Chapter 244: World Tree (1)
hGCIIt was dark.hVhI3h
GOOVSThe light was suddenly shut off from the entire world.6kR
TzLG8PIt was so pitch dark that you couldn’t see what was a meter in front of you.oWa
ClwxNaturally, it resulted in a massive commotion.DIv
L8qvi“Korin-dongsaeng. Korin-dongsaeng! Grab my hand!”333FA
1nOLu“I’m here.”9Be
8U4mlg1“I can’t see! Hold my hand! I’m scared!”YWOMq
aoU“You’ll be fine!”7qxk
rIsM8I pushed aside Estelle who was making a big fuss about it. One of the knights dashed to her side screaming, ‘Saintess!’ but Estelle slapped his hand away while shouting ‘Not you!’GIw
efJE961“What a crazy magic.”WWAs
ZccxyMeanwhile, the mages used light magic to create orbs of light while soldiers used their flint to make torches.cZik
LqbIsxThanks to that, there was some light here and there, but the world was still dark with the main source of light gone.22s0WzU
jmUQuC9“You’re here, dongsaeng~. Hiing! Where were you?! I was scared…!”Slvsw84
YMpL“Please be a bit more serious. And don’t cling onto me.”jn4m
ia1w8oIt wasn’t that scary with everyone nearby. Using the few light sources they had, everyone else was also trying to make sense of what was going on.D8XxAEW
kZCStw“By the way… I don’t remember you telling us about this.”bf6CyP
OGpBb“This is my first time seeing it too.”b93Ih
RET0“Danann of ‘Light’, right?”XSESa
TD6rDanann of Light, Tates Valtazar.HPJDI
9bIeIn other words, he signified the ‘light’ of this world, and that meant he had free reign over the concept of ‘light’.Ssj7or
emIFBut… I really wasn’t expecting his ability to be able to affect the entire planet.Bez
YeuvXn“Did the light really disappear from the entire world? Or is it just this area that’s dark?” asked Estelle.Ydd9lV
6x6Lp“Even the stars aren’t glowing anymore. It’s probably the whole world that’s gone dark.”Kc9XT
Kqhb9D“Is this what a real god can do…?”SUSs
40HieLight.LrwtJ
pFAGI heard it was a powerful divinity even among the divinities.sx7
rhPZ4fThe King of Gods praised as the most powerful were Lugh, Nuada and Dagda, who each represented Light, Sun and the Earth. Their powers were a testimony to how strong each divinity was.kQslQW
rRQWith Estelle and me here, the question now was if we could offset this. If I either summoned the Sun or if Estelle prayed as much as she could, would that change anythingh9oPp
yRvI was thinking along the lines of that when the ground suddenly shook.cQHG
ImwnPR————!!e3cJw
Gk0It was a faint vibration from the ground, but by the time we realized it, it was too late.jXJw
1Ox– Kwaaah!VIY
NkFGigantic pillars suddenly shot out from the earth, and only after a careful inspection were we able to tell what they were.jkdB
NZ6DtK“…Are these roots?”zY9Yi
GqztLines of roots, so big that even a hundred-year-old tree would look like a new sprout in comparison, expanded itself into thousands and tens of thousands of roots that expanded across the earth.sCa8
OwYlWith its immense size and speed, they broke the ranks of the military and instilled chaos within the army.GKwPAMT
Y4sBAnd one of the roots was headed straight towards me.8in3
GfFu“Huhp…!”tMwGxw
Xoy4HI blocked the root that just emerged from the ground with the shaft of my spear. It felt heavy as if I was being pushed down by an enormous hammer, but that wasn’t the scariest bit.yl8oD
EWkIt grew rapidly, reminding me of the rapid growth ability of a druid. The roots diverged endlessly, binding me and anything else in its path.zc5Y
THk7WM3– Kagagagak!5VoeAWj
PxwkThe ground was torn apart along with the expanding roots. I tried to burn them down with the divinity of the Sun but—uXEImR
X1HiV‘It’s absorbing divine energy!’T8IaA
3MjMwThe roots were not only tough but also had a unique characteristic. I quickly called for my team.uq3R1
