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Chapter 310: Spirit Forest (7)
Feeling the air grow heavy in an instant, Fran whispered quietly.
“Oscar, doesn’t it feel like things are going in a bad direction?”
“Well….”
Oscar trailed off with an ambiguous answer.
A crisis for soone could always beco an opportunity for soone else.
Evelyn bit her lip and asked,
“The Mother Tree? Oh no…”
“Your Majesty! You must move imdiately!”
“This doesn’t seem like a ti for leisure.”
Just as she nodded to the barrage of urging from the High Elves—
“Is there anything we can help with? As I ntioned earlier, we’re fairly capable.”
“…….”
For a brief mont, she would be lying if she said the thought what if? hadn’t crossed her mind.
Evelyn felt so desperate she wanted to borrow even a cat’s paw.
But before she could decide, the surrounding High Elves shouted angrily.
“Silence! This is no ti to casually converse with the likes of you!”
“Guards! Remove them!”
“Your Majesty, please give the order.”
Quickly organizing her thoughts, Evelyn sprang to her feet and issued her command.
“Guards, escort those humans outside the village. The rest of the High Elves will accompany to see the Mother Tree.”
Though phrased politely, it was effectively an expulsion.
“Move.”
“If you value your lives, don’t try anything foolish.”
The guards approached and escorted the two out of the building.
Even as he was being led away, Oscar’s mind worked rapidly.
‘The World Tree is about to awaken? That ans it isn’t fully awake right now.’
From the soldier’s words alone, he could roughly infer the situation.
‘Either it’s sleeping… or its mind isn’t intact. One of the two.’
But as far as Oscar knew, it was extrely rare for the World Tree to sleep.
Which ant the conclusion was obvious.
‘…Sothing has gone wrong with the World Tree.’
Whatever the reason, it was currently unable to function normally.
That was Oscar’s conclusion.
“This is as far as you go.”
“Don’t even think about approaching the village again.”
At so point, a pale mist had begun to blanket the entire forest.
After shoving the two into the middle of the path, the elven soldiers lted into the fog and disappeared.
“So we got kicked out.”
Smacking his lips, Fran slung the fallen bag over his shoulder.
“This mist is probably the elves’ doing, right?”
“Yeah. Normally, outsiders can’t pass through it—they just wander around the outskirts.”
“Then how did we get in earlier?”
“That’s because….”
Having visited an elven village in a previous life, Oscar had deliberately opened a portal nearby.
‘Though in the current situation, even that would be difficult.’
Oscar gazed at the thick white mist spread everywhere.
It was a form of magic—one with powerful disorienting effects.
“Well, maybe we were just lucky earlier.”
“Hah… oh well. Is the Spirit Forest really the only place to raise spirit affinity? If we searched this vast continent, we’d probably find one or two more.”
“No. There’s no place better than the Spirit Forest.”
Dousing Fran’s optimism, Oscar turned around.
“Let’s go. I know the way.”
“…You do? I can’t even see a step ahead.”
“I’ve said this many tis—don’t trust visual information too much. If soone wants to, they can manipulate that easily.”
A mage aiming for the pinnacle must never blindly trust what they see or hear.
The most important thing is the countless kinds of information obtained through mana.
Next cos intuition—data accumulated through vast experience.
“That way.”
“H-Hey, wait up!”
Afraid of becoming lost in the mist, Fran stuck close behind.
Oscar took the opportunity to ask,
“Have you heard anything recently about the elven kingdom, Eloen?”
“Hmm… Ah! I once overheard my father talking with my brother. Things like elven bows and tea leaves circulating on the continent have dried up, so they wanted to resu trade—but the elves still had no intention of reopening exchanges.”
“I know relations with the dwarves broke down because of nobles doing stupid things, but why the elves?”
“That’s the mystery.”
Fran shrugged.
“With the dwarves, the bla was clearly on the human side. But with the elves, there wasn’t anything like that. In fact, right after the dwarves cut off exchange, the elves suddenly declared isolation too. His Majesty was furious—he even had the entire continent searched to see if elven slaves were being traded in auction houses or black markets.”
“But there weren’t any?”
“Completely clean. That’s why everyone was confused. There was no wrongdoing, yet exchanges were cut off unilaterally. It was like the tightly bound human alliance from the war just fell apart.”
Oscar nodded.
‘It must have been because of the World Tree from the start.’
Humans regarded the World Tree as just a massive tree, but to elves, it was a god.
Just as the El Terra Order worshiped Terra, elves worshiped the World Tree.
Their ability to wield spirits and magic originated from it.
“Hmm?”
Fran looked around, sensing sothing odd.
“Oscar… I can’t be sure because of the mist, but it feels like we’re going deeper into the forest.”
“Don’t worry. I know where we’re going.”
“…You an the way out, right?”
“Of course not. Ah—this spot will do.”
Stopping in the heart of the forest, Oscar reached out toward the dense mist.
Pzzzt! Crackle!
The mist resisted violently, trying to push his hand away.
“Easy now. Easy.”
Monts later, like a puppy calming down after being given a bone, the mist obediently settled.
A hole large enough for an adult to pass through opened in the fog.
“What are you doing?”
Oscar turned back and jerked his chin.
“Let’s go in.”
“…Are we really allowed to just barge in like this?”
“Of course not. But given the situation?”
Sothing was wrong with the World Tree.
