The Martial God who Regressed Back to Level 2

Chapter 665:

"You said it was... a grave misunderstanding?"

"That's right."

Jiang Shang pointed his finger at the void realm.

"Don't you think it's strange that simply piercing through that void would turn reality into a virtual world?"

"That's true, but..."

"Since we're already out, why don't we go take a look at Earth?"

Seong Jihan nodded at those words.

"Let's go right away."

Ziiing...

People were all frozen in place as if time had stopped.

'Is this... because of the time reversal power that flashed in the Ark?'

Earlier, when he returned to the Ark through the server management device.

Time reversal did activate.

So that was why that light flashed, it was trying to stop the world.

'But the scale is on a different dimension... It stopped not just humanity, but everything.'

For the Ark to display this level of authority, it would need to use the power of the Transcendent Being.

As Seong Jihan was looking at the frozen world like that.

Jiang Shang stroked his beard while observing the frozen humanity.

"Hmm. So this is Earth in Server 4212... I don't like that there's no one who reveres martial arts."

"You can tell just by looking?"

"Of course. People don't have weapons, do they?"

"...In the Emperor's Martial Arts Empire, did everyone carry weapons?"

"That's right. It was a natural quality for a person to have."

Jiang Shang clicked his tongue while looking at the people of Server 4212 like that.

"Do these people still appear as code to you?"

He asked Seong Jihan.

This was to ask if what he saw was different from when he entered through the server connection device and when he came out directly from the Ark, piercing through the void realm.

"Yes. What I see is the same."

The surrounding world could still be analyzed, and everyone appeared as code.

"Hmm... Then let's go see your niece."

Seong Jihan nodded at those words and went to the house.

There.

Yoon Seah was frozen in place, holding chopsticks about to eat food at the dining table.

"Is this the child?"

"Yes. Seah doesn't appear as code."

"Hmm... Even though we came through the void realm, what you see is the same."

Was this the same scene as when entering through the server connection device?

As Jiang Shang was looking at the frozen Yoon Seah with a puzzled expression.

[...Blue Administrator.]

From within Seong Jihan.

The Red Administrator, who had been silent until now, conveyed his will.

[By any chance, how do I appear?]

"You?"

[That's right. Can you perfectly analyze me inside the Blue and Red sword as well?]

"Let me take a look."

Swoosh.

Seong Jihan took out the Blue and Red sword and looked at the red light contained within.

Then, about 70% of the code appeared there, but.

"I can't analyze it perfectly."

[Really?]

"Yeah. About 30% is unknown."

[I see...]

The Red Administrator showed a somewhat pleased expression at those words.

[It seems there's nothing more to see here, shall we return to the Ark?]

Unlike usual, he proactively suggested to Seong Jihan.

"Did you figure something out?"

[Yes. I'd like to go to Hephaestus in the Ark.]

Hephaestus was the Red Administrator's main body that burned and disappeared infinitely, wasn't it?

It was clearly used as an auxiliary power source for the Ark...

'Well, there's nothing more to see here anyway.'

Since the Red Administrator seemed to have something in mind, should they go back?

Seong Jihan glanced once at Yoon Seah before returning to the Ark.

The crack they had made in the Ark had already healed, but.

Tap.

As Seong Jihan lightly touched the outer wall with his hand.

A hole easily opened, allowing re-entry.

And they went straight to where Hephaestus was.

Whoosh...!

A red giant burning in flames came into view.

[How does he appear?]

At the Red Administrator's question, Seong Jihan activated his analysis.

Then.

"Hmm...? I can analyze about half?"

Unlike inside the Ark where analysis didn't work at all.

Hephaestus appeared half as code.

[As expected... Now, put me in there.]

The Red Administrator asked Seong Jihan to do something unexpected.

"What are you trying to do?"

[I want to check the reality of what you see in your analysis.]

"...You're going to do this?"

[Yes.]

Seong Jihan was puzzled about how he would do it, but.

'Well, he's not in a position to have any strange thoughts right now.'

Since he was just an auxiliary power source, he couldn't do much with the red giant.

Seong Jihan obediently put him into Hephaestus.

Then.

Whoosh...!

Unlike before, the red giant began to burn fiercely from within.

Ziiing...

Hephaestus's code started to appear more clearly.

And.

['Hephaestus' analysis 90% complete.]

[Do you want to stop the 'Hephaestus' analysis experiment?]

A message appeared in Seong Jihan's eyes.

* * *

"You... What did you do?"

[Was there any change?]

"Yes."

Seong Jihan told him about the system message he saw.

The burning red giant nodded.

[I see... An analysis experiment. Not only did they use me as an auxiliary power source, but they were also analyzing me separately.]

"So what exactly did you do?"

[I opened up the operation method of Hephaestus that it was trying to hide until the end.]

"It was hiding something?"

[Yes... More precisely, it was what the system hadn't fully grasped.]

The operation method of Hephaestus that the system hadn't fully grasped.

Seong Jihan pondered deeply upon hearing this.

