Chapter 267 – Center of Change
Squish!
The Seed of the World Tree and the Shadow of the World Tree.
The mont the two entities made contact, Fenry’s shadow twitched and reacted.
Like a living creature, the shadow leapt into the air, wrapped around the seed, and slowly seeped into the ground.
Just like that, beneath the seed, a “shadow”—proof of existence in this world—was born.
At that mont—
“Fenry!”
The seed swallowed Fenry and burrowed beneath the remains of the Millennium Tree.
I rushed forward in alarm, but quickly hesitated and stepped back.
“What do you an by ‘becos real’?!”
[Exactly as you see before you.]
The grave of the rotten Millennium Tree.
Atop the mound of decayed remains, a single vibrant green sprout began to bloom. And then—
Drdrdrdrdr—!
It began growing at an incredible speed.
“Th-this is insane!”
My eyes followed it upward.
An unbelievable rate of growth.
The sprout, initially the size of a fingernail, expanded rapidly and soared upward as if piercing the sky.
It was like watching the beanstalk grow in the movie Jack and the Beanstalk.
Simultaneously, the massive remains of the Millennium Tree piled like a hill began to sink into the earth, as if being absorbed to nourish the sprout.
The sprout soon grew into an enormous tree.
Beneath it, a long black shadow stretched across the ground.
The presence emanating from that shadow made the witches flinch and tremble.
A presence unlike anything they had felt before.
This was…
[The Shadow King.]
“…Don’t tell , it revealed itself through Fenry as a dium?”
[An elf’s vessel isn’t sufficient. It manifested using the World Tree as a dium.]
“The World Tree…?”
Reto seed to have acknowledged that tree as the World Tree.
I looked up at the World Tree.
Though smaller than the Millennium Tree, its growth hadn’t truly stopped. It seed destined to keep growing, eventually surpassing even the Millennium Tree in size.
“So the one who granted a shadow to the seed was the Shadow King.”
[To match the ‘level’ of the World Tree, the power of the Shadow King was necessary. However, the Shadow King cannot act of his own will. The one who allowed the seed to have a shadow was that dark elf.]
“Fenry!”
At the base of the now-still World Tree’s trunk, Fenry appeared, unconscious.
I quickly rushed over and supported her, checking her condition.
There were no visible injuries.
The only noticeable change was in Banri, the shadow spirit that remained by her side.
From Fenry’s shadow, a cute girl quietly erged.
A miniature version of Fenry—now half her size.
Had it evolved into a higher-ranked spirit?
It seed that this event had triggered Banri’s evolution as well.
…
Fenry regained consciousness.
Blinking slowly, she looked up at , then furrowed her brows deeply.
‘…Damn it, I was just swimming in a mountain of gold a second ago.’
“It was a nonsense dream.”
“…A nonsense dream? If what that tree said to was true, then this world is about to undergo massive change—and that was a nonsense dream...?”
“The mountain of gold was nonsense. What the tree said is probably true. What kind of change did it ntion exactly?”
Could she communicate with the World Tree? Since she was now bound to its essence, it seed possible.
“It said the boundaries would begin to collapse rapidly.”
“Boundaries...? What do you an by that?”
Fenry scratched her head while stroking the now-larger Banri, her expression complex.
“Banri’s evolution wasn’t just a coincidence. Big and small changes will start to occur. All centered around this tree.”
I looked up at the tree alongside her.
A towering, mysterious tree exuding a subtle, radiant glow.
If it was causing change, what kind of transformation would co to Ordor Forest?
“Reto?”
I tried to ask Reto, but for so reason, the usually talkative Reto had gone completely silent.
Even after calling several tis, there was no response.
Could Reto be part of the change Fenry had ntioned?
I quickly looked around.
There weren’t any major, imdiately noticeable changes.
However, I saw Lily had regained consciousness and was waking up.
Lily Base.
The most talented witch when it ca to sensing unseen changes.
To grasp this transformation intuitively, reading the divine spirits around us would be the most accurate thod.
I ran over to Lily.
“Ugh…”
“Lily, are you alright?”
Elder deia checked on the now-awake Lily, but she suddenly pushed deia away and stepped in front of the massive tree.
In her eyes, which shimred with a transparent light, sothing no one else could see was reflected—divine essence.
[World Tree – Land of Desire (WISH)]
She blankly stared up at the tree and murmured softly.
“…What is this…?”
Looking up at the new being born where the Millennium Tree had once stood, she was briefly overwheld.
“Lily!”
“…Ah!”
She widened her eyes as she saw Arthur approaching quickly.
[Heart of Retonicalus (Assimilation Rate: 44%)]
Assimilation Rate 45%.
Assimilation Rate 46%.
Assimilation Rate 47%...
The assimilation rate of the heart in the list of divine essences was rising rapidly.
“What’s going on…?”
White hair fluttered in the breeze.
Arcane, having stopped in place, slowly surveyed the completely changed landscape.
He had been crossing the Ghost Forest.
Suddenly, the colorless, dried-out forest beca vibrant, the ghosts vanished like mirages, and thick life energy began to saturate the land.
The Ghost Forest had disappeared.
And then—
Vhoooom!!
Arcane silently stared at the necklace in his hand.
The necklace he had taken from Kal began to glow green and tremble as it cried out.
As the necklace pointed in a direction, he turned his eyes that way. A mont later, Arcane’s narrow eyes widened sharply.
