Chapter 377
Chapter 377
Chapter 377
"You want me to eliminate you?"
Zeke was baffled.
Naturally, he had assumed that, just as he had done with Poseidon, he would extract the God-Slaying Stone, release the divine seal, and restore the Forest Dragon to its original form.
But the Sage's words were the complete opposite.
The Sage spoke while looking at Zeke.
"I've held the Dragon God position the longest. Even if the seal is released now, it would be difficult to regain the original divinity like Poseidon."
Zeke had some idea what those words meant. In Poseidon's case, while he was said to be a forgotten sea god with a sealed divine position, when entering the sealed domain, one could feel a mystical separation from the world.
Moreover, the existence of the forgotten sea god and his avatar Poseidon were separate.
But in the Forest God's case, only the avatar Sage existed, and despite Hermes being right before them, there was no spirit body or domain, nor could any power be felt.
The Sage spoke with a tired face.
"If you eliminate me and my divine position itself disappears, the seal will also disappear. Then the divine power trapped in my body will seek a new master."
Zeke understood what the Sage was saying.
But he wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea of thrusting a holy spear into his heart to eliminate him.
Zeke spoke while looking at the Sage.
"Is there no other way besides eliminating Lord Hermes?"
The Sage shook his head at those words.
"That's the only way. Of course, it won't be easy for you either. But this is the path to restore the disturbed balance of the material world."
Zeke pondered the Sage's words before nodding.
"I understand."
There seemed no point in prolonged deliberation as no other answer would emerge. If there was only one conclusion, it was better to act quickly.
Hearing Zeke's response, the Sage smiled as if relieved.
"Thank you for making this difficult decision."
The Sage stretched out his hand.
Then the trees where Zeke and the Sage stood slowly moved, and tree trunks grew from below as the ground rose up.
The place where Zeke and the Sage stood rose up high and stopped in front of a giant dragon's fossilized ribs.
And as the trees grew and gathered again, this time a bridge formed leading into the ribs.
The Sage gestured to Zeke.
"Go in."
Zeke followed the Sage into the dragon's ribs.
Similar to the Sea God's case, inside the ribs was a dragon's heart, hardened like stone, causing subtle vibrations.
A spear made of god-killing stone was indeed stuck in the dragon's heart.
The Sage said to Zeke.
"You need to thrust the holy spear there."
Hearing those words, Zeke slowly approached where the heart was.
He looked at Hermes' subtly vibrating heart.
A moment later, Zeke raised the holy spear in his hand and aimed its blade at the heart.
An aura rose from the holy spear as if it would pierce through Hermes' heart at any moment.
The Sage behind slowly closed his eyes.
'Yes, this is the right way. There is no other way.'
Originally when dragons die, their souls can separate from their bodies and find rest in the spirit realm.
But when eliminated by the god-killing stone like now, their soul disappears with them, losing the chance to go to the spirit realm.
Hermes was willing to sacrifice even his soul to restore balance to the material world.
WOOOONG!
A massive energy burst forth from Zeke.
The Sage prepared himself mentally and waited for his final moment in the material world.
But there was no response no matter how long he waited. Even the energy seemed to have subsided.
'What's this?'
The Sage quietly opened his eyes.
Looking ahead, Zeke had already withdrawn his spear and was deeply contemplating something.
Then he put the spear back in his inventory and approached the Sage.
"Sage, no matter how I think about it, this doesn't seem right."
He had tried to pierce the dragon's heart, but for a moment something greatly troubled Zeke's mind.
He couldn't shake the feeling that this couldn't be the only answer.
The Sage spoke while looking at Zeke.
"You are destined to fight the Demon King later. How will you manage then if you're swayed by such trivial sentiment now? Do you intend to follow in Terakan Draker's footsteps?"
Zeke shook his head at those words.
"This situation is different. I say this because it seems we're rushing to a conclusion when there might be other ways."
