Chapter 176
Sefirot, the World Tree, stood in the center of Elvenheim in the fifth zone of Forestis. It was several times bigger than the Burj Khalifa of Dubai, and it was so tall that its apex couldn’t be seen. Its branches covered the entire city, spanning its shadow throughout the city like a net.
It shone with a flickering emerald light as if it were in suffering, and its roots sprouted from the ground, squirming like worms. Its roots had already reached the fourth and third zones, having destroyed over a hundred cities, and continued to absorb power as if it were determined to absorb all nutrients in the world.
Grey-skinned elves were kneeling in a circle around the World Tree.
“Mother Tree!”
“Ahhh! Please cheer up!”
“I offer you my Nature Force!”
Their hands were raised, each offering the tree a beautiful, bright, fluorescent green sphere. It was fluffy like a gathering of dandelion spores. The elves simultaneously let go of the spheres, and the spores flew up to the sky and were absorbed by the World Tree. The World Tree’s branches shook as if expressing its gratitude, and the wind generated from the shaking blew on the elves’ cheeks.
“Ahhh!”
“Please...”
“You must overcome it!”
The flying of mystically shining dandelion spores and the entire city being dyed in a green light looked as if it had come straight out of a fairy tale. Two male elves looked down at the sight from afar. They both had grey skin, but one had green eyes while the other had blue eyes.
“My poor... fellow elves...” mumbled Radix, the green-eyed elf. “They’re letting their powers be taken without knowing the truth. Damn the keliy ceremony. Where do they think all that power goes? The ten Sefirah and their bloodlines monopolize it.”
“I’ve only ever heard about the keliy ceremony from you, but seeing it myself makes me want to puke,” the blue-eyed elf said, smiling bitterly.
Radix looked at him and remarked, “This is why I didn’t want to return to Elvenheim. They do that shit daily.”
“But we managed to enter Elvenheim before it was closed off, thanks to you. Lumber the World Tree, huh? Do you believe me now?”
Radix nodded and said, “Now, we elves will have no choice but to go to war against the other races. How many elves... will be sacrificed?”
The male elf standing beside Radix said, “We’re here to stop that from happening. Let’s move.”
“Yeah... That aside, is your disguise still alright, Kang-San?”
“Oh, this?” The blue-eyed elf smiled as he touched his face. “It’s great. My junior sure has an interesting item.”
Kang-San, who had disguised himself as a male elf, examined the artifact skill, Myriad Faces, built into the Myriad Cheoyong Mask.
[Myriad Faces (Artifact Skill)
Rank: Shared - A(7)
Description: The wearer can change their face, language, voice, aura, body, and clothing into those of the individual they touch, once every 6 hours. The wearer can also change into the forms of other races. The skill is highly resistant to detection skills.
Duration: Proportional to mana capacity
Cooldown: 6 hours]
Seong-Hwi had only raised the artifact to C-rank, but he had handed it to Kang-San, telling him to try scratching the lottery ticket. Kang-San couldn’t help but chuckle because Seong-Hwi’s intentions had been too obvious. He was trying to raise the rank of his artifact with someone else’s Karma. However, the possible benefits upon success were too big to refuse. Kang-San had invested the Karma, resulting in a huge success.
The ability to change into the forms of other races, and a high resistance to detection skills... I’m not sure if it can also fool Veritas Oculus, but it’s been alright so far, Kang-San thought.
He said to Radix, “Contact Viridis. They’ll guide us to Keter.”
He then mumbled inwardly, You’d better bring me what you mentioned, Cheon Seong-Hwi.
Even if Kang-San succeeded, the plan would fail if Seong-Hwi failed. In the worst-case scenario, the World Tree War would begin with him deep in enemy territory.
***
“Next is the sub-sixth floor.”
“That’s the last floor, right? I suppose we can say goodbye to our cart rides after this.”
Seong-Hwi organized his thoughts as he watched his teammates getting on a mine cart.
The World Tree War lasted for two years in my past life, and Sefirot abruptly stopped its rampage one day.
The details were never revealed, but rumor had it that the item that stopped the World Tree’s rampage had come from Subterra.
Unlike now, the dwarves and angels had joined forces.
