Floor 41: The World Tree Migration Plan (1)

Nothing particularly noteworthy happened after that.

I went to the shop with Ha Heijeong, but nothing really caught my eye, so we just sorted through the junk that had been sitting in the mimic.

Two days at the Shelter flew by like an arrow.

We sparred or rode the airship by day and drank in the evenings.

And of course, somewhere in between, I got the rundown on the next full floor from Ha Heijeong.

Too much free time isn't always a good thing.

If anything, the longer the rest period stretched, the more I could feel my edge dulling. By the time the Shelter ended and I stepped back into the Waiting Room, I could tell, plainly, that I'd let myself go loose.

I found myself hoping the next Shelter wouldn't be any longer.

I'd grown more from combat drills than from sparring with the other climbers, after all.

Let's see — I've already posted on the community about why I chose the neutral faction...

After checking over my gear, I turned to Dobby. A ritual I performed before every floor.

Without a word, Dobby's hands darted from my head to my toes, patting everything down in order.

Helmet, armor, belt, sword, shield...

All accounted for.

When I met his eyes, Dobby flashed a wide grin.

Originally I'd planned to leave him behind in the Shelter, but since he'd eaten the elixir and grown, he looked plenty dependable now.

Right — time to enter Floor 41.

About a minute passed, and my vision inverted.

The first thing to reach me was a fresh, fragrant scent of grass tickling my nose. The forest was alive with birdsong and the rustle of insects in the underbrush.

And above the large trees in front of me, far in the distance, rose a colossal tree that seemed to pierce the very sky.

I knew at a glance that it was the World Tree.

It was as if hundreds of trees had been fused into one. The World Tree covered nearly half the sky.

It was a breathtaking sight, much like the first time I'd seen the Sky Whale.

Wait — now's not the time to be gawking.

Tearing my eyes from the scenery, I reread the messages.

Ents, World Tree migration, saboteurs...

As always, it was different from the 41st floor trial Ha Heijeong had described. It had no connection to the full floor, either.

So it seemed to be another personal floor made harder than usual.

I probably wouldn't need the Lie Detector for this one.

Just in case, I tucked the Lie Detector away into the mimic.

Come to think of it — a world owned by my sponsoring deity, huh?

Ha Heijeong had told me about this before.

Sometimes, if you were lucky, you'd be sent to a floor inside a world owned by your sponsoring deity.

In those cases, she said, the contracted climber came out ahead.

Getting bonus achievement points, for instance, or boosted stats while on that floor.

One way or another, the contracted climber never lost out.

This time it seemed to be a random skill level increase.

Not bad at all.

I'd love for it to be Essence of Lightning or Shadow Monarch going up...

But I was going to clear the floor anyway, so this was essentially a free bonus on top.

Just having any single skill level up was more than worth being grateful for.

In case ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I'd missed something, I checked the notification window once more.

But nothing that looked like a clue to a hidden mission jumped out at me.

It was simply a trial that required helping the Ents.

Hm. Ents, huh...

Aren't those basically tree people?

I'd seen them in a movie once — giant trees carrying humans around on their backs, if I remembered right.

Curiosity stirred in me, the same way it had when I first heard about elves on the 31st floor.

What would they look like?

Hm. No — let's not get our hopes up.

The elves hadn't matched the ones I knew from stories either. The Ents might not turn out to be what I imagined.

I forced my mind back to the trial.

So they can't go through with the migration because of the saboteur. Meaning I just have to deal with the saboteur.

The problem was that this was my personal floor.

Judging from the Tower's message, there was only one saboteur.

A single enemy — but given that it had been assigned as my personal floor, there was no way it'd be an easy opponent.

This feels exactly like what I was worrying about back in the Shelter, coming true.

I'd definitely been thinking that this floor had no connection to the full floor, and that a powerful enemy would probably appear.

The Ents as a species were an enemy I couldn't afford to underestimate...

Tension was already creeping in. A faint thrill at the thought of facing a strong foe was there too, of course.

Well, first thing's first — I should find the Ents and hear them out.

It was a dense forest, so wouldn't a short walk toward the World Tree do it?

The moment the thought crossed my mind, something moved among the trees up ahead.

Huh?

At first I thought my eyes had deceived me, but no — the trees were walking toward me. No, wait. Not trees.

Three Ents.

They weren't quite as massive as I'd imagined.

About two and a half meters tall, maybe?

There was no need to stand around waiting. I walked out to meet them.

It didn't take long before I was face to face with the Ents.

They look stiff.

My first impression was simple.

They didn't move slowly or ponderously, but their bodies being made of wood made them seem rigid somehow.

"...The... warrior... whom... Lord Noebu... has... sent... it seems..."

"...Yes. Hello."

"Truly... a pleasure...... We heard... the revelation... that you would... come... before long... and have been... waiting... for you..."

The Ents greeted me warmly in voices like the hollow rumble of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a cave.

Their speech had a rich timbre, but the slow cadence and the near-total lack of facial expression gave them an oddly eerie feel.

Was that just a trait of their species?

Tree people. They felt stranger to me than any of the other species I'd encountered so far.

It was like watching nature itself stand up and walk.

"Hm... hm..."