Then Zeke suddenly thought of one possibility.
"Sage, what if we could return the dragon's heart to its state before it lost its power?"
The Sage wore an expression of incomprehension at Zeke's words.
"What do you mean by returning to before the heart lost its power?"
"I have Chronos' 'Reversal' authority."
"Chronos' authority?"
The Sage was shocked at hearing about having the authority of Chronos, the Dragon of Time.
Zeke confidently explained his plan.
"If I have the divine pearl received from the Sea God and the catalyst elixir, I can use the power of reversal without side effects. I know this for certain because I experienced it firsthand."
Indeed, I had used this to restore a holy relic that was about to break.
Since I was able to restore a holy relic containing the Fairy King's power, it should be possible to restore the dragon's heart as well.
The Sage's expression changed upon hearing Zeke's words.
"If we can restore the dragon's heart... perhaps finding the divine position would be possible as well."
It would take quite some time for another being with divine nature to emerge after the divine dragon's soul was extinguished.
However, if Hermes regained the divine dragon's power, he could immediately restore the disturbed order, and could also stably pass on his power by finding someone to become his successor in the future.
Zeke nodded at those words.
"Very well. Then I will use Chronos's power to restore the heart."
Zeke took out the divine pearl and dropped a few drops of the last remaining bottle of elixir.
Then, a bright light spread from the divine pearl.
The Sage watched with wide eyes, seemingly amazed by this reaction.
'To think the elixir and divine pearl would show such a reaction.'
Ignoring the surprised Hermes, Zeke approached the dragon's heart holding the shimmering divine pearl, reached out his hand and used the power of reversal.
['Divine Dragon's Pearl' is linked with the power 'Reversal'.]
As soon as Zeke used the power, time stopped and just like when he restored the mask, a messages appeared and Chronos's giant clock appeared before his eyes.
[The power 'Reversal' is activating.]
As Chronos's clock turned backward, the dragon heart's time began to reverse.
But then another messages appeared.
[Insufficient causality needed for reversal.] [A medium to fill the required causality is needed for reversal.]
Zeke asked the system.
"What kind of medium is needed?"
[It can be filled with the Divine Dragon's body, Phoenix feather, and fairy stone blessed with the Fairy King's blessing.]
Fortunately, it seemed possible to fill the causality with things Zeke had.
Zeke looked toward his shoulder and called out Raven.
KURURURURU!
As he suspected, perhaps because it was a divine beast, Raven appeared as usual even while time was stopped.
"Raven, sorry but could you give me one of your feathers?"
At Zeke's words, Raven stiffly raised its head and flapped its wings as if refusing.
Looking at Raven acting this way, Zeke whispered.
"Just this once. We need your feather to save the divine dragon."
At Zeke's words, Raven's eyes widened as if shocked and looked around.
After seeing the dragon's heart that had stopped mid-reversal, Raven clutched its head with its wings, then soon nodded as if having made up its mind.
KURURURURU!
Then it used its beak to pluck out its largest and most beautiful wing feather and handed it to Zeke.
Zeke received the feather Raven handed over and smiled.
"Thank you, Raven."
He gave Raven premium jerky that he took out from his inventory and took out the divine dragon's body and fairy stone blessed with the Fairy King's blessing.
The three mediums floated up in the air, then transformed into light and seeped into the dragon's heart.
WOOOOOONG!
The power activated again and reversed the dragon's heart.
['Divine Dragon's Pearl's power activated the power 'Reversal' without penalty.]
[Successfully reversed the target object's time.]
The stopped time began to flow again.
WOONG! WOONG! WOONG!
Unlike before, the Sage was startled to see the heart pulsating.
"Th-to think the heart's power would really return..."
Even for him, who was the divine dragon's avatar, this was his first time seeing such a thing.
Zeke approached the dragon's heart.
Then he gripped the divine killing spear stuck in the heart and slowly pulled.
KUGUGUGUGU!
