◈ Episode 491. Fertilizer (7)
The World Tree.
On the Arcana Continent, the Mother of All Things had once borrowed Haiel’s mouth to convey her will.
Thinking back on that memory... ‘It was incredibly unfamiliar.’ Her gaze and tone had changed from usual.
It was only for an instant, but it was enough to say that the World Tree had dwelled in Haiel’s body and mind. In that sense, I could guess why Granfell had expressed his regret right off the bat.
“It means I will not permit it.”
He wasn’t the sort to ask anyone else for permission in the first place, and yet, even when he said the same thing, really...
As everyone already knows, is our Lord Granfell someone who would be swayed by others? It meant there was no exception, even if that other was the mother of the Arcana Continent, the World Tree. ‘...After everything I’ve received, I’m sorry.’
As the youngest member on the World Tree’s family register, I apologized.
Of course, I couldn’t say it out loud.
It was only the voice in my heart, but sincerity had a way of getting through. If she was the Mother of All Things, perhaps she could understand the emotions hidden beneath my iron mask...?
‘...What an absurd thing to hope for, Hoyeol.’
It was the moment I thought that.
—Indeed, so that is how it is. I shall respect your will.
The World Tree’s voice answered.
As the person concerned, I could tell by instinct.
This was not her saying she would respect Granfell’s shameless refusal.
The World Tree had accepted the apology I conveyed. ‘...Wait, if she answered my thoughts.’
Could it be that, being the World Tree and all, she knew? Where the history of the Claudi family began, and what sort of dark past connected me, Lee Hoyeol, to Granfell...!
‘No, you really don’t need to know that much...!’
Just as my cheeks suddenly began to heat up.
Swoop.
My fingers caught a single fluttering leaf.
In the stillness, as if time had stopped.
How would I look in the eyes of the others?
Perhaps it might seem as though I had summoned the World Tree.
If so, not only the mages of the Magic Tower and Baek Yiseol. ‘Since this is reality, it might even be being broadcast from somewhere.’
Perhaps, in a situation where the entire world might be watching.
I calmly moved my hand.
I moved my lips.
“This is not your arrangement.”
...
You still weren’t done, were you, with that damned spite of yours!
“It is our struggle.”
Not the World Tree’s arrangement, but a struggle.
And who, exactly, is Lord Granfell?
It would not be an exaggeration to call him the foremost expert at making a show of his achievements in a plausible manner.
This time, too, Granfell was definitely taking subtle credit.
However.
“Oried’s change of heart, Yugweed’s actions, the wounds of those who fought to the death on the Arcana Continent before reality did, and the sacrifices of those who closed their eyes in reality at this very moment.”
This time, I would have to join him in taking that credit. ‘The World Tree, your arrangement?’
Look at what happened because of that damned arrangement.
Look at what the neglected spirit, Oried, did.
If I were to affirm your arrangement, World Tree.
It would be no different from affirming Raymon Sean. ‘Honestly, I don’t see much difference between the methods.’
I gripped the leaf tightly.
“That is right. All of it began with our choices.”
As I said just now, our Lord Granfell absolutely detests being swayed by anyone. He was not simply refusing to deliver the World Tree’s words; he was denying the World Tree’s arrangement itself.
In that sense, I was purely worried. ‘Could this lead to...’
Would she take back [Blessing of the First World Tree] as punishment for insolence?
If the effect of that buff became known to the world.
I might be criticized.
Criticized for failing to make better use of such an absurdly overpowered buff.
That was how overpowered the effect of [Blessing of the First World Tree] was.
Which meant I had no choice but to feel regret.
But petty little Lee Hoyeol and the World Tree were built on different scales.
Even in the face of Granfell’s impossibly upright words.
The World Tree still answered in a gentle voice.
—I shall respect that thought as well.
That was not merely words.
Light began pouring out from Granfell’s fist, which held the leaf.
In time with it, my vision flickered.
[You have unlocked the stat, ‘???’.]
It was clearly written as unknown.
And yet, I could tell by instinct.
It was the power of {Nature}.
Because it was an unknown power different from both [Skills] and 『Magic』.
A third power that even the system could not express. ‘Just as quests related to the Demon World show question marks.’