mk3Ah“Hua Ran! Alicia!”r4Y
1YC1oBAs soon as I called them, Hua Ran reached out towards my back and supported me from being pushed back any further by the monstrous roots, while Alicia jumped in front of me to slice the roots apart.ylWX
RDX– Clink!HBq
BQEQsYzIt sounded abnormally tough to be that of tree roots, but fortunately, they weren’t tough enough to stop Alicia’s sword.Q1FBTq1
VPUgv“Korin-ssi, are you okay?”iavMp
kQ0Kk79“I’m fine. Thank you. You too, Hua.”05GVbT
vVaufmL“…”mSD3yY
dR8Hua didn’t say much but seemed worried about me.yaWYlD
IYQUlx7“Ugh, what is happening though? These things just keep coming out from the ground.”VIu
WlqZ7“They’re the roots of the World Tree. But I didn’t know these could grow so quickly until now.”cdyvF
TJE0Mo6That wasn’t the end.1W9
DyPJ“And besides, this tree. Don’t tell me…”d9rLqWR
PseThat was when I heard a large commotion from the other side.T2BJoNc
4Da1Tbf– Ohh, light is coming out from the Saintess…!8TFX
Fw4S5vc– The Saintess is praying for us!6yq7
mKeP1sEstelle began to pray with her hands together.dWAU
Os5rYkXThe radiant light of divinity seeping out from Estelle excited the soldiers, but right when her prayer appeared to be reaching the pinnacle, she suddenly put an abrupt stop to it.UGD
u22“Haak…”6MwXG
0jj“S, Saintess!”H5qDbZ
mIZtXEstelle was sweating buckets and gasping for breath with a look of dismay on her face.TVrDHmt
GtpV2m“This feeling…”NXO3nH
sHec“It’s absorbing your divine energy, right?”p8CbF
01ltU8g“…Did you know about it, dongsaeng?”RS9C
YAzkS“Felt the same just then when I touched the root.”Aktws
65uIn the last iteration, I wasn’t able to take part in this final war, because I had been sealed by Park Sihu.xCt34O
Vl6A61KHowever, I had cleared the game multiple times before that, and the roots of the World Tree were just a background of the war, with no mention of them absorbing divine energy.4FXvqDw
EWf48EZ‘I guess that’s because the original player doesn’t use divine energy.’uG3
YncThe Sun, Claiomh Solais, and the Magic Cauldron of Undry were both possessed by Valtazar’s subordinates, and awakening into having divine energy wasn’t the original storyline of the game.jdkUB
awFHHm“Looks like manifesting the Sun would be hard at this rate.”Y9k5
8ZJ“Dongsaeng. That’s true too but… Take a look.”a4Q
lg4oEstelle reached out towards what was beyond the darkness. Normal people might not be able to see what was beyond, but after brightening my sight with the help of runes, I was able to look beyond the darkness into the horrors.0zpB
ewp1“Fuu…”vrtYRan
KLxThe roots of the World Tree had spread into all sides, expanding like a massive forest.5lcpN
N6c– Hans! Wait right there! I will cut these vines and save you in no time!ZIeQc
IRIWa– Damn it, they’re too tough! We can’t! It’ll be quicker for us to find a way around!HbbE3N
rRIycAB– The rear army has been entirely cut off! We’re being blocked by the roots!aSoHwT
LTKVHH– Damn it! Half of our supplies are over there!HeWd7f
uRwp287The roots of Yggdrasil were spreading out like a labyrinth isolating people and the world.KG1y7g
OOYt“Korin-ssi. Are these… really just roots?”bQAKA
Zwk8kQi“It is the ‘World Tree’… and it’s also referred to as the ‘Cosmic Tree’ as well, after all. But this is my first time seeing it on this scale as well.”jhCyvu
llV“The world would have been over already if there was a second time.”Mmno86
LgxgFt“You’re right. Seeing it once is more than enough.”so5
gbNMaFIn the original bad ending of the game, there was a mention about the world drying up in contrast to the flourishing leaves of the World Tree, so it wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that this tree was reaching all sides of the world.wML8Y
Yfc– Korin…! Korin!aGz108
