The S-Classes That I Raised

Chapter 640: Temporary System Administrator (3)

Thud. Both my feet touched the ground. I’d been set down safely, but I couldn’t exactly be happy about it. The big and small snakes all around me raised their heads and stared like they might lunge any second. I could maybe handle the small ones, but there were ones big enough to swallow me whole lurking farther back. If I got eaten and suffocated in a snake’s stomach, even Grace wouldn’t be able to save me.

“Little thing.”

The red snake, clearly a Transcendent, propped his chin up on one hand. The metal ornaments on his wrist and fingers jingled faintly. His long, sharp nails shone like jewels. His upper body was bare except for something like golden shoulder armor, showing off a hard, muscular torso. From about where a mammal’s navel would be, red scales started appearing here and there, leading down into a snake’s lower body. Several strands of metal and gemstone chains circled his waist, with sheer cloth hanging in loose, fluttering strips.

He looked like some foreign god out of a myth. His upper body, so similar to a human’s, was strikingly handsome, and even his snake body shimmered with a beauty of its own, yet it still somehow sent a chill down my spine. I swallowed dryly and looked up at the red snake. When our gazes met, my heart lurched, but I held on and didn’t look away. I really did feel like a mouse standing in front of a snake.

“Are you the representative of the Unfilial Children?”

“…I haven’t heard the situation yet, so I can’t answer that.”

I kept my tone polite. If he was asking if I was the Unfilial Children’s proxy, that made him a Transcendent from the Filial Duty Addicts’ side. In that case, there was no need to get on his nerves and make him take more of an interest in us.

“I only agreed to a message asking if I’d accept system administrator authority.”

And I really had no idea how this whole thing was structured. The snake’s eyes narrowed.

“I heard you were the human who killed the mage, so I expected a little more.”

“…The mage, you mean.”

“Gi Os Sanus. We had dealings once.”

Please don’t tell me this was another revenge thing. Luckily, he didn’t seem to have that vibe.

“I just got lucky. He basically handed me his neck himself.”

“I heard the mage foolishly gave up his rank as a Transcendent.”

His low voice was dry, almost entirely emotionless. That wasn’t a bad reaction. If he thought I was small fry, maybe he’d half–ass his duties as a Filial Duty Addict too. Watching his mood, I carefully spoke up.

“Is it really necessary to destroy every single world? There are a lot of them, right? Skipping one shouldn’t cause any huge problem.”

There were supposed to be hundreds.

“You seem like you’re with the Filial Duty Addicts, but… no offense, you don’t exactly strike me as the type to go all out on the whole filial piety thing…”

Let’s all just take it easy and live a little. At my words, the red snake’s lips curved slightly.

“I do not worship the Root as a creator. Nor do I regard it as something to be preserved and studied.”

So he was different from Diarma and from Ru Ga Pheya. That being the case, maybe, just maybe—my faint hope popped the moment it formed.

“However, I follow the Root’s predation.”

His voice rang out, cold and metallic.

“All life is eating and being eaten. The weak are preyed upon; the strong devour. Sometimes the weak bite the strong’s neck and overturn the game. That is the natural life of living things.”

The black and gold pupils in his red eyes looked down at me like I was laughable.

“The Root is also part of that flow of life, so I naturally submit to the greatest predation.”

“…So what, we’re just supposed to meekly let ourselves be eaten?”

“Fight.”

The red snake straightened up. The jewel–like scales, dusted with something like gold powder, all stood on end at once and rang with a clear, chiming sound.

“Under a predator’s threat, deer harden their hooves, and wolves grow fangs to chase their prey. If you only ever eat feed handed to you in a safe pen, there will be no change and no growth.”

His fangs showed in a smile.

“Little one, I am the king of crawling predators, the red venom that melts and devours.”

“…!”

Suddenly, a wave of venomous energy crashed over me. The brutal poison the red snake had been suppressing surged up, and the snakes that had been circling around me all scurried back in a rush. But I had no chance to run.

“…Kh–ugh!”

Poison Resistance L–rank. Without that, that miasma alone would have literally melted me away. My vision warped and buckled. Blood spattered out with my cough. At some point, my knees had buckled, and my hands were on the ground.

Poison Resistance saved me from instant death, but the toxins it couldn’t block still dug through my whole body. My skin went cold while my insides burned. My throat dried out like I’d suddenly caught a vicious flu.

“You can’t… hack… kill me…”

“For someone who talks so much about being weak, you’re holding out well.”

Through my blurred vision, I saw the red snake sit back down. I coughed up blood again. Antidote, in my inventory. The grade was low, but if I stacked it with detox equipment…

“I accepted the Unfilial Children’s proposal for now, but a specimen trying to flee the fight before it even begins is not worth my attention.”

I’d misread him. Still, this was way too arbitrary–! The snake’s tail wrapped around me and hoisted me up again.

“Crawl your way back to me. If you arrive on your own feet, I will reconsider.”

Then I was flung high into the air.

