The Red Administrator

Why is that guys hand here?

Wow, whats happening now?

Is this channel a special feature of administrators?

As soon as the name of the special boss appeared on BattleTube, the chat from extraterrestrial viewers exploded.

The Red Administrator.

Despite his term ending, he had not relinquished his position and had gone into hiding.

And.

An administrator who seems linked to both the Martial God and Ashoka in some way

Initially, even those who had limited humanity were part of the Reds Tribe.

The Red Administrator,

But if only his hand is remaining, it mightve been cut off while he was fleeing and buried in the void.

Seong Jihan observed the front while crossing his arms.

The vortex of the void gradually turned black.

Fwooooosh!

From within, a burning hand emerged.

Its clenched in a fist.

Though the size of the hand was slightly larger than Seong Jihan, it was far less imposing compared to the overwhelming figure of the Thunder God.

Despite its appearance, Seong Jihan remained cautious as he slowly approached the Red Administrators hand.

The hand had a peculiar texture, as if mixing human features with those of a reptile.

Scaly structures stood out prominently, blazing on the back of the hand.

Thats the hand of an administrator? Doesnt seem like much.

The Red Administrator originally came from a giant race. Of course, after the administrators appeared, they renamed their species the Reds Tribe.

Ah, I see

If its staying still like that, cant he just attack and clear this mission too?

As if beating an administrators hand is that simple

Still, its too quiet.

Viewers speculated as the seemingly lifeless, clenched hand did not move.

But.

As Seong Jihan got closer to the Red Hand.

Flash!

A light flickered on the back of the hand.

From there, characters emerged.

Though it wasnt any recognizable language, Seong Jihan could read the characters.

[Red.]

Swoosh!

As soon as the letter emerged, the hand opened out.

Inside the scarlet palm, hundreds of eyes were embedded.

Initially unfocused and dazed.

[Target.]

Wriggle. Wriggle.

As the eyes moved, they collectively fixed their gaze on Seong Jihan.

The numerous red eyeballs, brimming with life, trembled.

Ew! What is that??

Even with just a hand remaining, its that powerful its definitely an administrator.

To instill fear even through the screen

The viewers who had earlier downplayed the hands significance felt an overwhelming sense of intimidation just by looking at the eyes.

Why are these seasoned fighters scared of such a gaze?

Despite facing the eyes directly, Seong Jihan didnt flinch.

Lets begin the inspection.

Step. Step.

He walked toward the outstretched hand.

As he approached, the eyes focused increasingly on him.

Flames danced across the hand, then letters appeared again.

[Why am I here? The Black wouldnt have released me.]

Who knows.

[Ah, got it. You are the bait.]

The red hand continued to answer its own questions, causing Seong Jihan to frown at the word bait.

[Bait needed. Found the main bodys location. If known, no bait needed. Currently in process of finding.]

The hand spoke in disjointed phrases, but Seong Jihan could roughly understand its meaning.

The Black Administrator had summoned the hand as a special boss intending to use Seong Jihan as bait.

Is he trying to lure out the Red Administrator through me?

The Red Administrator, who had vanished long ago.

However, his traces remained scattered on Earth, and recently, connections with the Martial God and Ashoka had surfaced.

As administrators were the absolute figures of BattleNet, they surely wouldnt be oblivious to this information.

Caught in the midst of the administrators schemes, Seong Jihan felt like a pawn in their grand game.

The one universal truth in BattleNet is that no one here is trustworthy. The administrators may seem friendly now, but they all have their own agendas using me as a means to an end.

Remaining ever vigilant in observing the situation is essential.

As Seong Jihan mused,

[Detected. Playing along with intent. Main body needs my power. Bait will be tempting.]

Fwoosh!

Suddenly, flames surged from the Red Hand, extending towards Seong Jihan.

Swoosh!

Seong Jihan quickly dodged the flames, but

Hiss!

The tail end of the flames grazed his cheek.

Even with all my buffs, I couldnt avoid it so this is the power of an administrators flame.

[Constellation reaching level drops to Level 758.]

Despite having activated the Constellation Traits and wearing the mask, he still couldnt fully evade the small flame.

Certainly, this special boss was formidable.

Seong Jihan took a cautious step back, keeping his guard up.

[? Bait. Why dodge. Fulfill your role.]

And become a sitting duck?

Seong Jihan retorted upon reading the altered letters.

Fwoosh

The flame that had scorched his cheek rose momentarily before dying out.

[Stat Red increases by 2.]

As a message displayed the stat increase, Seong Jihan hesitated.

Raised by 2 just from a brief touch?

The Red stat, challenging to increase, had risen by 2 from just a tiny flame.

What would happen if he absorbed the entire flame?

Should I consider playing the bait?

Seong Jihan briefly considered it.

[Resistance pointless. Will switch bodies. Will become bait.]

However, the message promising to take over his body made him draw his weapon.

Letting his body absorb the flames for the stat increase risked conceding control to another entity.

Then.

[Futile defiance.]