And the elves had failed to solve it on their own for over a decade.
‘This isn’t just the elves’ problem.’
Imagine the worst-case scenario—the World Tree dying outright.
That would an the extinction of the elven race.
The only reason such a beautiful race could remain independent was their mastery of magic and spirits.
‘The fall of the elves wouldn’t be welco for humanity either.’
Especially now, with demons and their followers becoming active again.
Fran’s face turned pale as he passed through the mist gate.
“We really did re-enter the elven village… What are we going to do now?”
Fortunately, every elf in the village was kneeling with eyes closed, praying.
They were likely praying for the World Tree’s recovery.
Thanks to that, no one noticed the two entering.
“We’re going to et her.”
Oscar turned his gaze toward the faintly glowing, colossal tree in the distance.
“The World Tree.”
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* * *
“What’s the situation?”
The mont Evelyn arrived before the World Tree with the High Elves, she asked.
The High Elves tasked with guarding it answered.
“Its energy is extrely unstable. It seems… she’s trying to awaken.”
“This is bad.”
Evelyn bit her lip as the surrounding High Elves sighed in despair.
The World Tree awakening from deep slumber should have been good news.
But the problem was that it wasn’t by her own will.
“What’s the corruption level?”
“Based on what we can assess, it’s exceeded 63%.”
“…….”
Evelyn felt dizzy for a mont.
But as a ruler, she couldn’t afford to stagger.
Bracing herself against the table, she closed her eyes and steadied her breathing.
‘Mother Tree… what are we supposed to do?’
The root of all this was the demons.
More precisely, the wound the World Tree had suffered from one demon during the war.
‘Darwin.’
Darwin of the Apex.
One of the four great counts of the Demon Realm.
During the war, he had infiltrated the heart of the elven kingdom alone—his target was the World Tree.
‘The wound she suffered back then was quite deep.’
At the ti, the elves hadn’t taken it seriously.
They believed the World Tree’s imnse regenerative power would heal it.
But contrary to expectations, her condition worsened with ti.
The demonic energy seeping from the wound slowly devoured her from within.
Eventually, the World Tree judged it could no longer be ignored and entered a deep slumber to recover.
“…….”
At tis, she awakened—not by choice, but by force.
The pain from Darwin’s demonic energy was so severe that she couldn’t even sleep properly.
‘Mother Tree…’
Each ti she awoke, she ordered them to kill her.
She said she couldn’t overco this corruption, that if she wasn’t killed now, everyone would die.
But the elves couldn’t bring themselves to harm her.
What child could kill their own parent?
“…….”
Cruelly, the ti for a decision was approaching.
If they were ever to honor her request, now would be the final chance.
The High Elves looked to Evelyn.
“Your Majesty, your decision.”
“……I will comply.”
Their gazes terrified her.
In this mont, the fate of the entire race rested on her lips.
One word would decide everything—and she would bear the responsibility.
‘What… what should I do?’
Her wavering heart spread like a contagion, making her body tremble.
She clenched the table harder to hide her weakness.
Then—
“Hmm? A human?”
“You! Is this really the ti for such nonsense—wait, that is a human?”
“We clearly expelled them from the village!”
The humans who had been driven out were walking toward them boldly.
Suppressing her shock, Evelyn asked,
“How… how did you re-enter the village?”
“Your Majesty, now is not the ti to dwell on such trivialities.”
Oscar’s expression hardened as he looked up at the World Tree, its surface mottled with black stains.
“It’s clearly being corroded by demonic energy. Am I right?”
“How could you know that?”
“I can treat it.”
As he spoke, Oscar produced sothing in his palm—divinity.
A warmth that soothed the heart just by looking at it.
“O-Oh… this is…”
“The power used by the gods of mankind.”
“Divinity! It’s divinity!”
The High Elves cried out in awe.
Evelyn, equally entranced, asked,
“What is this power?”
“It would take long to explain. In short, with this power, we can treat the World Tree. However, there is one problem.”
“What is it? Whatever you require, we’ll provide.”
Urgency creeping into her voice, Evelyn listened as Oscar looked at the small light hovering above his palm.
“The amount of divinity I can currently use is limited to this.”
“…….”
Everyone’s eyes turned to the light in his hand.
It was only the size of a child’s fist.
Far too little to heal the World Tree.
“With that amount, at best you could only treat what’s visible.”
“Healing the roots would be impossible.”
“…It’s over. It’s all over.”
“Human, do you have any idea how vast the Mother Tree truly is?”
So High Elves sighed in resignation.
“This is rely a ‘rather large branch’ extending from the Mother Tree.”
“The entire great forest we stand upon is part of her.”
Hearing about the unimaginable scale, Fran gaped.
“There’s… a tree that big?”
“Such insolence! The Mother Tree is not rely a large tree!”
“She is our mother, who guides all elves!”
“…But it seems it’s all co to an end.”
A small trace of demonic energy had snowballed out of control.
Now grown to the size of a house, no solution ca to mind.
Then Oscar spoke.
“It’s too early to give up.”
All eyes turned to him—without much expectation, but willing to listen.
Evelyn cautiously asked,
“What is it? So last hope?”
“Last hope… I like that.”
Grabbing Fran by the shoulder and pulling him close, Oscar declared,
“Allow to introduce our last hope—Fran Sirius.”
“?”
“?”
The elves tilted their heads in confusion.
Monts later, Fran did the sa.
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