“…That is…”
Beyond the now-living forest—
Even from an enormous distance, he could see the massive tree clearly.
It wasn’t the Millennium Tree.
Could it be that the Millennium Tree had awakened anew?
Sothing incredible that he didn’t understand had definitely happened.
What should he do?
Arcane didn’t overthink it. Whenever he was lost, a revelation had always guided him.
He figured this ti would be no different.
However—
His earring remained silent.
Arcane, his expression hardening, carefully grasped the earring.
At that mont—
Yin.
Arcane’s eyes shot open in confusion.
For the first ti, he felt sothing new from the earring.
A single emotion, tangled and complex.
Surprise, confusion—and joy.
Was this emotion coming from the one who sent revelations?
He had thought it was a distant relationship between god and creation, but at so point, he had begun to feel the emotions of the Revealer.
The distance between himself and the Revealer seed to have suddenly shortened.
Realizing this, an impure thought briefly crept into his mind.
‘Could it be... that even the Revealer doesn’t know what just happened?’
Staring at the mystical tree in the distance, Arcane shook his head to dispel the thought, then sat calmly atop a nearby boulder.
Without a revelation, he would simply observe.
That was his decision—to quietly watch the situation unfold.
Besides, there was soone nearby better suited to interpret this than himself.
The Tower Alliance—Demtor.
Now that the Ghost Forest was gone, what kind of move would the unshackled Demtor make?
***
In a red tent, the Stars were gathered.
They sat in silence for a while.
They had gathered to determine accountability for the battle that had occurred today.
Breaking the silence, the first to speak was Modin, master of the Ivory Tower.
He adjusted his glasses slightly and said,
“It seems we were deceived by that border lord.”
“Deceived? We were?”
“There was a fatal flaw in the voodoo dolls. That golden light—they were all neutralized with a single blast. Do you think the border lord didn’t know that?”
“...Hmm.”
“Once the dolls were neutralized, the attacks were concentrated on the Stars. As a result, we lost Lindbergh. A devastating and disgraceful outco.”
“But we did eliminate two Dortas.”
“Still, we lost the battle. We gained nothing. The dead Dortas’ absence will be filled by reinforcents.”
At Modin’s blunt statent, Clarke clenched his teeth.
He recalled the border lord who had contacted him days ago—Kal Blazer.
He had provided hundreds of voodoo dolls and revealed a plan to eliminate the Dortas. After a long discussion, they were convinced of success and launched this campaign.
In terms of results, they did succeed in eliminating the Dortas.
Up to that point, they had believed in a perfect victory.
After eliminating the Dortas, they planned to use the dolls to pressure the witches further.
But—
The golden light.
One man’s power turned everything to dust.
The failure of the plan was painful, but the greater loss was the irreversible damage they suffered.
They lost Lindbergh.
One of the Stars was now barely clinging to life.
Clarke turned to Ella.
“How is Lindbergh?”
“To be honest... it’s bad.”
“Even outside the forest?”
“Even for Demtor, saving him is difficult. He won’t survive the night.”
The severed limbs had already caused critical blood loss. The sword wound had struck a vital mana hole, and now his mana was slowly leaking out.
Given that Ella was the most skilled healer in Demtor, Lindbergh’s life was effectively over.
Modin brought up another point.
“Our intelligence was also flawed. Hunt’s strength was far greater than Kal described.”
Since Hunt was responsible for Lindbergh’s condition, the information wasn’t just wrong—it was dangerously wrong.
Had Ren and Ella not arrived in ti, even Clarke might have been caught in a disaster.
Despite receiving their help, Clarke aid his frustration at Ren.
“Ren, Hunt ca from the direction of the Ordor Forest. Why didn’t you stop them?”
“I was moving to rescue Gram.”
“But didn’t you see the priority flare? According to Demtor’s rules, Gram took precedence. If anyone is responsible, it’s Gram for calling us, not .”
At Ren’s words, the Stars turned their eyes to a woman.
A beautiful woman with blonde hair tinged with red. Having arrived in a disheveled state, she bit her lip and trembled subtly.
“I-I’m sorry…”
Like a fragile flower bruised by the wind—she was acting.
But no one noticed the performance.
Looking at Gram, Clarke’s voice softened.
“Why did you fire the signal flare?”
“I was being pursued. I panicked… it was life or death…”
“She left formation without consulting any of the Stars. And also…”
Ren glared at Gram and continued.
“The Black Butterflies have been annihilated.”
“…What?!”
This ti, even Clarke looked truly shocked.
The Black Butterflies were one of Gram’s most significant research assets.
Demtor had invested heavily in them through the Black Tower.
And now they were gone?
“We found dozens of completely destroyed Black Butterfly corpses in the forest, following Gram’s trail. Ask her if any still remain in her lab—she won’t be able to answer.”
As Ren pressed her accusations, Gram lowered her head and trembled.
But behind her hidden expression, her face twisted like a true demon.
‘This is bad.’
Since joining Demtor, this was her greatest crisis. If she couldn’t overco this, her plans to take control of Demtor would fall apart.
She needed a change—sothing to divert the Stars’ attention.
“…Ah!”
And that change began with Ella’s faint gasp.
The Ghost Forest had vanished.
As abundant mana swept through the tent, Gram’s eyes lit up.
A plan to flip the situation suddenly ca to mind.
User Comments
0 comments from readers