As I got farther from the poisonous aura, Poison Resistance rapidly restored my body. It didn’t repair my damaged insides completely, but my vision cleared somewhat, and in that view—

“You goddamn snake bastard!”

—was a roiling carpet of snakes in every color. That crazy asshole! Thud! The snakes slid aside as I crashed and rolled. My whole body throbbed, but I scrambled up. First things first, potion. The senior said not to use them, but I had no choice now. I hurried to pull a potion from my inventory—

– Hissss.

– Sss!.

The sharp sounds stabbed at my ears. Snake heads raised all over, stiff and poised, eyeing me. As soon as I yanked the cap off and poured the potion into my mouth—

Hss?

A snake about as thick as my forearm snapped at my arm, fangs bared. Instead of dodging, I shoved my arm into its mouth, then grabbed it and ripped it off, flinging it away. No sooner had I torn off one snake than another lunged at me. Damn it, at least their venom doesn’t work on me.

‘Once I’m swallowed, it’s over.’

The massive snakes still slithering lazily in the back. There were monsters with bodies like pillars, and others so huge they could swallow an elephant without blinking, all staring this way. Meanwhile, the King of Predation’s throne was far enough that it’d take at least five minutes of dead sprinting to reach. Great arm, that guy. Really chucked me.

I swung my sword still in its scabbard, trying not to provoke the snakes too much, and backed up a few steps toward the throne. But the small snakes were endless, and now larger ones were starting to inch closer too. I needed some kind of plan—ah.

“Hang on, give me a second!”

I tried to pull out and equip my gear, but the swarm of snakes gave me no time. Knock away one, and three more lunged. At this rate—

– Piiiik!

A bird cry rang out.

– Snakes! Peep!

It was Grace. The moment the bluebird appeared, all the snakes’ gazes snapped toward her. Birds and snakes – about as classic a predator–prey pair as it gets. Plus, the small snakes were exactly the right size to gulp down like noodles. As soon as Grace fluttered up into the air, all the snakes opened their mouths wide.

“Careful, Grace!”

– Peep!

She chirped back confidently, and while the snakes were distracted, I hurriedly yanked out and equipped my gear. As I pulled on my gloves, a heavy grinding sound began and the huge snakes started to move. The small ones parted like a living sea to clear the way, and Grace returned to me.

– Piiik! Snakes!

“It’s okay.”

Birds and snakes eat each other. And one of a snake’s natural enemies is—

“Cats.”

Granted, that only applies to small snakes; if the snake is big, it can eat the cat instead. So we just needed a big cat.

– Hsssss.

A snake at least a few dozen meters long opened its mouth wide. That thing could digest a human as a light snack. Facing it, I activated Delroux’s skill. My eye level shot up, and the snakes shrank to tiny things beneath me.

– Hiss!

– Sss! Ssh!

The king snake flinched and snapped its jaws shut. The mass of snakes receded like a tide. A cat that ate a dragon, Delroux.

– Rooooar!

Only a big straw dummy, but how would they know that. At the sudden roar of a Transcendent–class beast, the snakes all went rigid. I used that opening and rushed toward the throne. With my size, I crossed the distance in no time—

Shffft!

The huge black snake that had been coiled in the very back suddenly launched itself at me. The scales on its head stood up and sharpened into twelve horn–like spikes. With my stats, there was no way to dodge. I quickly checked the throne’s direction and twisted my body. An instant later—

Boom–!

The black snake slammed into me full–force. My body shot up into the air, and I canceled the skill mid–flight. My now much lighter body soared high across the space toward the throne, and just before I overshot it—

Bang!

I pulled out a gun and fired at the ceiling. The recoil killed my forward momentum and dropped me straight down. Borrowing the Wildcat Set’s power, I landed lightly, with a neat tap, right in front of the throne. I spread my arms to the red snake in a little ta–da.

“I’ve arrived, my lord. Though I did not exactly crawl.”

Unlike a snake, I still had both legs in working order. The King of Predation’s eyes curved slowly. Looked like my score wasn’t bad.

“Then I’d like a situation briefing for your trainee administrator, please.”

As Transcendents went, the red snake wasn’t the worst opponent. He didn’t seem to have any particular grudge against our side, and he looked like the type who’d accept the outcome cleanly once there was a winner and a loser. The biggest issue was that he wouldn’t be easy to beat.

“Very well. You seem to have earned the right to hear it.”

The King of Predation leaned back diagonally against the throne’s backrest and continued.

“The Unfilial Children wished to set a non–Transcendent Awakened as a representative to prevent any further excessive interference in your world.”

So basically, the Transcendents had gone too far, and now they wanted to back off a bit and leave things to people from our world. That was something I was very happy to hear. They should’ve done that from the start.

“So the Unfilial Children chose you as a temporary system administrator.”

“Then the Filial Duty Addicts gave administrator authority to an Awakened from our world too.”

