to turn like a cartwheel,
[... You're turning it to the end. That thing.]
Urd in the screen gritted her teeth, and activated the light clock on her own body.
Tick. Tock.
The clock turning along with the movement of the cartwheel.
[I won't forget this incident. Blue Administrator.]
With those final words, the screen turned off.
At first, when Urd installed the clock on her body, Seong Jihan thought she was interfering again.
"The Golden Wheel is turning without any problems..."
Fortunately, the Golden Wheel that had turned blue was moving smoothly.
Creak...
And as he reversed time,
Rumble!
The debris of collapsed buildings floated up,
And structures were reassembled in reverse.
Whoosh...
The flames that had broken out everywhere gathered at their origin points and disappeared.
"Huh..."
"W-what's going on?"
"I... I'm sure I died from the elves' bombardment."
"Was it... a dream? The streets are the same."
"Ugh... It felt too real to be a dream."
As people who had died came back to life one by one, confusion spread among the survivors in the streets.
Everyone had memories of when they died, and they were in pain, but...
"Sejin! Se... jin... Ah, you're alive!"
"M-mom..."
"Wow... How did I survive?"
"I always said I wanted to die, but after dying, being alive really is the best..."
Still, they were relieved to be alive in the present.
"Now then."
Whoosh!
Seong Jihan came out to the rooftop of the restored Sword Palace and looked out at the streets.
Everything had been restored to two hours ago, but,
The invading elves didn't show themselves at all while time was rewinding.
Seong Jihan thought about the reason for this and recalled Urd's final action.
"Was the reason Urd used the light clock on her own body... because she didn't want to reverse summon the trapped elves here?"
He had wondered why she used the light clock on her own body.
It seemed she didn't want to return the elves that had entered her body back here.
"Urd's power seemed impossible to deal with at first..."
When he fought Urd,
She incorporated the elves into her body far too easily.
Moreover, the light clock distorted the trajectory of all attacks.
He thought she was the most unbeatable opponent among all the enemies he had faced so far...
"It seems her power isn't unlimited after all. Seeing how she deliberately protected the elves in her body without releasing them."
If Urd could freely absorb the World Tree elves, she wouldn't have needed to use the light clock on her own body.
That transcendent power that absorbed the elves scattered throughout the universe in one go
Might have been a one-time use ability.
Thinking this, Seong Jihan entered the restored Sword Palace.
There,
"Ah...! Boss!"
Lee Hayeon, who had been hugging and crying over the revived Lim Gayeong, saw Seong Jihan and bowed at a 90-degree angle.
"Thank you so, so much for saving Gayeong."
"Boss... I'm sorry. My memories have just returned. Thank you sincerely for saving my life."
And Lim Gayeong, standing behind Lee Hayeon,
Approached Seong Jihan and bowed her head in the same way.
"It's nothing. It was just what I had to do. More importantly, have your memories returned?"
"Ah... yes. The memories that were erased by the record erasure type when the elves invaded have all come back."
"Before the invasion, a message appeared saying we were 'liberated' from the 'colony' state. Could it be related to that?"
Seong Jihan nodded at Lee Hayeon's words.
He didn't know the exact mechanism of the record erasure type, but...
When they abandoned the 'colony' state and carried out the mass slaughter of humanity, it seemed that was automatically discarded as well.
"Are the memories of when you died still vivid?"
"Yes... But the elves were so strong that it wasn't too painful. We died in an instant..."
Did they kill them before they could feel pain?
The overwhelming difference in ability functioned positively in this aspect.
[Translator - Asura]
[Proofreader - Gun]
"Boss... News has come that all the devastated cities worldwide have been restored. Currently, people are confused and wondering what happened."
That was understandable.
The world was devastated in an hour and a half by the elven army,
And suddenly time rewound by two hours, restoring the world to normal.
Everyone must have felt like they were in a dream.
"So about that..."
Zing.
Lee Hayeon opened her BattleTube and played a video.
In that video,
The scene of Seong Jihan summoning the Golden Wheel was recorded.
After failing several times,
Seong Jihan finally reversing the Golden Wheel that had turned blue with all his might.
With each turn of the cartwheel,
The scene of the collapsed world rapidly restoring was all captured in the video.
"...When did you film this?"
"Everyone needs to know that you saved humanity, Boss. It seems you used quite a bit of power... Such merit shouldn't be hidden but should be widely known!"
Merit, huh.
Seong Jihan gave a bitter smile.
This problem arose because he received false information from Yoon Seah that elves weren’t there to invade in the first place.
Could this really be considered an achievement?
It was just cleaning up a mess he created at home.
While Seong Jihan was showing a lukewarm response to Lee Hayeon's suggestion,
"Jihan... You really succeeded."
"Thank you. I'm alive thanks to you."
Seong Jiah carrying Yoon Seah and Yoon Sejin walked into the living room.
Yoon Sejin, whose male half-elf appearance had become very faint after having Kim Jihun absorbed most of his Blue stat.
However, his protruding ears and face subtly resembling Seong Jihan still remained.
"How's your body? And the memories of when you died..."