Was it because I knew that fact? Even after refusing the First World Tree, I could handle the awakened [Blessing of the First World Tree]. To be precise, it was the power contained in a single leaf, but...
Whooooosh.
If my mana, of a completely different caliber, was added to it, the story changed.
Even if the Fusion Intelligent Entity, a golem so enormous its end could not be seen, was the very anomaly that fused Oried’s {Nature} power and Yugweed’s 『Magic』 together. I told you, didn’t I?
‘The caliber is different.’
An anomalous force rose from me.
“H-how, how, how can this be?”
Only then did he have enough leeway to look this way?
Bensch’s gaze, who had been blocking the Fusion Intelligent Entity alone, turned toward me.
For some reason, his eyes looked deeply moved.
“Chief Lee! Behind you, is that perhaps the W-World Tree...?!”
I gave him a single nod.
“As expected...!!”
I wasn’t answering that pointless question, Senior Bensch William. My nod was a kind of signal. A signal that if he didn’t want to get caught up in this, he should teleport out of that place immediately.
Perhaps someone else understood that meaning in his stead.
Bangrit.
He shouted toward Bensch.
“Senior Bensch, get out of there now!!”
It was thanks to his booming voice. Bensch immediately activated teleportation and put distance between himself and the Fusion Intelligent Entity. Soon after, a thunderous roar rang through the heart of Seoul.
Ruuumble—boom—!
A collision of anomalies.
Me and the Fusion Intelligent Entity.
The aftermath of a contest of strength without an inch of concession.
Before long, it began to show through the storm of mana particles.
A flustered voice rang out.
“The M-Magic Tower...?”
Indeed, it was enough to leave one unable to continue speaking easily.
Because it was probably the first time in the history of Arcana.
That the top floor of the Magic Tower had been blown away without a trace.
*
The top floor of the Magic Tower.
All the karma brought about by the Magic Tower had not begun in the Crystal Hall, nor in the Topaz Hall, nor in the Emerald Hall, nor even in the Garnet Hall, where vicious magic tools were stored.
—A damned place.
The root cause was the top floor, which did nothing to help pursue truth and instead fostered a sense of superiority. Now that she had fallen into unconsciousness, Yugweed openly expressed the self-loathing she had been suppressing.
“Poor Yugweed.”
The Spirit King of Earth.
Oried.
Within her grasp.
Yugweed and Oried.
A space of consciousness where only the two of them existed.
Control of that consciousness lay with Oried.
Yugweed sat in a chair.
Soon, Oried approached her and stroked her hair. A head small enough to fit snugly in both hands. The sensation at her fingertips told her Yugweed’s state.
“You are still nothing but a child, Yugweed.”
In her consciousness, Yugweed had the form of a child around five or six years old.
Oried stroked her head.
Gently caressing her hair, she whispered.
“What else made you lonely, Yugweed? You may tell me everything. There is no need to doubt me. Did I not find even the Magic Tower that vanished from the Arcana Continent and allow you to destroy it with your own hands like this?”
To think she had been clinging to consciousness even in this state.
Indeed, she had not climbed to the position of elder mage for nothing.
Even so, Oried smiled.
“But remember that the time will soon arrive. When all the games are over, that is when you will come down from the chair and fall into a nap. A sweet sleep from which you will never wake.”
It was only a matter of time.
Even if Yugweed’s consciousness returned now, it no longer mattered.
If she saw what her unconsciousness had done, if she realized she had attacked the Magic Tower with her own hands, then you, who were nothing more than a fragile girl, would give up everything.
Sss.
Oried whispered again.
“Because you are a pure child.”
That was why Oried could guess what Yugweed’s final lingering attachment was.
You must certainly be looking for “them.”
“Let’s see. There they are.”
The Shadow Mercenaries.
“Disbanding does not make that hideous stench disappear.”
The Arcana Continent.
The members of the Shadow Mercenaries had begun their offensive against the body of the Fusion Intelligent Entity.
Yugweed’s unconsciousness also noticed the existence of the Shadow Mercenaries.
Flinch.
At her reaction, Oried’s eyes gleamed sharply.
“Make them pay for their sins.”
At the same time, the Fusion Intelligent Entity raid on the Arcana Continent, which had seemed to be over, resumed. Yes, to express it in the style of the Arcana Continent Chronicles, it was the beginning of the hidden phase that had been concealed.