QGvjecThat was when I heard people yelling my name. I headed to where the voice was coming from, and found Master and Marie looking through a small gap in the wall of roots.Aalnc
iMY1hN“Sunbae, Master.”wli7YY
CSYdMz“Ah, you’re okay! Thank goodness!”CSr0L
YYI6ZdG“My disciple. Are you hurt anywhere?”ZXV
7Uy4Thankfully, it seemed that the two of them were fine. I could only hope the same for the rest.ocz
OEDVbl“Do you think you can come over?”VI8p
U3E“Uun. They’re too tough! They keep growing back up the more I cut them, so it’s not easy.”ZCuG
yQJHP“It might be because of me too. These roots… they’re absorbing my divine energy.”ntcb
6Dwv“Are you okay?”60E5N
EZKmVdR“I’m fine, but it feels like they’re getting stronger because of me.”rFA
K40PQ8qIt was a fact at this point that the roots of the World Tree could devour divine energy. In that case…2GBB
Wp4KFSQ“It can’t be helped. Besides, our objective was to follow the path of the roots anyway.”BwJucx
yvgVThe roots were always headed for the same place. In other words, there was a place we could reach by following the trajectory of these roots.T4nbJEp
UBiArriving at the three wells and stopping the growth of the World Tree was the beginning of the raid.mIE4q5M
9OLJ“It seems like we will each have to do our best in groups. Master. Marie-sunbae. I’ll leave that side to you guys. I have no idea where that will lead to, though.”D3D7BPa
emLX“Fuu… Fine. Don’t worry about us and be safe.”PcqA4Nf
o0zIAfter bidding farewell to Master and Marie-sunbae, I headed to Estelle who was trying to settle the army.Otecz
k90XYN“How are the other battalions?”t8g
g8uwcXO“It looks like we have been completely separated from Miruam’s group. I’m sure she will be able to manage, but it’s the same for others.”2Gm
zm1Uzg2“…We’re all completely divided up.”n1zZ
35Dl“Yeah, just as they wanted.”p5ljb
lMi1ykfIt did follow a similar plan in the game. Although the player wouldn’t have ever had an army this big, on the way to the World Tree, they still had to divide up into three groups and follow the roots for the raid.Akui
wYvIn three groups, go up the roots and raid the three wells of water and destroy them to stop the growth of the World Tree. That was the 1st phase of the World Tree raid.fsitk3
4PkV‘The problem is that it’s a lot worse than how it was in the game.’ytwp
dfRULight had vanished and it was pitch black, and the growth of the World Tree was at a speed and scale incomparable to what was mentioned in the game.oyW5
V59bc“What should we do, dongsaeng?”MRzX
QlhEstelle asked anxiously, hoping that I would be able to give her a response that could settle her uneasiness down.4Zz
hOA2FlF“We will be wasting our energy cutting these roots down. The energy source of these roots are the three wells, so we should regroup our army in this area and aim for the well.”SxNVpaL
vu3mDZI explained while keeping myself as calm as possible.PJryB9
oUjZZ2IThe original plan was to storm each side at a time with sheer force but that became impossible.zutI
EFmtcpThere was approximately 200,000 in our group including the rear army, but the rearguard was fully cut off by the roots, and it was hard to tell where the vanguards were because of the little roots blocking our path.rj4tmlK
Tt5PkhPFrom a glance, it seemed that there were less than 10,000 in this area, which would go down in numbers even more if we took out the injured.Ak5mD
YEf“They won’t let us take the easy path, it seems.”tbC3GS
qJlMk“…Yeah.”q9wYvh
dbBSo“But it will be better after we raid the wells. Tell everyone to bring themselves back together and continue moving.”DSIlL
H89“Okay. Captain!”L3tT9eG
ebh2Hd“Yes, Your Holiness!” replied the captain of the Holy Knights.GArYLDE
C3R“Take care of the injured and tell everyone to get prepared to move on!”mQYGr0
