Chapter 187
Chapter: 187
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 187
>Chapter Title: Repentance Tree (4)
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“…Your Highness!”
Marquis Masin’s sudden cry made the knights, who had been wrestling with the branches, all whip their heads toward the sound in unison.
“……?!”
What they saw was a sight beyond their wildest imagination.
Prince Moreth was sprinting across the demonic tree.
He slashed and dodged the branches flying at him from all directions. Occasionally, when a branch at just the right height came hurtling in, he’d leap up and ride it like a pro.
The sight was utterly surreal, like watching a squirrel scampering through the trees at breakneck speed.
But that wasn’t all that stunned them. The prince was fearlessly plunging through the black mist of demonic energy that even made them hesitate to touch it!
“That mad bastard…!”
Karmen spat out a crude curse without thinking, his mouth agape, but this time, no one blamed him.
No one could argue that what the prince was doing was anything short of insane.
“What the hell is that?!”
Countess Ilma, pale as a ghost, hurriedly tried to chase after him.
But she could only manage to switch branches a couple of times. Even with aura control approaching that of a Decaron Knight, allowing her to leap far higher than the prince in a single bound.
Marquis Masin, who had rushed to the base of the trunk, fared no better.
Moving atop the violently thrashing tree was no easy feat, and branches weren’t always conveniently positioned as the next foothold.
Not only that—they had to dodge random attacks flying in from all sides and take care not to be exposed to the demonic energy for too long.
In the end, the two gave up climbing further and could only watch the prince, who had already scaled halfway up the tree, with worried eyes.
Countess Ilma muttered,
“How is he moving like that? Should we call it impressive…?”
They couldn’t even dream of unleashing a rough aura blast, fearing he might lose his footing from the shock and fall. Masin neatly sliced an incoming branch with his sword, gazing anxiously at the prince, now far above.
“Your Highness…”
Meanwhile, inside Seongjin’s head, the Demon King was freaking out.
[Hey, Seongjin! What the hell are you doing jumping in like that?!]
‘What can I do from way down there?’
Seongjin shot back sullenly as he timed a perfectly aimed leap onto a branch flying in from the side.
Thud.
The branch bucked like a wave, trying to shake him off.
Though the footing shook violently beneath him, Seongjin split the branch with a nutcracker strike and slid down it a ways before kicking off and leaping to the next one before losing his balance completely.
Boom.
The moment he landed, a chill ran through him, and he ducked on instinct.
Swoooosh!
A branch rocketed past his head from behind at terrifying speed. Attacks weren’t just coming from the tree itself—the branches being reeled back in were targeting him too.
“…Whew.”
Seongjin exhaled the breath he’d been holding.
He couldn’t let his guard down for even a split second.
Cold sweat trickled down his back, and dopamine and adrenaline flooded his system nonstop. It wasn’t exactly fun, yet the corners of his mouth crept up.
But.
‘…It’s doable.’
Branches assaulted him from every direction without respite, but in the end, each one was just the instinctive motion of a simple organism.
No feints like a human might pull, no reading several moves ahead—just straightforward, brute physical force lunging straight at the target.
Unlike the chemical sprays or sonic attacks from beasts that required accounting for varied timing and range, this was straightforward.
That simplified the trajectories he had to calculate even further. Of course, factoring in the demonic energy the tree emitted would’ve made it tougher.
Screeeeech!
The demonic tree’s movements grew faster and more violent. But Seongjin’s vision and perception expanded in tandem, reawakening long-forgotten senses bit by bit.
Branches that grazed past like swords, ones that hammered down like mallets, and those that whipped through the air like lashes.
Seongjin never missed the brief gaps and fleeting connections as they intertwined and crossed, climbing higher and higher.
But soon enough, even that smooth ascent hit a crisis around the tree’s midpoint.
Unlike the lower branches flailing wildly up and down, the upper ones mostly swung down in slashing arcs, giving him few chances to climb.
His pace slowed, and he was exposed to more attacks.
‘If I’d known this was coming, maybe I should’ve learned archery ages ago?’
The regret flickered briefly.
Though even if he had, hitting invisible targets would’ve been questionable.
‘No other way. Gotta get close and hack them off!’
Crunch!
Seongjin slammed his nutcracker into a branch whipping toward him with all his might and rode it upward, hanging onto the sword.
Screeech. As the branch twisted grotesquely, he let go and began free-falling for a stretch.
“Your Highness!”
He heard panicked cries from far below.
Sorry for worrying you, Marquis Masin.
It won’t take long.
Thud.
He barely jammed his sword into a branch swinging in from the side and poured aura into his arms to cling on amid the thrashing.
Crack.
A ominous sound leaked from his overworked arms.
‘…One slip, and my joints are toast.’
Seongjin gritted his teeth and endured until the branch arced upward on a diagonal, yanking out the nutcracker and launching back into the air.
“Urk!”
While airborne and defenseless, a branch clubbed him.
But Seongjin, braced for impact with aura concentrated, swung his sword to meet it, using the force to propel himself even higher.
Before his body fully recoiled, he stabbed the nutcracker into another branch.
The rodeo intensified. Pushed to the periphery, every shake now meant a massive drop.
‘Can’t hold out here long. Gotta climb faster.’
After repeating that precarious stunt several times,
Past the three-quarter mark, Seongjin finally reached branches stretching upward again.
He sighed in relief upon planting both feet on a shaky but usable one. His legs ached from the strain just like his arms, but it was still easier than absorbing every shock with his upper body.
With easier movement came thicker black demonic energy billowing from the treetop, forcing him to be even more cautious hopping between branches.
‘Where’s that growth core?’
Reaching what could pass for the summit, Seongjin asked the Demon King.