Ruuuumble.
Its body had grown lighter because its upper half had been half destroyed.
The situation everyone had feared unfolded.
The Fusion Intelligent Entity slowly stood up.
It straightened its enormous body.
Naturally, the place its first step headed toward was.
“You may trample them as much as you like.”
The place where the former members of the Shadow Mercenaries had gathered.
A natural disaster that could neither be stopped nor avoided.
However, the foot of the Fusion Intelligent Entity never trampled them.
The Arcana Continent and reality.
Because she was watching two completely different worlds at the same time, she saw it. The 『Reversal』 of the situation. To put it plainly, the sight of the collapsed Magic Tower being raised again through 『Reversal Magic』.
...
Flinch.
The top floor of the Magic Tower had been restored.
My actions had been rendered meaningless.
Yugweed’s unconsciousness convulsed.
Snap.
Oried’s hand, which had been stroking her head, also stopped.
“You truly are a bizarre existence, Claudi.”
She had tried not to think about it because she wanted to focus on maintaining control over the consciousness.
But without pondering it, she could not possibly find an answer.
Oried’s brow furrowed.
“How is it that you, who died on the Arcana Continent, are breathing just fine in that world? Do you still have the authority of resurrection left in you? Why only you...!”
But there was no need to get agitated.
“No, fine.”
Because that was all.
He, who was in reality, could not exert influence over the Arcana Continent. Even if, at this moment, he had become able to fully handle the World Tree’s authority, that fact would not change.
“You cannot stop our march.”
Yugweed.
The moment this pitiful girl trampled and destroyed the Shadow Mercenaries, the final obstacle, her consciousness would collapse completely, and control of the Fusion Intelligent Entity would return fully to Oried.
After that...
“At last, I shall...!”
It was the moment Oried murmured in ecstasy.
A voice pierced through the consciousness and rang out.
It was the voice of Claudi, of Hoyeol.
“You may thank me, Yugweed.”
...
She could thank him, all of a sudden?
Words out of nowhere.
Without realizing it, Oried listened closely.
“If not for my Reversal Magic, according to the strict rules of the Magic Tower, you would have been brought before the Round Table Conference and imprisoned forever in the Mugan (Avici) beneath the Magic Tower.”
In this situation, he was talking about the rigid rules of the Magic Tower? Oried could not understand. She quietly covered Yugweed’s ears with both hands.
Then she whispered softly.
“You should focus on the worms of Arcana, shouldn’t you?”
But the words continued, unconcerned.
“However, reversal is not something manifested only through magic. That is right, former elder mage Yugweed. Everything can be reversed. Humans are no exception.”
Humans were no exception?
‘Could he be talking about the Shadow Mercenaries...?’
At those words, she looked more closely.
Then she saw.
What they were doing in a situation where their own lives were at stake.
“!”
The members of the Shadow Mercenaries were rescuing the people of the empire.
Even though the shadow of death loomed over their own heads.
Without paying it the slightest heed.
Thud.
It was then.
The Fusion Intelligent Entity staggered greatly.
Oried covered Yugweed’s ears even more tightly and whispered wickedly.
“No, humans do not change. Especially the weight of the sins humans commit. The sins accumulated by the Shadow Mercenaries, of course, and the sins you have accumulated at this moment can never disappear...!”
But once again, words that denied her followed.
“The same applies to the path you have walked, Yugweed.”
“Shut up!!!”
Oried shouted emotionally without realizing it.
But through that emotional action.
Oried lost control of the consciousness.
And in that moment, the situation was 『Reversed』.
“Even if everything is reversed, there is one thing that cannot be turned back.”
Hair that had gone white before anyone knew it.
Skin naturally bearing the passage of time.
And yet, the face of a girl still faintly remained.
“How...?”
To the astonished Oried, Yugweed added with a sly smile.
“It seems even the years that have passed cannot be reversed, can they, Chief Lee?”
*
A hopeless situation.
The players’ vision flickered.
As if to tell them they had not seen an illusion.
[The Fusion Intelligent Entity Yugweed is self-destructing.]
“Resurrection, the World Tree, and now a monster is self-destructing on its own...?!”
Reality.
The Arcana Continent.
It was the moment the final phase that would shake both worlds began.