MP1S1We gathered as much as we could and followed where the main root had come from.QXQy
XYnHWs“Korin-ssi… Where are we headed?”X4hu9
TdI“There are three energy sources for the World Tree.”iik
eTnHqPThe well of Urdarbrunnr, Hvergelmr, and Mimisbrunnr.LtF9rZl
4C04h1“The worst of them is Hvergelmr.”J8UY1
BdUTBvOn that path would be an endless amount of undead and the dragon of death. It was the most dangerous and difficult road.MABFS
5uvWoO“Ugh… I hope this is not it.”mQJP7
gusuAU“No, in fact, it has to be that.” I replied.Eqa
BIX3K“Huh?”yyoe7
VR9Zpq“The two others are comparatively easy but not Hvergelmr. We have to break through with the most number of elites. And…”0CUij
dAw“Is it because our group is the strongest?”9cFRTB
n4H“Yeah.”o5i
kXU6The named characters in our group were me and Alicia, Hua Ran and Estelle. It was the best group to have for a fight against a dragon.EnGb0D
JQpZz“If only I could deal with all the risks.”RZwDu
Smy05The other two roads won’t be that easy either. One of the paths would have a massive hawk and the other was filled by four predatory stags.PV44vd
gHNOPWe were walking down when a few soldiers came rushing from the front.Lt8
JpCa“Your Holiness! A message from the scouts! We have found a group of corpses!”EQZ5f
z4n“…Was it from the vanguards of our army?”SHx
mkg“Yes. They were the barabaria… the northern warriors!”bI9K7N
eWaIt appeared that a group that had been separated from us had also followed the roots up, but had been attacked by an unknown group.d1CP
mmyOf course, we had conveyed to the entire army about the nature of the enemy.8IU
mfeMost of the military under Tates Valtazar were the Shadow Beasts, who would thrive the most in this darkness.xQjGefb
K8i“Let me take the lead from the front.”85UeXT
pGRGF16“Are you sure, dongsaeng?”Ouad
znrBac“I don’t have any talent at commanding an army. So I should be taking these roles instead.”FcyHV
J9P“… I believe you will be safe.”3Vldlr
wdNpK2I took the trustworthy Alicia and Hua Ran and headed to the front of the army.AcrzoiY
3K1RrN“These way please, Sir Korin.”gwp
wSocAt the front were at least a hundred corpses and among them were also soldiers and knights of the kingdom. The problem, however…0w2Yei1
Wb6leE“There aren’t any signs of battle.”g2w
oIyGrvq“…They’re all chopped up.”N5il
0kqwbsAlicia and Hua Ran were also puzzled by the state of the corpses, and how there was not a single sign of battle nearby.aw0xwKV
HBZRJThis could only mean one thing.xS0niHM
RX8“Something must have chopped a hundred people at once. What a monster.”MP7bZ5
fhUmAmong the northerners were great warriors, mages, and warriors at the level of knights. All of them died without having the time to do anything.aZTu
56wghAlthough the power balance did get crazy towards the final war, there still weren’t many people capable of doing such a thing.20Fevu
2izg“Eochaid Bres.”7IRpLP
x1aThe previous previous previous King of Gods. Unless it was him who could wield the mountain-severing blade with his sheer force—c9E1LL
p1J98x“That is exactly right. Nemesis of the Light.”mHHaq
jQ9jA familiar voice was heard from the darkness.y2TZOg
ihA– Clonk!qEb
rDGDbhIt was followed by the sound of armor hitting the ground.TVGMbY
mW2I– Gugugugugugu…!7tX
ZN3ZrSoon, a radiant light of golden mana brightened up the world as if he was trying to let the world see his beauty.3y3cfiu
nQ33gDespite wearing dashing armor and having a brilliant appearance, his eyes could not hide the violence and brutality hiding within.FL511V3
1AHlZ“Korin-ssi… Looks like we picked the worst of the worst.”lAyWLP
C15ZiHU“…Yeah.”ML3X
OXtBEochaid Bres.kORcQ
obsAHe stood there looking at us with a greatsword dripping with blood over his shoulders.8WT5Ym
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