When Zeke, who possessed an immortal's power, pulled the spear, the divine killing spear came out surprisingly easily.
When Zeke removed the spear, the place where it had been stuck quickly healed, and the petrified dragon's heart began to regain its original power while emitting a green light.
TSUTSUTSUTSU!
A green light leaked from the divine dragon’s mummified body, which was like a petrified wood fossil.
Seeing this, the Sage shed tears of emotion.
"Goodness! How can this be?!"
As his voice burst out, messages appeared.
[The divine status of the Forgotten Forest God is liberated.] [Forest God Hermes recovers his divinity.]
[All forests on the continent stabilize due to Forest God Hermes's influence.]
[The behavior of magical beasts in forests is restricted.]
As the messages about the liberation of the Forest God's divine status appeared, a mass of green light gathered from the dragon's heart and began to form a shape.
The elf with a benevolent expression had light green hair like fresh grass, and horns similar to those of a mountain goat protruded from his forehead.
It was the true spirit of Hermes, possessing divine power, that revealed itself.
The Sage bowed his head toward that being.
"Divine Dragon!"
Like the Sea God, Divine Dragon Hermes's true form had regained its divine status and revealed itself.
Forest God Hermes, who recovered his divine status, approached Zeke and extended his hand.
Zeke could smell a fragrant scent from Hermes, like that of a spring meadow.
[Forest God Hermes expresses gratitude to the Immortal.]
[Forest God Hermes delivers a reward to the Immortal.]
A tree grew from Hermes's hand, creating a statue resembling the face of a mountain goat.
The completed statue floated in the air before settling in Zeke's hand.
[Acquired Forest God Hermes's sacred object.]
[Forest God Hermes bestows the title 'Forest Companion' upon the Immortal.]
[All forests and forest companions think fondly of the Immortal and try to help.]
[Due to the influence of the Forest Companion title, the active skill 'Empathy(A-rank)' transforms into the authority 'Communication'.]
Zeke was surprised by the reward Hermes bestowed.
'The skill changed into an authority!'
Although he had the empathy skill, he rarely used it except when reading the emotions of summons.
He had been contemplating whether to sell the skill book but just kept it, and seeing it unexpectedly change into an authority, Zeke wore a satisfied expression.
No matter how useful a skill was, there was a big difference in class compared to an authority's ability.
As Hermes stretched out both hands, warm green light rippled from his body and light masses spread in all directions.
KUGUUUUUUU!
With the vibration, life force was bestowed upon the space that had been like a barren fossil.
Green leaves and sprouts began to bloom everywhere.
Simultaneously, the light masses seeped into the Sage's body.
TSUTSUTSUTSU!
The Sage, who had been sitting in the chair, slowly stood up and began walking leisurely.
He approached Zeke, who had surprised eyes, and said.
"This place will soon transform into a divine realm. We should leave for now."
The Sage grabbed Zeke's shoulder and performed spatial transfer magic.
WOOOONG!
* * *
When the light faded and Zeke opened his eyes, he had returned from Hermes's realm back to the Sage's original study.
But somehow the study felt different from before.
There was a strangely warm atmosphere.
Zeke went out to the corridor with the Sage and approached the window where sunlight was coming in.
The atmosphere of the city viewed from above had changed from before.
Thanks to Hermes and the Naga, it had developed into a systematic and sophisticated city, but it had a strong rigid, colorless feeling.
But now more places were covered in greenery than when first seen, and the whole city seemed to overflow with green vitality.
The Sage looked down at the city and said.
"I thought it was fortunate enough just to maintain the city this much with remaining power... but you've breathed new life into this city."
Just as the sea stabilized when the Sea God regained his divine status, the forest's vitality became vibrant again as the Forest God returned.
The Sage looked at Zeke and said.
"I think I understand why the Holy Spear chose you as its successor."
And as he finished speaking, the Sage's body gradually began to become transparent.