Chapter 80
Chapter 80
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: Purgatory (完)
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Rape. Obsession. Actions I never would have taken under normal circumstances.
I remember the time I flew into a rage with Lee Se-young right in front of me and pounced on her, thinking whatever happens, happens.
It was the same when I received the quest at the academy. There was a simple solution—make a friend—but for some reason, Azalea was the only one on my mind.
I have to do it this way because my life is on the line, I told myself.
Sprinkling chocolate on her, persistently striking up conversations.
Even though I was doing things I'd never do, it didn't feel strange at all.
I raped a noble.
I felt compelled to befriend someone tangled up with cultists.
Lee Se-young, Azalea. They weren't like that now, but back then, getting involved with them the wrong way would have spelled disaster.
So I could see it. Looking back, the direction of my actions was always perilously precarious.
Of course, the pity I felt for Azalea wasn't fake.
But isn't it strange? Why did I have to make those particular choices?
As my thoughts reached that point, a headache struck.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ 【 Coercive Force Activates! 】 A rising inner voice. No. Don't think about it.
The doubts mixed in there—it's best to forget them all. Whether it's my voice or someone else's planted in me.
I clench my jaw and shatter it.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ 【 Coercive Force Activates! 】 【 Coercive Force Activates! 】 【 Coercive Force Activates! 】 【 Coercive Force Activates! 】 【 Coercive Force Activat— 】 A throbbing pain in my head, like something being torn to shreds.
The window before my eyes shatters into pieces, scattering everywhere.
Maybe...
I rearrange my scattered thoughts and sink back into contemplation.
Perhaps the World Tree of Resentment was trying to isolate me from this society.
It made me rape a noble, planted the idea to befriend a girl with a complicated backstory, and led me to sleep with countless others.
Yet I survived intact. If Alpha and Beta were sent because it irked them that I lived, the story fits perfectly.
But if so, why didn't the World Tree of Resentment utterly destroy me?
Did that god-like power have limits?
That question was answered soon enough.
Purity.
The one standing at the opposite pole of Resentment, who for some reason cared for me unusually.
If the World Tree of Resentment restricted my choices and actions, then the World Tree of Purity could have done the same.
Lee Se-young, who desired rape, and Azalea, who clung to the idea of friendship.
Thanks to their personalities, I escaped those extreme situations.
Isn't this situation too contrived? I found myself asking.
I don't think World Trees can manipulate every Wood Person's personality or past.
If they could, beings at the opposite pole wouldn't have been born.
Probably, it could only manipulate the thoughts of a marriage candidate like me.
The World Tree of Resentment always presented the worst options in my situations.
So it made sense to assume there was interference in the backgrounds that let me overcome those choices.
Meeting Lee Se-young.
Sitting near Azalea during the entrance exam.
Perhaps... no, maybe those were connections forged by the World Tree.
I had no intention of spouting fatalistic nonsense. I could dismiss it as ridiculous.
But now, with the manipulated memories gone, it didn't seem impossible at all.
The World Tree toying with fate above the World Tree of Resentment's head.
Is that right?
No answer came when I asked.
The connection to the World Tree of Purity had been severed long ago.
But now, it was fine.
Sorry. For hating you for no reason.
From now on, my fate would be forged by my own hands.
I reached into the rift of this distorted world.
The impenetrable walls of Purgatory crumbled away. Like plunging my hand into fine sand particles, the fissure widened to fit my body.
-Crash!
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ 【 Connection to World Tree Temporarily Severed. 】 ◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ A slender branch sprouted from the woman's throat, stretching toward the sky.
The flowers and branches intertwined, forming something like a tree.
The Heavenly Demon.
Wearing a dragon robe several sizes too large for her body, she stood with hands behind her back, leisurely placing her feet on the carpet.
"...You wench."
The old man's bellow echoed from behind the blackened Purgatory stems.
The Heavenly Demon lifted her chin arrogantly, her face coldly impassive.
"For the one who made this dungeon, you're surprisingly decrepit."
Crunch. Teeth grinding resounded.
"A mere survivor dares enter the grave."
The old man gripped his staff tightly. Fragments sprayed, falling to the floor.
"A mere survivor? Is that what you call me?"
"You wench—"
"Better off than you, waiting for a king who's never coming back."
"...!"
-Whoosh!
Purgatory stems lunged from behind the old man toward the Heavenly Demon.
But upon touching her skin, the Purgatory turned to powder, slowly draining into the floor.
"Wood Spirit King. I've heard about you from my master."
"Insolent tree! You dare speak his name?!"
"The man who supposedly dominated World Trees... was that it?"
The Heavenly Demon glanced at the Purgatory stems.
"So what is this power you're using now?"
Purgatory. She recognized the magic instantly.
The source of that power, which trapped foes in the past, flowed from a World Tree.
"A servant of the one who despised World Trees, now groveling with their power?"
"Shut your mouth."
"No thought of honing your skills to gain true authority. Your king must pity you."
The Heavenly Demon shrugged her shoulders.
"Discipleship is fated, just like with me."
The old man scowled fiercely, then chuckled mockingly, clutching his staff pathetically as he muttered toward the interior of Purgatory.