Hence, the angels also monopolized Subterra and obtained something from the dungeon, using it to negotiate with the elves. As a result, the elves were forced to give up on half of Forestis. Seong-Hwi expected it did not end at that; the angels had likely taken all of Elvenheim’s treasures. Since keeping the World Tree alive was all that mattered to the elves, they would have accepted any unfair condition.
A few months later, Creo declared the full reclamation of the eighth zone and succeeded in breaking through the ninth zone, which was considered the nescius at the time.
Seong-Hwi assumed that Creo had obtained a source of immense power from the elves.
It even made the God of Heaven stronger. If I can obtain it this time... the gap between me and the Ten Lords and Fiends will be drastically reduced!
Just then, Chaya, who was the eighth to get on the mine cart, said, “I will get on first, hyung-nim.”
“Sure.”
Seong-Hwi stared at Chaya’s back with deeply sunken black eyes, thinking, It’s nice that you think of me as a saint, but... You’ll be disappointed one day, Chaya Singh Rai.
He had never once thought of himself as a saint. For example, people would normally consider preventing a war from happening to be meaningful work. They would be preventing an entire race from being eradicated while minimizing harm to humanity.
However, Seong-Hwi thought otherwise. He would never have gotten involved in this incident if there had been nothing he could get from negotiating with the elves. He would have used that time to find another way to grow stronger. He only received praise from fellow humans because his personal growth coincided with humanity’s betterment, but a day would come when those two paths would diverge.
When that day comes... I will prioritize my growth.
He was determined to shine brightly—to surpass the Ten Lords and Fiends, and grasp hold of his destiny. He knew that much would be sacrificed in the process, but just as many would be saved from those sacrifices. Salvation required sacrifices, and sacrifices required salvation. It was truly ironic.
My thoughts are a jumble these days. How much has my psyche... been corrupted?
He did not know why; that was part of the restriction he had established. Perhaps he was not even Cheon Seong-Hwi anymore.
He shook his head and thought, It doesn’t matter. What matters isn’t my psyche, but the power to achieve my goals!
Seong-Hwi got on the mine cart last, positioning himself at the back, and sprouted his wings.
[Operating Wings of Evolution.]
[Twelve Wings.]
Mana blazed from the Wings of Evolution, and the momentum generated pushed the mine cart along its tracks toward the sub-sixth floor.
***
Seong-Hwi and the others went even deeper down from where the tracks ended.
“It’s way too dark.”
“The luminous stone intervals are getting longer.”
Unlike the sub-fifth floor, the tunnels of the sub-sixth floor were much narrower. It could mean that this place was special, unlike the floors above, where subterraneans normally resided.
Enrique tapped on his Spy Drone Controller and said, “Weird. I don’t detect any presence.”
“Come on, what are we supposed to do if a volante can’t detect anything?” Douglas said as he tapped his cue stick on his shoulder.
Enrique shook his head and remarked, “There are two possibilities. The enemies either have a stealth skill extraordinary enough that I can’t detect them, or a location is hidden with that kind of powerful skill.”
Just then, the tunnel diverged into two paths.
“Huh? There’s a forked road.”
“Which way do we go?”
The team members turned to Seong-Hwi. Such decisions were up to the commander to make.
“The second possibility is more likely,” Seong-Hwi mumbled as he activated a skill, and a card flew out of the Tarot Deck of Destiny.
It showed a young man with a laurel wreath on his head, standing at the edge of a cliff. He had a white rose in his left hand and a flashy bag in his right. A white dog with its tongue out was following behind him. It was the card No.0 The Fool, and Seong-Hwi planned to use the symbol that represented pure optimism.
[Activating Unique Skill: Symbol Embodiment.]
[Rosenkreuz’s White Rose, one of the symbols of No.0 The Fool]
A white rose appeared in Seong-Hwi’s hand. His teammates focused on the white rose. They were always left shocked by their commander’s huge arsenal of bizarre skills. They wondered what skill he would use to overcome the trial this time.
Seong-Hwi reached for Rosenkreuz’s White Rose with his left hand, and he began to rip off its petals one by one.
“Left. Right. Left. Right...”
The team members stared dumbfounded at Seong-Hwi as he was fortune-telling with rose petals.
Moments later, Seong-Hwi nodded as he ripped off the last petal and said, “It’s left.”