I'd been staring intently at the Ents out of pure curiosity when one of them cleared his throat.

His body shook twice, and each time, the leaves clinging to it trembled along.

Oh — was I staring too hard?

That was rude of me. I hastily looked away and apologized.

"Ah, sorry. It's just, this is my first time seeing an Ent, so..."

"It's... quite... all right...... Let us... move... for now...... We will... explain... the situation... on... the... way..."

"We're headed toward the World Tree, then?"

"Yes...... We are told... the warrior's... time... is... not... abundant..."

"Right, let's go."

The three Ents turned first, and I followed behind them.

Tree people in motion — still a strange, wondrous sight. I stole discreet glances at their backs.

Their root-like feet embraced the ground gently as they walked.

And one of them, remarkably, even carried an enormous sword at his waist.

Do Ents smelt metal too?

Making a sword required fire, and wouldn't that mean burning wood as fuel?

I couldn't say for sure, but it seemed like a contradiction.

Or no — maybe they used dead, fallen trees for fuel.

This was another world, another species. I couldn't jump to conclusions based on my own assumptions.

While I was busy wondering, the Ents struck up a conversation among themselves.

"Irien...... Where... should... we... begin... explaining...?"

"Well... hmm......"

"From... the... beginning...?"

"Wouldn't... that... be... best...?"

"But... then... the explanation... will... take... far... ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠too... long..."

"Still... from... the... beginning..."

The dialogue droned on and on.

Whether it was their glacial speaking pace or their chronically indecisive personalities, I couldn't tell — but this was unbearable.

I might as well ask first.

All I really needed to do was deal with the saboteur anyway.

I cut into the conversation of the Ent called Irien.

"Who is the saboteur?"

"Ah... the saboteur... is... Ryun."

Ryun — a name I'd never heard before.

Ha Heijeong had clearly said that other climbers' 41st floors were trials about hunting monsters.

My guess was mine was much the same, just with the difficulty dialed up a notch.

So this Ryun was probably some monster I'd never heard of.

"Ryun? What kind of monster is he?"

"...I beg... your pardon?"

At the word monster, one of the Ents turned back to me in a flustered voice.

What now? What's the matter? Was Ryun not a monster?

"Warrior... Ryun... is... an Ent... the same... as... us..."

"Ah..."

Even as I groaned, I studied the Ents' expressions carefully.

I'd assumed a saboteur of Ents would be some dragon-like monstrosity...

They didn't seem particularly offended, but just in case, I hurriedly changed the subject to clear the air.

"So why would a fellow Ent sabotage the World Tree's migration?"

Even as I asked, a small question surfaced in my mind.

Discord among the Ents meant there was a disagreement of some kind, whatever its nature.

Could there be a problem with the World Tree migration itself?

And maybe the hidden mission was tied to that.

As a matter of fact, the trial only said to obtain the Essence of the World Tree and hand it to the Ents — it never specified which Ents.

What was stopping me from giving the Essence to the Ent labeled as the saboteur?

Hm, wait a second. That doesn't add up. Judging by how the other Ents couldn't stop him, this Ryun had to be extraordinarily powerful.

And if he was blocking the migration, he'd surely be somewhere near the World Tree...

If this Ryun had wanted the Essence of the World Tree, wouldn't he have taken it long ago?

Besides, the Tower had specifically named Ryun a saboteur.

The questions in my head refused to settle into order, but I pressed on with another remark before any more time slipped away.

"Or is the World Tree migration a mistake in the first place?"

"That... it is not...... The World Tree... migration... is... necessary... work..."

I felt the itch of impatience, but I held my tongue and waited.

For them, speaking this fast was already their absolute maximum.

"The World Tree... grows... by drawing... on the power... of nature...... For a fixed... span... of time... it imbues... the surrounding... lands... with... life..."

The phrase for a fixed span of time struck me as important.

Which meant that once that span ran out, something would happen.

The gaps between the Ent's words were so long that I simply waited quietly for the rest.

"When... the power ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of nature... is depleted... the migration... must... take place...... If... the timing... is missed... the tree will... drain... every... living thing... around it... and the land... will remain... barren... forever..."

Ah — now I understood what he meant.

By migrating the World Tree on a fixed cycle, life could be breathed into every stretch of land in turn.

Miss that cycle, and the land would die for good.

But the question still remained. The very first one I'd asked.

"Then why would Ryun — another Ent — sabotage the migration?"

"That... we... do... not... know... ourselves..."

It wasn't a satisfying answer. Though perhaps they knew perfectly well and simply weren't telling me.

I couldn't tell whether a hidden mission existed, but if it did, it would almost certainly be connected to Ryun's reasons for obstructing the migration.

I figured I could just meet Ryun and ask him myself.

Assuming he'll even be willing to talk...

I still knew far too little about this Ent called Ryun.

Setting aside conversation for the moment — I needed to gauge how strong he was before I could plan around him.

"Hmm, by the way, how strong is Ryun, exactly? Surely the three of you together could handle a single Ent?"

"That... is..."

The Ent's voice trailed off. Then the three of them glanced back and forth at each other, gauging one another.

What now? Was there some reason they couldn't say?

"That... is... because... Ryun... is... a Sword Master..."