[The branch right in the center. The tip of the one growing upward!]
The central branch.
Seongjin scowled at the answer. An unexpected problem had cropped up.
‘Central branch? I can’t see shit.’
The demonic tree’s absolute peak was shrouded in thick clouds of demonic energy—pitch-black and impossible to peer through.
[The demonic energy seems concentrated around the core’s center. So aim for the heart of it?]
‘How big is the core?’
[About the size of your fist.]
Seongjin eyed the cloud, at least two meters across, with a troubled look.
Wherever he stabbed, the odds of missing seemed higher.
‘Guess I’ll just swing wildly till I hit the damn thing…’
Attacks from branches grew scarcer nearer the center—likely due to the structure favoring outward extension.
Seongjin circled in more leisurely, approaching the core.
And then.
Slash!
Seizing the moment, he dove into the cloud and unleashed Banahas Second Form, Second Stance—the widest horizontal slash.
Whoosh.
The air thinned drastically where the nutcracker grazed, briefly severing the demonic energy flow.
[Damn! A bit lower!]
The Demon King shouted regretfully as Seongjin emerged.
Seongjin sliced an incoming branch and asked,
‘How off was I?’
[Pretty close on position. But at least a head lower from there!]
Something felt off.
Seongjin hopped between branches, gauging the core’s spot again.
Better aim generously lower this time?
On his second plunge into the center,
He felt a slightly dull impact and emerged with a dismayed face.
[…Ah! Nicked it! It glanced off at an angle and missed the branch!]
The Demon King groaned.
And in that instant.
Thwack!
A branch burst through the cloud unseen and smashed Seongjin hard. He hadn’t spotted it while escaping the cloud—that was the fatal mistake.
He blocked reflexively with the nutcracker, but his body was already flung far from the tree.
[Seongjin!]
He plummeted at enormous speed.
Seongjin’s eyes snapped open, scanning for a nearby branch to grab, but nothing.
‘Oh crap…!’
The tree, convinced it had shaken him off for good, eased its attacks—robbing him of any footholds.
No attacks meant no platforms!
‘Bad luck, and this could kill me.’
Headfirst into the plunge, Seongjin clicked his tongue.
This was like being hurled downward from an eight-story building—not free fall, but accelerated!
He focused aura on protecting his head and neck while scanning the ground below in the brief time.
If he had an aura blast technique, he could’ve fired downward to slow himself.
That thought crossed his mind when he spotted something below and panicked.
Marquis Masin charging straight toward him, not even dodging the demonic energy!
“Whoa, get out of the way! Marquis Masin!”
At this speed, they’d both die on impact!
Better to try a landing roll or something?
But the stubborn knight ignored him, planted himself at the landing zone, and spread his arms wide.
‘…Damn it all!’
No choice—Seongjin charged his sword with aura and hurled it at the ground, hoping the recoil would slow him even a little.
Boom!
The aura-infused blade gouged deep into the dirt.
“Over here!”
Captain Bruno reached out toward Seongjin.
Whoosh.
A small wind from the captain wrapped around Seongjin’s body.
A Decaron Knight’s aura manifestation. But far too weak to brake the falling boy.
‘…Impact incoming!’
Foretasting Masin’s gruesome injuries, Seongjin squeezed his eyes shut.
But in that moment.
Whoosh!
For some reason, Seongjin’s body suddenly shot upward.
‘……?’
The bewilderment lasted only an instant before a massive jolt sent him and Masin tumbling across the ground.
Crash!
“Your Highness!”
“Marquis Masin!”
Captain Bruno and the Wolf Knights rushed over in alarm.
“Are you alright, Your Highness!”
“Your Highness!”
Flash. Seongjin’s eyes flew open, and he bolted upright.
“Marquis Masin!”
Dizzy from the impact, but miraculously no broken bones from that height.
Incredibly, Masin had caught him properly!
Masin himself seemed unscathed too. Maybe a mild concussion from smacking his head on the ground rolling backward.
Seongjin marveled inwardly at the miraculous turn.
“Urgh.”
Masin, rising unscathed, rubbed the back of his head and muttered like a groan.
“Doing buoy drills as a kid… who knew they’d help now…”
Buoy drills? What’s that?
Anyway, Seongjin scrambled up and unleashed a torrent of scolding at Masin.
“Were you trying to get yourself killed, Marquis Masin? Fine, getting caught in the fall—whatever! But what about the demonic energy? Why cover yourself in it like that? Are you sane?!”
Masin’s face twisted sharply.
As his aura grew menacing, Seongjin flinched—then Masin bellowed at him for the first time in ages.
“You’re the one saying that, charging into a demonic energy pit?! What the hell were you thinking, pulling a stunt like that out of nowhere?!”
“No, I—”
“You said you wouldn’t do dangerous stuff! Didn’t you promise me that, Your Highness?!”
Startled by the heavy atmosphere, Seongjin averted his eyes.
Realizing Masin was furious to his core, Seongjin scrambled excuses.
“Sorry for worrying you. But Marquis Masin! There’s a core at the top of that tree!”
“…A core?”
“Yeah, like the power source making it keep growing.”
Masin, having hunted beasts with Seongjin twice before, grasped it instantly.
“So smashing that kills the demonic tree?”
Seeing Masin soften a bit, Seongjin nodded vigorously.
“Yeah. I nearly got it—such a close miss. I wasn’t messing around! It’s real!”
“……”
“No time to discuss earlier. I won’t go rogue again! Really sorry!”
With Seongjin groveling completely, Masin shut his eyes and pinched his forehead briefly.
Then he sighed deeply and asked,
“…So how do we destroy it, Your Highness?”
Oh, good. He’s cooling off fast.