'The system couldn't grasp it, but when the Red Administrator opened it himself, the analysis worked. This means...'

Ziiing...

Seong Jihan looked at the red giant, which had the most complex code he had seen so far.

The code that was truly 90% visible, as the system message said.

This phenomenon ultimately meant...

"Is my analysis vision linked to the system's analysis?"

[It seems so.]

"Then, the fact that the Emperor's code isn't visible at all..."

[That monster probably couldn't be properly analyzed even by the system.]

So from the system's perspective, the Infinite Sword was an area that was harder to analyze than Hephaestus?

As he was recognizing the difference between the red giant and Jiang Shang,

Whoosh...!

Once again, intense flames rose from the red giant's body.

[Well then, could you stop the experiment for now?]

"Alright."

When Seong Jihan stopped the experiment through the earlier message.

[Hephaestus analysis experiment has been stopped.]

The red giant's body no longer burned with fire.

[Now I can breathe. May I stay here for a while?]

"As long as you don't do anything foolish."

[I'm not fully analyzed anyway. If you decide, I can be deleted immediately.]

That was true.

Hephaestus, which was 90% analyzed, was something Seong Jihan could eliminate immediately if he wanted to.

When Seong Jihan nodded,

[Huh... But I'm regaining some self-confidence in my abilities. Even the great system couldn't fully analyze me.]

The Red Administrator seemed to have recovered some of his self-esteem, moving away from his previously dejected attitude.

"How did you figure out that the analysis was related to the system?"

[You said other beings could be analyzed, but not the Infinite Sword, right?]

Swoosh.

The red giant pointed at himself with his finger.

[And this body is also a being stored in the Ark. Of course, Hephaestus was used as an auxiliary power source, but I wondered if they kept it alive because it wasn't fully analyzed.]

"Hmm..."

Seong Jihan recalled Yoon Seah's Fusion Vessel at those words.

Was that also not analyzable because the system hadn't grasped it yet?

'If the system had secured data on the Fusion Vessel, maybe Seah would have appeared as code too...'

And the important thing was.

"If Hephaestus inside the Ark appears as code... Does that mean the claim that the beings in the server are virtual and fictional is also false?"

"It seems so. The fact that the world appears as code to my son-in-law's eyes is because the system has perfectly grasped all of them... not because they are virtual beings."

Server 4212, existing beyond the wall of the Ark.

And the giant, whose code became more real-time as Hephaestus's analysis reached 90% completion.

Through the facts revealed before his eyes, Seong Jihan realized what the coded world meant.

'The outside world wasn't virtual, but real...'

Whoosh.

Seong Jihan sighed deeply and sat down.

When he saw his sister and noticed she was made of code, he felt an indescribable bitterness.

But now, thinking that she had a real existence and wasn't just a virtual being,

A part of his heart felt much lighter.

"Phew. So it appeared as code only because my eyes were linked to the system..."

"It seems so. But if that's the case, does it mean that from Server 1 to 4211, they eliminated all those who actually existed...?"

[Probably. They're the kind who even merge their own kind with Transcendent Being, why would they care about other beings dying?]

At the Red Administrator's words.

Snap.

Jiang Shang broke a strand of his beard, his eyes flashing with killing intent.

"...So in the end, the world I belonged to has definitely perished. My wife and children, disciples and all the empire's subjects. These 'real' people were swept away by the void and died..."

[It's the same for Hephaestus's side. Well, I belong to the current server, so I don't have much attachment.]

Unlike Jiang Shang who was building up anger, the Red Administrator, who was just using Hephaestus's body, showed no regret for the previous world.

"Indeed, I must go and take revenge on the real enemy."

"By real enemy, you mean..."

"The Black Administrator, Mitra, lying in the server connection device. Isn't he the root cause of all this?"

Although the energy in the helmet was gone, the rest of the armor was still in the server connection device - the Black Administrator.

Jiang Shang was expressing a strong will to eliminate even those remnants.

At that moment.

Swoosh.

[Wait.]

The Red Administrator blocked Jiang Shang's path.

"...Huh. Are you trying to stop me?"

[Yes. What if unexpected problems arise from carelessly meddling with him?]

"..."

[Server 4212 can be maintained peacefully as it is. As long as you don't change your mind, Seong Jihan.]

Now that they'd confirmed Server 4212 actually existed if they just maintained the status quo, the world would continue to function normally.

So, do not create variables by killing the Black Administrator who was just lying there, was that it?

But.

"That's the worst choice."

[The worst, you say...?]

"Yes."

Seong Jihan recalled the future where Urd destroyed the server.

A world that perished all too easily with just the touch of a finger in the Ark.

If the world's existence continued to be determined from here,

Could that really be called 'safe'?

[Then what do you intend to do?]

"What else? The Ark, the system, the Transcendent Beings..."

Swoosh.

Seong Jihan looked around and said,

"We need to strip away all their authority and eliminate them completely."

He clearly stated his intention to the two of them.