Floor 41: The World Tree Relocation Plan (2)
"I'm sorry—did you say Sword Master?"
Sword Master? An Ent? An Ent Sword Master?
The word Sword Master alone was enough to throw me off balance. I'd heard about them before from Guardian.
He'd said, quite clearly, that a Sword Master was a being capable of cleaving mountains and splitting seas. Granted, I'd met similar "Masters" back on Floor 37, but they hadn't been anything like what Guardian had described.
And an Ent Sword Master, on top of that?
At my question, the Ent nodded. "Yes... Ryun... is the Ent's... only... Sword... Master..."
"So this Sword Master—is that what draws out sword aura? Things like that?"
"Sword... aura...? If you... mean... the ability... to materialize... the power... of nature... then... yes..."
"Ahh..."
A sigh escaped my lips before I could stop it. Even before meeting Ryun, worry had already begun to settle in my chest. I couldn't draw out sword aura—no, I couldn't even draw out axe aura. Could I actually beat a Sword Master?
But I quickly shook my head. No. This trial was given to me because I can handle it.
It was possible that the Sword Master Guardian had described and the one these Ents spoke of were different things. No—honestly, the odds were good that they were. The Masters I'd met on Floor 37 had proven as much.
The Ent Sword Master, Ryun. I figured I'd just have to meet him and see for myself.
"Your... expression... doesn't... look... good... Even... for a... warrior... are... Sword... Masters... that... daunting...?"
"No, it's not that. The concept of a Sword Master is just unfamiliar to me. I'll know more once I meet him."
"I... thought... as... much... Don't... worry... You... are... the... warrior... sent... by... Noebu..."
"Haha..."
I laughed awkwardly at the flattery. But he had a point. Sword Master or not, in the end this was just another trial assigned to Floor 41. I couldn't let myself get spooked ahead of time just because of stories I'd heard from Guardian.
I turned my gaze to the Ents. Even if Ryun was a Sword Master, one question still lingered.
"But even if he's a Sword Master, he's alone, isn't he? If all of you gathered and attacked together, couldn't you have taken the essence from him?"
"Killing... one of... our own... kin... by our... own... hands... is... a... difficult... thing... to... do..."
Hmm. So the Ents had some kind of code among themselves? I couldn't say it was incomprehensible.
Wait. Then does that mean I shouldn't kill the Sword Master either?
The question crossed my mind, but his words weren't finished, so I waited.
"And... we... could... not... bear... to... sacrifice... what... few... Ents... remain... in a... battle... against... the... Sword... Master..."
"So would it be alright if I were the one to kill Ryun?"
"That... is... correct."
Ah, now I understood. I had no idea how many of them were left, but from everything I'd heard, the Ents didn't seem to be a numerous people. Rather than kill their own kin, they couldn't bear to watch their fellow Ents die in a war against the Sword Master.
Which was why they'd asked my patron Sinjwa for help.
Hmm. So, assuming I beat the Sword Master... I could just hand the World Tree's essence over to these Ents afterward, right?
"Then if I defeat Ryun, may I give the World Tree's essence to all of you?"
"Yes... Following... the... revelation... the... other... Ents... have... already... gone... to... the... new... settlement... You... may... give... it... to... us..."
"A new settlement? But what if I fail—"
"Noebu... promised... that... a... warrior... would... be... sent... to... us..."
"I see."
I gave a noncommittal nod. The entire Ent race had uprooted and migrated in advance, all on the word of a Sinjwa's revelation. How deep could their faith possibly run?
If I failed, that would be a disaster for them.
Hmm... or would it?
Then again, if a real, verifiable Jesus or Buddha appeared before me and delivered a revelation, I supposed I'd believe it too. It wasn't worth dwelling on. My only job was to clear the trial in front of me.
I turned my thoughts back to that trial. Even with the World Tree right before us, we'd been given a decent chunk of time—twenty-four hours—but the trial itself was simple.
Defeat the Sword Master and obtain the World Tree's essence.
And if the Sword Master turned out to be an opponent I couldn't beat... I could always use the Shadow Monarch and Flash Step to steal the essence in secret. Well, I'd already considered that option earlier. For now, I figured I'd have to meet the Sword Master first and see.
As we talked, we had drawn steadily closer to the World Tree without my noticing.
Huh? Why do I feel more and more alive the closer we get?
Vitality was flowing into my body with every step. Was this the World Tree's power—the way it used the "power of nature" to enrich all life around it?
It seemed so. It wasn't just my own feeling, either. The trees and grass around us looked lusher, more vibrant, more full of life. So this is the power of the World Tree. I found myself marveling all over again.
Before long, the three Ents came to a stop where they stood.
"We... will... withdraw... now... and... wait..."
"What?"
"Even... so... Ryun... was... our... friend... We... do... not... wish... to... see... him... die..."
"I see..."
I nodded, feeling a bit deflated. I'd never planned on relying on the Ents for help in the first place, but I hadn't expected them to simply walk away, and it caught me slightly off guard. Not that I wanted to ask them to come along.
I turned my eyes forward. In any case, the Ent Sword Master was waiting somewhere up ahead, at the foot of the World Tree.
So giving the essence to Ryun isn't the hidden mission, then.
Hmm, now that I thought about it—the Ents had said they didn't want to watch Ryun die. So maybe the hidden mission was talking him down, or subduing him without killing him? It was worth considering, at least. I'd try to resolve things with words first, and fall back on force if that failed. And if even that didn't work, I'd just have to steal it while cloaked.
"Warrior... then... we... wish... you... luck..."
"Thank you. If I get the World Tree's essence, should I come back here?"
"There... is... no... need... We... will... know... We... will... come... find... you..."
"Ah, understood."
