Chapter 326
Chapter 326
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 326
Chapter Title: Cradle's Collapse (11)
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Black arrows swept through the entire arena.
They swirled as if sucking in all the surrounding air, slicing through nearby vines before embedding into the two Wood People.
-Crunch!
The magic, which had seemed to be advancing well, fizzled out upon hitting the barrier.
'An innate ability.'
I could tell at a glance.
A power perfectly suited to turning the tables.
Each National Tree possesses a force that proves their identity.
Bell of the 'Round Table'.
"These bastards."
I spat out a gravelly curse and stepped into the arena.
I could only imagine how Marronier felt, betrayed by two friends.
Her shocked expression said it all.
"...Lee Siheon? Why are you here?"
She spoke in a hoarse voice, unable to believe her eyes.
I shaped the mistletoe into gauntlet form and strode forward.
"Of all people, I hoped it wasn't you, Bell."
"Have we met before?"
Bell tilted his head the moment he saw me.
"No, we haven't."
But I knew.
The oak tree's home country.
"Bell Arthur Philip Wesley. As if I wouldn't know your name."
Tracing Yi Seyoung's family leads back to Britain.
I'd naturally learned Bell's name in the process.
"An honor. For the Wood Spirit King to know me."
Bell sneered at me and assumed a stance.
I stepped into the barrier.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Connection to the World Tree is temporarily severed. "I don't know why you National Trees switched sides to Flower."
From what I'd heard, their identities were already exposed.
Marronier's gaze toward me had changed quite a bit.
No helping it.
No need to hold back anymore.
I'd just do what I had to.
Bell approached first.
I silently moved forward.
[Master...]
'That's enough. Come out. Sun knows, right? Fly straight to her.'
A National Tree's innate ability was perfect for introducing variables.
It wouldn't be strange if they ended up combat-ineffective here.
Just in case, I sent Lucy toward the hotel to deliver the message.
[Chirp!] "A spirit user, huh."
Lucy burst from Marronier's embrace and flew into the air.
"You'd be done for if you went after her."
"......"
Bell flinched at my warning as he tried to chase Lucy.
Even with mana sealed, martial arts didn't vanish.
A ferocious aura rose from the golden divine sword gripped in Bell's hand.
The real-eyed man's lips curved into a crescent.
"Lee Siheon. I have a lot to say to you too."
"Don't bother. I have nothing to hear from you."
"You'd be better off listening. Why stand with the World Tree?"
"Me, on the World Tree's side?"
I sneered and took a stance.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Joining Flower would be much better for you. No reason for us to fight."
"And yet you've caused plenty of trouble. Right?"
Marronier's face bore an expression of utter abandonment.
Betrayed. A single word couldn't capture that emotion.
Her look toward me wasn't kind either. I understood, given the chaos.
I raised my bloodied fist.
"If you had some grand cause, you should've persuaded me before all this shit went down. You think I'd join Flower now after everything?"
"It's not an emotional matter."
His shamelessness drew a smile from me.
Abby smiled almost simultaneously upon seeing my face.
We were on parallel lines, unable to understand each other.
The moment I realized it, Bell moved first.
"Hup!"
The long sword he held slashed horizontally toward me at blinding speed.
I knew the speed well enough.
I deflected the threatening strike and slowly probed for an opening.
Bell's eyes gleamed toward a single point.
-Slash!
After a few exchanges, his sword pierced my shoulder.
Blood sprayed, and ecstasy filled his eyes.
Against a first-time opponent, it worked on anyone.
Even a National Tree.
-Grind!
My right shoulder bone snapped, muscles twisting.
I pressed forward without stopping, and Bell recoiled in horror belatedly.
-Thud!
A strike to the forehead. No mana, so less lethal than before.
The sensation of bone crumbling in my grip.
I lunged without pause, grabbing his throat to slam him down. Then Abby's long spear targeted my left chest.
"Urgh, grrrgh!"
Bell strained desperately not to be pushed back.
-Boom!
-Crash!
Bell's body hit the ground and my lung was pierced almost simultaneously.
"Cough."
Barbs sprouted from the spear, tormenting my organs.
Spikes burst from my back, and a bloodied spear tip protruded from my chest.
Confirming Bell's brief unconsciousness, I slowly retreated.
Then I gripped the spear shaft in my lung. Without hesitation—
-Rip!
I yanked it out, tearing flesh along with it.
Crimson chunks and blood plopped down.
No mana meant the wound wasn't too deep.
"Hoo."
One deep breath, and bones knit, flesh adhered.
Protruding veins retracted, organs returned to place.
Seizing the advantage was easy.
I didn't know how many times it'd work, but against anyone, this method proved highly effective.
Especially now, when every second counted.
"Urgh, tough bastard."
Bell quickly regained consciousness, wiping blood from his forehead as he rose from the cratered ground.
Abby gripped her blue spear from the wall again.
"Abby. What now?"
Treatment delayed us briefly.
As Bell stood and retook his stance, I asked him.
Abby nodded toward Marronier.
"That seems like a bad idea. Really?"
Bell hesitated. What were they planning?
I decided to act before they could.
"Or we could throw down."
As I moved, Abby spoke next. Bell laughed heartily and tensed his arms.
Blue veins bulged, tree roots overtaking his eyes.
"Release."
-Thud.
-Rumble...
With a single word, the barrier vibrated.
Golden tree branches began wrapping his body from the ground.
Golden medals extended below his neck.
"Spolia Opima."
[Rome Britannia's most honorable medal] His lengthening hair hardened like branches. Like a lion's mane, sharp strands extended behind his back.
Bell Arthur's true form pressed down heavily on the surroundings.
Golden mana surged above his shoulders.
'...This.'
The only one inside the Round Table who could freely use mana.
