Chapter 230
Chapter 230
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 230
Chapter Title: Teaming Up (1)
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A single punch created a hole straight through the trunk of the standing tree.
Bead quickly dropped down from the tree to escape the opponent's range.
From the branch where Bead had been sniping the cadets moments ago, a black-skinned woman gazed down at her coldly.
'Too annoying.'
The power of a National Tree was impossible to gauge.
It varied wildly depending on the nation and the tree's talents.
They ranged from S-rank elites to those stuck at the lower A-rank.
Bead adjusted her landing posture mid-fall.
'Running is the best option.'
The abilities of National Trees held greater value than their individual combat prowess.
She had to break away.
The woman watched the falling Bead for a moment before hurling herself into the air after her.
Bead landed first and backpedaled while nocking an arrow.
She expanded the mana gathered on her fingertips and took aim at the plummeting woman.
-Thud!
"Hoo."
Dust billowed up as the woman landed right after.
The moment the dirt cloud cleared, their eyes met.
The woman narrowed her eyes at Bead, who had her bow trained on her.
Judging by her appearance, she was an African National Tree.
A nation where an entire continent was one country, though most of its territory had been lost to gates and rendered unusable.
Yet, with monster skirmishes as a daily routine, their combat skills ranked at the top among National Trees.
"Hey."
Her cold words stabbed like daggers.
With each rough exhale, her massive breasts heaved.
"You wanna fight?"
"......?"
"I'm looking for someone right now. Not really in the mood for a scrap."
Fortunately, the words from Bao's mouth weren't as belligerent as the rumors suggested.
For the berserker known as a battle maniac to shy away from a fight—it was odd, but whatever.
Bead's eyes twitched.
[Zing~!]
The surrounding cameras circled through the air like in a movie, filming between them. Bao stared straight at Bead's face.
"You from El Academy, right? Know where Lee Si-heon is?"
A man's name slipped from her lips.
"...Lee Si-heon?"
"Lee Si-heon from El Academy. Think I've seen your face next to his too. You know him?"
Of course she did.
He was Bead's target as well.
Bead flashed a smile, her lips trembling slightly.
"Maybe. What if I do?"
"Tell me."
"Hee-hee. Normally, you'd say why first. Why are you looking for him?"
"Personal business."
Perhaps annoyed by Bead's laugh, she narrowed her eyes.
Her posture oozed leisure, and even as she continuously reinforced her body with mana, her reserves showed no sign of depleting.
Whatever the reason, she was after Lee Si-heon.
Bead quickly calculated the pros and cons in her head.
Finding Lee Si-heon wouldn't be hard if that was the goal.
Since teaming up was a core premise, location-tracking artifacts for finding teammates popped up occasionally.
Of course, most dungeons opened on day three, so tracking on day two like today might be tricky...
Let's see.
Having finished her mental math, Bead smiled faintly.
"Doesn't seem like I can tell you."
Lee Si-heon's elimination wasn't in Bead's interest either.
Ideally, he needed to survive to the end.
"Taking the long way around, huh."
Bao's face hardened at Bead's words.
Dark red mana coiled around her fists. She seemed a bit bulkier than before.
Could she win without unleashing her full power or artifacts?
The cameras around made it impossible to go all out anyway.
Bead silently chanted a spell in her mind and released the bowstring.
At the same time, Bao lunged forward.
A showdown between Flower and National Tree.
A massive tremor shook the forest.
*****
-Step, step.
Marronnier trudged through the forest, her breaths ragged.
Still reeling from the all-nighter's shock and the lingering afterglow of pleasure, she stumbled along, panting dizzily.
'This won't do...'
It had been over an hour since parting with Lee Si-heon.
Marronnier finally stopped and scanned her surroundings.
Fortunately, the cameras weren't following her—probably chasing some big clash elsewhere.
She spread her mana to probe for presences nearby.
No signs of people within 100 meters.
Marronnier promptly slumped against a nearby tree trunk.
"...Haa. Ugh... ahh."
She slipped a hand under her skirt to touch her panties.
Her lower half was drenched in sticky fluids.
"I hate this so much... Annoying."
She dried it briefly with magic, but as Marronnier traced her fingers there, she let out another dizzying breath.
The memory was still vivid.
She might never forget it, even at the moment of death.
How intense had the impact been for her to even consider asking to travel with him awhile longer, just sitting by his side?
Perched on the tree, she spread her legs, wiggling her toes.
Her knee socks were already torn beyond use, so she'd taken them off, leaving her slender, pale legs and thighs fully exposed.
Marronnier bit her arm to stifle any sounds.
She trembled in spasms as she did what she absolutely shouldn't.
'It's only been a day, so that's why.'
Marronnier recalled what she'd said then. Reflecting on yesterday, she leaked more fluids amid regret.
-...Blanche... so good... every day... forever...
Aaaah! Fuck!
No matter how out of it she'd been, how could she say that?
And Lee Si-heon's response was even more outrageous.
-Then you're my tree from today on. Got it?
-Yes...
He probably didn't remember.
"Kyaaah... ahn!"
-Squirt, splurt.
She dried it again with magic.
Her mind cleared a bit. The lingering memories still disgusted her, but shaking them off in her refreshed state wasn't hard.