The team went down the left tunnel as Seong-Hwi ordered.
The arriere-garde members, Yong-Su and Ha-Eun, whispered to each other.
“Is this okay? Isn’t he just leaving it to luck?” Ha-Eun said.
“I knew he was an odd comrade, but...”
Yong-Su shook his head. Their questionable exploration of the sub-sixth floor began.
***
They were met with countless forked paths. The sub-sixth floor was a maze-type dungeon that consisted of twisting tunnels and multiple entrances. Seong-Hwi received the help of Rosenkreuz’s White Rose each time they needed to choose which way to go and arrived at their destination.
“It’s a dead end.”
“It sure is...”
They were met with a giant boulder blocking their way. Seong-Hwi stared intently at the dead end.
“Should we turn around, Seong-Hwi?” asked Leo at the avant-garde as he scratched his head.
“I-it’s okay, hyung-nim. Even monkeys fall from trees sometimes,” said Chaya at the mid-garde beside Seong-Hwi to console him.
Even the usually stoic Yuki laughed. “Pfft! I suppose even you’re prone to mistakes! I’m glad to see you’re human, like all of us.”
Just then, Seong-Hwi smiled and replied, “No, we’ve come to the right place.”
“What?”
“Isn’t it a dead end?”
“What are you talking about?”
The team members stared at Seong-Hwi in confusion. Seong-Hwi approached the dead end and pulled a golden card from the Tarot Deck of Destiny.
[Activating Unique Skill: Borrowing Destiny.]
[Macedonia’s King of Conquerors]
[Activating Unique Skill: Symbol Embodiment.]
[Knot-severing Sword]
Seong-Hwi borrowed the destiny of Alexander the Great, and an extravagantly decorated gold sword appeared in his hand.
He said confidently, “Believe in my heroic self.”
“Why is he talking like that?”
“Heroic self?”
Seong-Hwi ignored Douglas and Evgeny, raising the Knot-severing Sword and activating a skill.
[Activating Exclusive Skill: Rule Breaker.]
“Haaap!”
Seong-Hwi thrust the sword deep into the boulder. The boulder shockingly vanished without a trace, revealing a wall mixed with various metals. Once the unknown skill, disguised as a dead end, disappeared, the team members felt a chilling aura emanating from the other side of the metal wall.
“Hah, an illusion? I was completely fooled.”
“It was blocking not only sight, but the exuding mana.”
“I feel... enormous power.”
“Such concentrated Chaos Mana... There’s no doubt about it. The area beyond this wall is the boss room,” Enrique remarked.
“How do we break through this wall? It doesn’t seem to be an ordinary metal wall,” Ha-Eun said, sensing the immense amount of mana infused in the metal wall.
“There’s no problem. Metal is like biscuits before Seong-Hwi hyung-nim,” Chaya said proudly.
Seong-Hwi placed his hand on the metal wall and activated a skill.
[Activating Skill: Rust of Ruin.]
Dark red rust spread radially throughout the metal wall from Seong-Hwi’s hand. The metal wall screeched as if it were screaming against its natural enemy.
***
Yuki’s Mannequin Army smashed the metal wall that Seong-Hwi had corroded and discovered the space beyond the wall.
“Hah, what a surprise.”
“Wow!”
“What is this? A city?”
“The houses look like harmonicas.”
They were met with a giant city filled with quadrangular buildings made of dirt, rock, and metal. There were also workshops, street lamps, plazas, parks, and other infrastructure.
“The subterraneans wished to live in their home dimension, huh?” Seong-Hwi mumbled, recalling the description of the dungeon quest, Rest to Subterra.
Various individuals suffered from homesickness, unable to forget their memories of their home dimension. Such people wished at least to spend their days inside the dungeons of their home dimension. They were as dangerous as role players, far too immersed in their roles. A dungeon was fundamentally a world on the brink of collapse. Those who wished to live in such a place were nothing but suicidal.
Seeing this city, Seong-Hwi could understand how the subterraneans felt. They wished to live here forever, in the Trophonius dimension, where they could never return.
“How pitiful... and foolish...” Seong-Hwi mumbled.
Just then, a voice echoed throughout the city.
Don’t be like that. We had our circumstances.