“Correct. Normally, it would be impossible, but by your inheriting Chatterbox’s legacy, it became possible to create one more non–Transcendent administrator, to keep the scales balanced.”

“…What if I’d refused that inheritance?”

“You would not have become a proxy who directly handles the system, but an adviser.”

So I’d be in a position to nag a system–handling Transcendent instead. If it was Rookie I was advising, that might not have been bad. But it still felt like a shame to give up the chance to lay hands on the system. The Filial Duty Addicts’ proxy would be that Prophet, probably.

“Choose five Awakened from your world.”

“Five?”

“We need chess pieces. Five to begin with.”

Hmm… Was I supposed to build a stage and decide the match using the system like Chatterbox did? In any case, we would—obviously Yuhyun. What about Yerim. Then Seong Hyunjae, Chief Song, Hyunah, and Noah would make five even without her.

‘This time it might be a fight between people, and not even for broadcast, so it could be even more dangerous.’

It’d be better to leave Yerim out. If I told her to stay home with the kids, she’d definitely get mad. But I couldn’t help it.

“I’ve decided.”

“Send messages via the system and get their consent.”

“…Huh?”

The system… Uh… If I tried to open it like a status window… I felt an unfamiliar movement of mana, and a window popped up in front of me.

[Temporary System Administrator ? Han Yujin]

When I tapped the window with a fingertip, new text appeared.

[Voice recognition mode for trainees activated.]

“Uh, I have to send messages to five people. To Awakened from my world.”

[Please select a region.]

A list of symbols and numbers flowed down. No, hey, where’s the manual! Isn’t there a manual?

“Fr–France! France!”

[Alan Bayer

Alan Lindsay]

A list of names starting with A appeared in alphabetical order. Wow, so many Awakened…

“Han Yuhyun in France!”

[Han Yuhyun]

“There, and then…”

I glanced at the red snake. He supplied the phrasing.

“Have it send an affiliation consent message to become an Awakened under temporary system administrator Han Yujin.”

“Right. Send a message to Yuhyun, to Han Yuhyun.”

A message asking if he wanted to become part of my group. I worried he might be suspicious, but soon enough—

[Awakened Han Yuhyun ? Agrees]

The window said he’d accepted. Good job, Yuhyun! Next, I sent a message to Seong Hyunjae. It took quite a while, and then—

[Awakened Seong Hyunjae ? Refuses]

“…Huh?”

He refused. …What the hell. Was he really that mad about me kicking him out? Or did he think this was some Transcendent trick?

“…Can I change this later?”

“Five is the minimum.”

In that case, I’d have to set him aside for now and message Chief Song.

[Awakened Song Taewon ? Ineligible]

What?! Why Chief Song? Was it because of the power he carried? Panicking, I tried Hyunah.

[Awakened Moon Hyunah ? Ineligible]

“Ineligible” appeared again. Excuse me… Did the system break? There weren’t that many options left if this kept up… Did I have to include Yerim after all?

[Awakened Noah Luhir ? Agrees]

Thankfully, Noah safely joined my side. Still, I had three slots left… One of Yerim and Seonghan had to stay in Haeyeon.

[Awakened Park Yerim ? Agrees]

After some agonizing, I chose Yerim. I could always go talk to Seong Hyunjae in person later and swap him in. One slot went to Liette. Thankfully, Liette also agreed right away. Peace wouldn’t be a good choice since we couldn’t properly communicate, and… Yun Yun couldn’t fight. Myungwoo was an obvious no, and I was pretty sure Evelyn would refuse, and besides that, ugh… The only realistic candidates were—

‘Hwang Rim or Shishio.’

These were my only options? Really? At least both had good skills. Hwang Rim’s duplication would be super handy, and Shishio had an advantage in group battles… Since I’d seen Hwang Rim more recently, I tried him first.

[Awakened Hwang Rim ? Ineligible]

“What is wrong with all of you!”

Damn it, fine then!

[Awakened Shishio ? Agrees]

…It’s fine. I can swap them later. I’ll complain about why Chief Song and Hyunah were ineligible and bring one of them over.

“I’m done.”

“Looks like they finished first on their side.”

“Huh? Wait, I’m the Unfilial Children’s proxy, though.”

“Which is why it was changed.”

The King of Predation rose. The surroundings instantly darkened, and the space itself flipped.

Swooosh─!

A wave crashed over us. Towering walls of water reared up, and the red snake, back in his original size, blocked them. The King of Predation laughed loudly and parted the waves with a sweep of his hand.

[Blue Fish!]

[Red Snake]

Out of the darkness, the Mermaid Queen revealed herself. Blue scales and red scales flashed.

[I haven’t seen you since you skewered that ship.]

[And you, your sliced belly healed nice and clean, as befits a snake.]

The pressure of two auras pressed down on my body. If not for the power protecting me, I might not have stayed sane. The two Transcendents faced each other and vanished into the darkness. Then, in the now–brightened space opposite me—

“…Seong Hyunjae?”

—stood a familiar face. Missing one eye, and one arm.