"My body's fine thanks to you. And the trauma... I don't think it'll be too bad. Since all my power from the Sword King era disappeared, I died instantly to the elves."
It was fortunate when there was a big difference in ability at times like this, huh.
Seong Jihan nodded at Yoon Sejin's words and then,
"..."
He looked at Yoon Seah, who was still unconscious.
'I thought maybe the Great Vessel of the Void would be restored by the time reversal... but I guess not.'
Well.
If the Great Vessel of the Void was going to be restored, the Blue Vessel would have been restored too.
'Still, some Void did return.'
What wasn't restored was the Great Vessel of the Void and the Arena Owner’s hat that the Black Administrator had retrieved.
Seong Jihan considered absorbing all the Void inside Yoon Seah, but then,
'...No. This is a matter to discuss after she wakes up.'
He decided to talk about it later.
The transformation into the 'Cosmos' species that changed Yoon Seah had disappeared, so
That amount of Void stat shouldn't cause any major problems for a while if left alone.
After examining Yoon Seah like this, Seong Jihan turned his gaze back to Yoon Sejin.
"Come to think of it, Yoon Sejin didn't become human. I'm sure all your Blue was absorbed."
Male half-elves became human when their Blue stat disappeared.
In the Hall of Swords, when Kim Jihun gathered Blue,
At the last moment, numerous Blue Swords had all their Blue absorbed, and many male half-elves became human.
However, Yoon Sejin, despite being the first to have his Blue absorbed by Kim Jihun,
Was still maintaining his male half-elf appearance, albeit clumsily.
"That's right. I want to go back to how I was before... Since my appearance is awkwardly similar to you, Jihan, even Jiah is disgusted. I don't know why I wanted to become a male half-elf so badly during the colony era..."
Yoon Sejin sighed deeply while looking in the mirror.
Standing side by side with Seong Jihan himself like this, their subtle resemblance was causing a strange discomfort in those who saw them.
'We've escaped from the elves' colony, but half-elves are going to be quite a problem from now on.'
As Seong Jihan was thinking this while looking at Yoon Sejin,
'Hm?'
His eyes caught a faint blue light flickering inside Yoon Sejin's body.
'That... Could it be Blue?'
As Seong Jihan recognized the Blue and reached out his hand,
Swish swish swish...
A blue haze rose from Yoon Sejin's body,
And entered Seong Jihan.
Then,
"Huh...?"
Yoon Sejin's male half-elf appearance disappeared in an instant.
His appearance had resembled Seong Jihan changed rapidly,
And soon he regained his original form.
"W-what's this..."
Yoon Sejin, who had been blinking in surprise at the sudden change, quickly opened his status window.
"Ah. My level is still lowered."
"Level 2?"
"I raised it a bit during my male half-elf days, so I'm still at level 40."
His appearance returned to the Sword King era, but
His level didn't come back, huh.
Still.
"Phew... It's something that I've returned at all. I can raise my level again."
Yoon Sejin seemed satisfied just to have regained his former appearance.
He was wearing a relieved smile.
And Seong Jihan,
'The Blue I absorbed from Yoon Sejin... about 0.01, I'd say?'
While measuring the Blue absorbed from Yoon Sejin, his eyes flashed.
The stat Blue that had fallen to 100 stat points.
Although its efficiency had increased more than 5 times after becoming SSS grade,
The total amount of stats had definitely decreased compared to before.
He was starting to worry about how to restore this, when...
"Male half-elves... how many were left at the very end?"
"Ah. About... 1-2 thousand, I think. In the end, most of the male half-elves became human, making the number of 1 million meaningless."
"1-2 thousand, huh."
If they all contributed Blue like Yoon Sejin,
Could he raise Blue by about 100-200?
Seong Jihan looked towards Lee Hayeon.
"Hayeon, when distributing the video earlier, let's add one more."
"One more... Ah. Are you thinking of adding the humanization of male half-elves?"
When Seong Jihan nodded, Lee Hayeon looked disappointed.
"Ah. If I had known this would happen, I should have filmed that scene earlier too. I didn't think to film it because the Sword King became human so quickly."
"It's okay. We'll bring one and film it. Well."
"Bring... one?"
How would he know where male half-elves are?
Lee Hayeon tilted her head and expressed such doubt, but Seong Jihan closed his eyes for a moment and then,
"There's one nearby. I'll bring him right away, so please prepare the video."
Flash!
His figure disappeared and,
Whoosh!
He soon returned with one male half-elf.
"Huh? Huh!? What's this. You people...! N-no. Seong Jihan...!?"
The male half-elf who had been kidnapped while minding his own business looked around in confusion,
Then saw Seong Jihan and his eyes widened.
"Hey. You don't plan on living with that face, do you?"
Seong Jihan asked the male half-elf with a smiling face.
"Ah... no... right?"
The male half-elf answered with a dumbfounded expression.
When Seong Jihan, the 'original' of the male half-elves, asked like that,
He wasn't bold enough to say, 'No, I'll just live like this.'
"That's good."
Grin.
Seong Jihan raised the corners of his mouth.
"Then while returning to human, let's film one video."
He slowly reached out his hand towards the male half-elf.
[Translator - Asura]
[Proofreader - Gun]