Face reality.
She was a National Tree.
France's pillar, a wood person who could become one of the world's top powerhouses with growth.
She couldn't get distracted by something like this.
Marronnier repeated it to herself like a mantra.
-Squish, squelch.
But Blanche's itchy nook seemed to disagree.
-Rustle!
A sound from the bushes.
"Eek!"
Startled, Marronnier hastily pulled up her pure white panties.
She'd indulged too long.
Marronnier finished dressing in a flash with mana and stared at the bushes, swallowing hard.
A cute redheaded woman burst out, leaves in her hair.
"Lewd smell!"
She blurted something weird.
Marronnier, still flustered, covered her chest with her arms.
Her flushed cheeks burned red.
"...What? You're not a guy."
The redhead, Aori, puffed her cheeks in disappointment.
"I was sure it was that guy."
"W-What are you?"
She'd yelled about a lewd smell out of nowhere, then got disappointed on her own.
Marronnier condensed mana in her palms.
No matter how scattered her mind, she could handle this much.
Unlike in the dungeon, where fear and pleasure made her quake—even if an arm got severed, Marronnier could still cast.
Aori sensed the mana and slinked back into the bushes.
She showed no intent to fight.
Marronnier didn't want more mana drain either.
-Swish.
Aori reemerged.
But this time, there were two.
"......"
"......"
"......"
Marronnier, Aori, Taeyang.
Their gazes felt off, so Marronnier subtly activated her unique ability to read their minds.
Fragmented scenes unfolded in her head.
Not as vivid with sound as before, but like a muted TV screen, their imaginations played out visually.
What filled their minds: a messy tangle of man and woman climaxing.
Marronnier wasn't in it, of course.
Just perverts whose heads were stuffed with lewd thoughts.
'......'
Marronnier flushed and put on a stern face.
'Why is everyone I meet like this...?'
Were commoners all wired with sex as their default?
Was I the weird one?
Do they all have casual sex like that daily?
They're Korean. Weirdos in that country.
Three people met, all three the same.
-Tremble tremble.
Something she'd normally brush off now made her shake.
Not temperament, but trauma resurfacing from that day's imprinting.
It was strange.
The ecstasy had been etched in alongside the terror.
Marronnier reminded herself nonstop.
The big, long thing in the woman and man's minds appeared in her imagination as a baguette fresh from the oven, soft and crusty.
She tried to rein in her lewd thoughts that way.
...But theirs looked smaller than his.
His had been too big.
'Ugh. Idiot. What am I thinking.'
-Kzzt zzzt!
Harsh bolts of electricity shot from Marronnier's hands.
"Eek!"
Aori and Taeyang fled like rats. Marronnier sighed and flopped back down.
"Beshiou. I can't move anymore."
Her golem rose from the ground and hoisted her onto its shoulder.
Marronnier's soft, slightly red hand-marked butt settled on the golem's shoulder.
Finally comfortable.
At that moment, Aori and Taeyang.
"Dude, seriously? You drag us to a National Tree?"
"But it was a familiar smell."
"Familiar how?"
Semen smell. Pickled in semen. Even well-cleaned with magic, she couldn't miss it.
As Spirit King's descendant, she knew whether she wanted to or not.
Aori clamped her mouth shut.
Sometimes women don't want their secrets spilled.
"We'll meet him soon anyway."
That man was drawing closer. Aori clenched her fists.
"And then what? I keep saying, no sex here."
Taeyang stayed pessimistic, but Aori pouted her lips.
"Drag him into a dungeon and do it."
"What? Ambush in a dungeon?"
Taeyang trailed off, then seriously rubbed his chin.
"...Genius?"
Surprisingly solid plan.
*****
Running to where Cornus was.
Pretty far.
Traversing this dungeon one way would take three full days of sprinting. Might not meet for days if unlucky.
'But she's not the type to let herself get hurt.'
Not National Tree level, but El Academy's vice-top. Top talent from a premier academy—surely safe.
No worries at all. Only concern: her milk tanks bursting. That was a big deal too.
'Gotta meet Cornus quick and build a house.'
A tent blocking camera blind spots.
Inside, relieve Cornus's pain worry-free.
Bonus: heal with my authority too...
'Like a needy cousin sis who demands constant attention.'
Suddenly shows up asking for babysitting. Thought it'd be chilling with TV, but turned out high-maintenance.
Wonder if she's okay now.
Worrying about family was pointless.
-Rustle!
Mana sense pinged someone.
I halted and eyed the presences lurking nearby in the woods.
Two: not two people, but one person and one monster. Seemed in a standoff, person on the back foot.
I pushed through the brush toward them.
Soon spotted the person—about to get mauled by a wolf.
Long black hair, terrified face. Gentle impression, somehow wronged-looking.
"Haa, haa."
Looked like a swordswoman, but exhausted. Mana tank seemingly empty.
Spotting me in her wolf standoff, she yelled desperately.
"Ah! H-Help!"
Asking for help in an official event? Some nerve.
Backpack suggested she'd cleared a dungeon. Lucky artifact maybe? Lunchtime too.
I didn't even grab my staff, just sparked electricity in my hand.
That instant, the wood person's tree name in my vision.
🌸 [Nanking Cherry Tree]