An affinity between innate ability and woodification?
Fortunately, the barrier's power began to weaken.
At this level, I could use some strength too.
No reason not to fight.
-Boom!
I didn't move, so Bell charged first.
He vanished from sight briefly, then arrived with a massive air current.
Thud!
My mana-clad arm blocked the sword strike.
The ground supporting me shattered, my feet sinking into the dirt.
-Whoosh!
Sudden light leaked into the dark arena.
Bell's muscles bulged as he boldly struck my torso.
My body was pushed to the brink of the barrier's edge.
The entire barrier flashed like a massive sun had descended.
"Sigh."
As I inhaled, the surrounding air exploded, sound following belatedly.
-Bang!
Bell's airborne body aimed for my torso again.
I twisted, barely reading his movement.
-Crunch!
Long branches from his body pierced me through.
The barrier had become impassable; my back hit its edge from Bell's attack.
"You won't understand."
Bell murmured in a grotesque voice up close.
"...I have things to do. Burdens to bear. So—"
I ignored and struck.
"Guh!?"
Black mana surged, Bell's jaw snapping upward.
His helmet flew off, body lifting 5cm into the air.
I cocked my fist, pulling back my elbow.
"One: White Peach."
Amid short resonance, a white mana strike shot straight.
-Thud, rumble...
Cracks formed in the barrier. Sunlight poured, light flashing.
"Two: Myriad Layered White Peach."
-Grind!
Bang!
Bone fragments pierced flesh. The pale yellow barrier vibrated.
Mid-attack, Bell's sword pierced my cheek.
A hard foreign sensation in my mouth. As my jaw regenerated, I clenched, fixing the sword.
Bell's body, bound to sword and arm by roots, stayed in range.
My fist turned red.
"Three."
Myriad Layered Red Peach.
Bell's pupils vanished.
-Boom!
After two full-body slams, he lost consciousness again from melting muscles' agony.
A normal National Tree might have exploded already.
I clasped my hands.
"Four."
Faded Replica.
Just as I aimed to tear him apart completely.
The sword fixing us shattered. Bell was flung backward.
Abby had infiltrated in between.
I ignored, trying for the fourth technique.
-Crunch!?
"!?"
My chest tore open.
Blood surged up.
I hadn't allowed the attack, yet the sudden injury sapped my strength.
Black mana faded.
"What..."
The attack reflected back perfectly.
Abby dragged the unconscious Bell away. Reading the mana flow, I got the gist.
'Reflection.'
My Faded Replica pierced my own body.
Low innate mana, middling physical ability.
Her leisure to the end had a reason.
"Fuck..."
A curse escaped as I staggered forward.
Serious internal injuries.
Treatment would take considerable authority and time.
Chasing those two would be tough.
"Lee Siheon."
Abby, in the barrier's center, looked at me.
Her open eyes were now closed. Sweat poured as she exhaled.
"...No. Wood Spirit King."
"Running away?"
"Haha."
She smiled, but the prior leisure was gone.
Reflection had limits and power caps, it seemed.
Recovering enough to move, I stepped forward again.
The mana-sealing barrier strengthened as Bell's release ended.
"See you later. Hopefully on the same side then."
The authority was stronger than expected.
Body restored, I prepared to pursue.
'Now I can—'
The thought flashed as I could catch them.
Then.
"Well then. Take care."
-Boom!
A massive explosion rang out.
The entire arena shattered.
No ceiling collapse, but massive outer walls cracked and fell nearby.
-Rumble...
Dust rose from the ground. A huge rock slammed onto my foot.
At my vision's edge, Marronier was exposed to the collapse.
'Now or never.'
I emotionally drew mana with all my might inside the barrier.
A tiny amount ignoring Bell's barrier, but enough for one arrow.
-Screech!
One arrow toward Abby.
I didn't see if it hit.
A desperate shot hoping it did. I still had work left.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ I couldn't say a word.
Just helplessly stared ahead.
Even that was blocked by tears, leaving me speechless.
No, did I even deserve to speak?
It hurt that I could only cling to her ankle. Despair swirled.
Not even a hollow laugh escaped.
-Crunch!
A massive spear blade pierced the man's body.
A National Tree. Even for him, victory was impossible.
...Even if the Wood Spirit King.
Marronier squeezed her eyes shut.
She wanted to scream but couldn't.
A burden.
To her family, here. Many needed her, but she achieved nothing.
Only fretting for her own safety. Unable to accept.
If she'd acted more ambitiously, would the outcome differ?
'Abby. Bell.'
Why.
Why betray us?
Her heart ached as if squeezed.
They weren't like that.
Kind, caring, always choosing the right path.
She admired them.
Unlike her half-baked self, she found it cool.
Born National Trees.
She'd become one late, after a normal life.
She learned much from them, duty included.
Yet those two stood against her.
Hard to accept.
Emotions intensified, chest tightening.
She should stop the fight ahead, but despair rose instead.
[Coward.] A voice echoed in her mind.
Marronier squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head.
"...Please. I, I'm just—"
-Marronier, how about taking the next Sage position?
"I'm not that kind of person..."
-Marronier. Last question. Help us a bit.
"......Uh, guh, ugh."
-Lady Marronier. Please lead our country well. You know how important your position is.
Her head throbbed like it would burst.
Marronier's vision tilted upward.
-Thud!
A falling rock struck her head. Hot liquid flowed below her forehead.
She finally grasped the situation.
The building was collapsing.
Unable to use mana now, being buried meant death.
Her mind cooled, eyes widening.
"......"
She ran.
Stepping on fallen rocks. With all her might. Arms spread wide.
Rock chunks and steel beams piled onto the man.
Marronier murmured in shock.
"Siheon—"
-Boom!
Building debris buried the two.