Right—they were Ents. If I pulled the essence out of the World Tree, something overflowing with life itself, they'd sense it.
The Ents turned and began walking back into the forest. Once a suitable distance had opened between us, I looked over at Dobby.
"Dobby, do you happen to know what a Sword Master is?"
"Nope! First I'm hearing of it!"
Dobby shook his head with an utterly innocent face. Hmm. Then I'd better leave Dobby somewhere safe. He'd grown a lot, sure—but a Sword Master was a first for both of us. Just in case, I'd have him give me full buffs before the fight.
After another ten minutes or so of walking, the trees of the forest began to thin, and before long we reached its edge. A vast circular plain spread out around the World Tree, which towered up into the sky. With the tree swallowing half the heavens, a faint shadow lay draped over one half of the plain.
Nothing grew there but sparse tufts of grass—nothing else existed at all. It was as if the World Tree had devoured every trace of life in that whole stretch of land. Though I suppose it gives it all back, in its own way...
Struck by the mystical sight, I looked up at the World Tree again. Up close, it seemed even more colossal than it had from a distance.
Just then, a wind swept across the plain—warm and gentle. Riding that wind, the leaves of the World Tree swayed in a soft, whispering rush. In the thin shafts of sunlight slipping between the branches, leaves drifted down slowly, like something out of a painting.
Hm?
And at the same moment, the sound of a flute came rolling toward me on the wind. Quite literally—the strength of the melody rose and fell with every swell of the breeze. Even so, it was a dreamlike, beautiful sound.
Following the sound, I turned my gaze toward the base of the World Tree. A single Ent stood there, one arm raised toward the empty air.
It was Ryun. And Ryun was looking straight at me. There was no hostility in his eyes, but I couldn't afford to let my guard down. Guardian had told me that among the strong, many were unhinged in the head. Blocking the World Tree's relocation was an Ent of all things. I could not slacken my tension for a second.
"Dobby, stay here."
"No way! I'm coming with you!"
"He's a Sword Master. Anything could happen."
"That's exactly why I'm coming!"
"You don't trust me? Relax. If it looks like a fight, just buff me."
"...Fine!"
Dobby nodded with a grim, resolute face. Apparently he'd gotten a bit stronger and now felt the need to worry about me. Seeing grown-up Dobby fuss over me was, for some reason, adorable. Grateful, I ruffled his hair.
"Don't worry too much, alright?"
Leaving Dobby behind, I walked toward Ryun. Roughly three hundred meters, with a gentle rise in the ground between us and the World Tree. I climbed the slope at an unhurried pace, watching Ryun the whole way.
But Ryun simply kept his arm wreathed in the air, making no particular move. The wind continued to blow, and so the dreamlike flute music played on. I fixed my eyes on his arm.
I had my suspicions, but it really was his arm.
Ryun had shaped his own arm into a flute and held it turned toward the direction of the wind. The melody shifted with the wind's strength because he wasn't playing it himself. Along the length of that arm-flute, holes appeared and vanished in real time, opening and closing like living pores.
As I drew near, Ryun lowered his arm—and the wind died at the same instant.
...That has to be a coincidence, right?
It felt uncanny, like Ryun himself was commanding the wind. The arm that had taken the shape of a flute reverted to an ordinary Ent's arm. Behind him, a sword that looked to be about a meter and eighty centimeters long stood planted upright against the trunk of the World Tree.
"So... you... are... the... warrior... sent... by... Noebu..."
"And you must be Ryun."
"That... I... am..."
Ryun lifted his head and looked up at the World Tree. The Ents were a race without shifting expressions, but Ryun was somehow different. His eyes held sorrow.
For a while after that, no words passed between us. There was no need for pointless talk. Ryun already knew who I was, and I knew he was the obstacle in my path.
Not that the air felt like an immediate fight. For all my tension, Ryun seemed more rational and gentlemanly than I'd expected. That was good—I'd intended to start with conversation anyway.
"Ryun, why are you blocking the World Tree's relocation?"
"You... would... not... understand..."
Ryun's voice was firm and unyielding. It was the answer I'd expected. If a complete stranger like me could sway his heart or talk him around that easily, then setting the hidden mission aside entirely, I never would have been summoned in the first place.
Hmm. So how do I win Ryun over?
I racked my brain, but nothing came. I had no idea what an Ent might care for, and I doubted I was carrying it anyway.
While I was still deliberating, Ryun turned lightly and lifted the sword from where it stood against the trunk.
"I... see... no... need... for... us... to... speak... any... further."
Slow—slow of speech—but weighty. It seemed nothing I said would turn the mood around, and clinging to more conversation at this point would have just made me look foolish.
I picked up the axe I'd set down at my feet. Fine. We'd fight first. After the fight, I'd try to talk—do whatever came after. I gripped the axe.
"Might... we... move... a... little... way... off... to... fight...?"
Ryun gestured politely behind me. Probably because we were standing right at the foot of the World Tree. This ground was clearly something the Ents held sacred—I could understand that. I nodded. "Of course."
"Much... obliged..."
And so we walked across the plain in silence. Ryun stopped at the center of the plain, right along the boundary of the World Tree's shadow. He said nothing, but it was immediately clear this was where he meant to fight.
Since Ryun held his ground, I walked toward the sunlight. The thin, filtered light falling between the leaves settled over Ryun's shadowed body like a mantle.
From far behind me, I could hear Dobby's voice chanting his buffs. When the glow faded, my body felt lighter, strength surging through it. Ryun silently raised his sword, and I drew up my magic power and readjusted my grip on the axe.
A moment of stillness.
Then, without either of us ceding the first move, we kicked off the earth toward each other. And in the instant of that first collision, I understood.
The Masters I'd met on Floor 37 had no business calling themselves Masters at all.