Swoosh

The hundreds of eyes merged into one large eye.

The eye emitted light, creating letters.

[Stop.]

Next to this command, another set of letters appeared.

Thats a domination code.

Designed to enforce control through his language.

However.

My bodys moving fine.

The command to stop had no restrictive power over Seong Jihan.

[Will consume.]

Convinced he had halted, the Red Hand began to extend the flames slowly, contrary to the previous rapid surge.

The flames expanded outward, forming a wide ring to encircle Seong Jihan.

Why is he staying still?

As expected, you cant defy an administrators power.

Its the Red Hand. Defiance is futile.

Shouldnt we get refunds?? He even beat the Thunder God, but now an administrators hand appears? I bet so much money, but the Arena is playing tricks like this?

As Seong Jihan stood still, angry bettors momentarily rioted.

Oh! I just checked, theyre acknowledging it on Arena and giving automatic wins for the special boss appearance.

Really? Recognized as 1st place?

Yeah, win or lose, bettors on Seong Jihan get their GP.

So we win?

Nice! Seong Jihan, handle the Red case however you want. Made some good money!!

The guaranteed refund by Arena turned the sentiments of bettors.

Gamblers will be gamblers Looks like I made 70 times my GP too.

GP obsession transcends species and is a universal truth across the cosmos.

Taking his eyes off the gamblers, Seong Jihan watched his opponent.

The Red Hand, encircling him in flames, seemingly ready to consume him in one go.

Retaliation was always an option.

Striking a distracted enemy had always been easy for him.

But he had decided to wait, considering the previously increased stat.

Raising the Red by 2 from mere contact.

Need to extract maximum benefit without getting dominated.

After some time, Seong Jihan saw his chance.

* * *

The red flames completely encircled him.

Expending a lot of power to create the circle, the flames within the Red Hand weakened.

Furthermore, the large, merged eye had significantly dimmed.

This is sufficient.

Swoosh

Seong Jihan re-activated the Dark Soul Vortex.

[?? Bait? How?]

Questioning, the hand watched as Seong Jihan continued.

Disregarding the message, he thrust Eclipse into the Dark Soul Vortex again.

[Trying that again?]

Didnt it work well earlier?

[There was something to learn from your sword]

Then lets learn again.

Immediately after the Shadow Queen finished speaking, Seong Jihan caused the void within the vortex to explode.

[Void decreases by 5.]

As the void message appeared, the sword took shape, and he withdrew the blade from the vortex.

Fundamental Divine Arts,

Dark Shadow Technique:

Shadow Divine Blade

Upon witnessing the Shadow Divine Blade, which had dispatched the Thunder God in one move,

[Thats! The voids core]

The once still eye now trembled in surprise.

[Youre not bait, but the Blacks blade]

Swoosh!

The red hand began to touch the erupting darkness.

However, unlike the Thunder God who had been entirely engulfed,

Sizzle

The hand resisted, emitting smoke as the darkness contacted it.

[No, its different. Weaker than the Blacks blade.]

Whats the Blacks blade?

[Youre imitating an administrators blade and dont know?]

This is imitating an administrators blade?

Seong Jihan blinked.

This was an alternative he created as he couldnt reveal Dongbang Saks Taiji Sword.

Oh. I didnt know.

[So, did you craft this yourself?]

Its not entirely original; I adapted it from something learnt.

[A lie? But some truth. Not strong enough for voids proxy]

Psfffff

The flames around the hand weakened.

[If you were the voids proxy, resistance would be futile. On the contrary, to protect my true form, acceptance might be wise. Bait, however]

The eyes kept rotating, continuing to draft letters.

[Your blade is a vital talent for my true form.]

I told you, I didnt craft it.

[Realizing is talent.]

Oh, really?

Seong Jihan smirked.

Ashoka often criticized his ambiguous talents, and now even the Red Hand deemed it valuable.

Regardless, flattery meant little now.

Time to end this.

Without the domination codes failure, the Red Hand would overpower him.

He needed to finish it while still in a superior position.

As Seong Jihan poured more power into the Shadow Divine Blade,

[Close but not quite the Blacks. Definitely bait.]

[Moreover, a vital bait for my true form.]

Resistance diminishing, the hand finally accepted Seong Jihan as bait.

Enough with the bait talk.

Such talk was unpleasant.

As he intensified the dark power, the Red Hands defenses significantly weakened.

[Decision.]

Whoosh!

The hand caught fire and vanished.

Thud

Leaving behind a single eye, significantly reduced in size, on the ground.

Originally enormous, now human-sized.

[If consumed, talent might be lost.]

[Thus, will be eaten instead.]

The eyes message read.

Changing plans from consuming Seong Jihan to offering itself.

Eat you?

[Yes. Eat me.]

The red eye squirmed vilely, expanding blood vessels.

Eating a living octopus seemed more appealing.

Should I just crush it?

As Seong Jihan contemplated,

[Minimum Red increased by 500.]

The eye provided an added incentive.