"A blabbering wench who's as good as dead. Disciple... That frail man who'd snap underfoot? Ridiculous!"
The old man spread his arms wide. His mad voice filled the royal chamber.
"That rotten soul can do nothing. Best accept death quietly, wench!"
"Who—"
The Heavenly Demon cut off the old man.
With a sneer of disdain, she hissed coldly enough to send chills down the spine just from hearing it.
"Who calls it a rotten soul? Eyes worse than a knot hole."
"Ha!"
The old man snorted and turned.
The roiling Purgatory, on the verge of bursting, was melting away from some brutal impact.
An earthquake shook the old man's eyes as he watched.
"Ah."
"Oops," the Heavenly Demon murmured cutely, covering her mouth.
"Used vulgar words in front of my dear disciple."
No matter.
The Heavenly Demon smiled leisurely as she watched the scene.
-Crack!
"Impossible... How? That soul was so turbid."
Behind the gaping, stunned old man, Lee Si-heon burst through the black waves.
Si-heon slowly raised his eyelids. Ominous mana rose above his shoulders.
Monstrous Strength, Chaotic God.
Why did that phrase come to mind now? Thick mana crawled over his body like a dragon.
The old man swallowed dryly, his mouth refusing to close.
A towering power piercing the heavens. Pure human strength, untainted by trees, crushed the entire space.
-Thud.
The mask he wore fell off.
The old man stepped forward at the killing intent in those long, slit eyes stained with blood.
Bones chilled at the demon face hidden within.
He had absorbed the World Tree's power purely as his own, elevating it to a higher realm.
The connection to trees was nowhere to be seen.
The old man couldn't believe it.
This man, whom he thought impossible, faintly carried the king's aura.
"Ah, no. It can't be."
But Lee Si-heon spared the old man not even a glance.
He looked only at Cheondo before him, his expression as if asking why she was here.
"Master...?"
The face beneath the mask was unadorned—the true Lee Si-heon from before this world.
"So that's your real face."
Cheondo laughed.
"Much more handsome."
Red mana blazing above Lee Si-heon's shoulders bloomed like a flower, danced, and vanished.
What he instinctively manifested resembled peach blossoms.
[Black Spade - Black Peach Tree]
Against Lee Seong-han and the Ent. The ability he never lacked in major battles before.
This was the moment it fully formed from assembled fragments, self-forged by Lee Si-heon.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ I shattered Purgatory and learned how to temporarily discard the status window.
Should I call it enlightenment?
Honestly, I don't fully understand why I can wield this power.
Breaking the status window should naturally return the power gained from it, right?
But this state feels more like I've forcibly seized the power bestowed by the World Tree.
-The King of Gluttony that devours all.
A stinging pain at my fingertips. Even that pain felt good.
Status window.
No response. Having completely shattered it, I figured it would take time to return.
In my clear field of vision, I took in my appearance.
Taller stature, broader shoulders. My face was more natural than the forcibly enhanced one here.
If the mask-enhanced look was pieced together like a sculpture, this felt like one modeled after my real face.
The vessel of mana settled in my body was vast as an ocean, and my muscle power had grown significantly.
The quests that had threatened me until now.
The twisted common sense imposed on me.
Freed from it all, I felt utterly alien to myself.
"...It can't be!"
I turned toward the old man's incredulous voice.
The one I thought untouchable now looked so small.
"You, you—!"
-Swish!
Purgatory stems extended,
Splitting into hundreds of tendrils, writhing wildly as they swiftly enveloped my entire body again.
-Grip!
With brute force, my body was entangled and lifted above the royal chamber. The displaced chandelier crashed below, shattering.
Purgatory stems crushing me like vise grips.
I extended a mana-infused hand, and the stems snapped futilely.
...Definitely.
Much stronger than before.
Huuuuh.
I inhaled deeply and unleashed all my mana with full force.
-Boom!
The Purgatory stems vanished like a burst balloon. My body plummeted to the floor.
-Thud.
A heavy impact echoed as I straightened my bent legs. The old man before me gaped, mumbling something.
"The King."
I didn't care what he said.
Maybe now, I could do it.
I clenched my still-stiff fingers, wrapping black mana around my arm like coils.
Roiling energy expanded, and without hesitation, I thrust it toward the old man.
'One.'
A single technique.
'When the white flower blooms—'
White sword energy surged over the black mana, engulfing the old man's body.
It stretched relentlessly like a ferocious tiger, its momentum unending, as my mana whipped through the castle interior like blades.
The training I thought colorless now shone.
'White Peach.'
The first flower I'd ever bloomed.
It would fully blossom here.
-Kaboom!
A massive roar shook the building, punching a huge hole in the castle's sturdy walls.
A sight achieved by neither Cheondo nor White Peach, but by me.
Staggering from depleted mana, someone steadied my shoulder.
"Success. Good work... Ngh!"
-Hug!
The moment I identified the voice, I pulled her body into a tight embrace.
Feeling the texture of skin through a single layer of fabric, I hugged even harder, refusing to let go.
My mana-drained body trembled. Surging emotions returned.
"...What an incorrigible disciple."
My master's slender hand in my hair. Her jade fingers caressed my cheek and neck. I said nothing.
Slowly, the dungeon began to collapse.