Big and Beautiful (1)
Every time I recited a new verse in the Forest of the Four Seasons, I underwent an out-of-body experience.
Through those astral projections, I had managed to pinpoint the location of the World Tree sustaining this forest.
The problem was that estimating the actual distance to that World Tree was virtually impossible.
Even viewed from the heavens during projection, the World Tree possessed a commanding, conspicuous presence. Compared to the colossal World Tree towering proudly over Alfheim, it appeared to be roughly the same size, if not even larger.
There was no telling how long it would take on foot; in the worst-case scenario, it could take well over a month.
The reason I budgeted a full month was the potential wildlife and geographical barriers we might encounter along the way. In truth, the terrain posed a far greater threat than any beast. If a massive lake blocked our path, we would have no choice but to swallow our tears and turn back.
Only a lunatic would build a raft and attempt to cross it. There was no telling what manner of aquatic monstrosity lurked beneath the surface.
"Sviria! Vodka! De minrano!"
Perched high, Maengkkongi belted out the song with full operatic fervor, brandishing the four-leaf clover I had handed him like a conductor's baton.
Where on earth he had heard such a melody was beyond me, but it lent an odd vigor to my stride, so I let it slide. Back in the military, soldiers occasionally belted out marching cadences at the top of their lungs because matching that rhythmic tempo genuinely made the trek feel less exhausting. Of course, near the tail end of a grueling forced march, even that lost all meaning. By then, everyone was too busy dragging their feet in a state between life and death.
[The lyrics are... quite peculiar. It sounds like an anthem that a conqueror of the continent might sing.]
"Mm... feels like it, right?"
For the record, that wasn't an actual military march. It was merely a fictional theme composed to evoke the dramatic image of a certain nation. Yet because the production value was so absurdly stellar, almost everyone mistook it for an authentic wartime anthem.
'There was no song like that stored on the jukebox. Meaning he heard it somewhere out in the wild...'
Contrary to his fragile, pudgy exterior, the chances were high that Maengkkongi had wandered far and wide across the Four Seasons Forest. After all, the very fact that he had collapsed from utter exhaustion right at our doorstep was suspicious enough in itself. Coupled with his astonishing vocal talent that bewitched wild beasts, he might very well be a bona fide bard in the truest sense.
'Is he considered... a neutral faction?'
A renowned bard had to be universally liked. For starters, they possessed extraordinary charisma. One might scoff at the notion of a mere frog having a silver tongue, but this forest teemed with creatures of formidable intellect. They had likely comprehended Maengkkongi's words clear as day, enjoying his impromptu concerts in the bargain.
From then on, we pushed steadfastly forward to the rousing cadence of Maengkkongi's marching hymn.
Fortunately, we encountered neither bloodthirsty beasts nor bizarre anomalous environments along the trek. The true issue was verifying whether we were maintaining a straight course. The canopy was so suffocatingly dense that losing all sense of direction was an ever-present danger. As a result, someone had to scramble up the treetops periodically to scout our position.
"Alright, Ggobongi. Up you go."
"Why me?"
"Because you're a gorilla."
"Ah. Right."
'Ah, right' my foot. I shot Ggobongi an incredulous stare.
Having lived alongside humans and behaved like one for so long, the ape genuinely seemed under the impression that he was human himself. Granted, observing his daily habits, he was hardly distinguishable from a person. Even so, basic biological distinctions had to be respected, didn't they?
'He's not actually going to turn into a human or the Great Sage Equal to Heaven later, is he?'
Well, whatever the outcome, anything went in the Forest of the Four Seasons. After all, I didn't possess human strength either; I had crossed the boundary of an ordinary mortal long ago.
Presently, Ggobongi scrambled back down from the crown of a colossal tree, having confirmed the World Tree's coordinates.
"That way."
"See anything strange along the line?"
"I saw something big. But it stays still."
Something huge that remained stationary. That was hardly a remark to brush aside. Ggobongi's eyesight had grown remarkably sharp of late; he was more than capable of discerning whether an object was an ordinary boulder or something else entirely. The fact that he broadly described it as 'something big' strongly hinted at a structure.
'Is there something like a skyscraper out here?'
Piqued with curiosity, I glanced up toward the treetop. I could have scaled it myself to confirm, but deciding it would take too much time, I let it go. Ggobongi was one thing, but I possessed zero natural talent for climbing trees.
'Unless it involves smashing the tree down, that is.'
At any rate, with our heading secured by Ggobongi, we resumed our march. Maengkkongi's song, which had abruptly cut off during the scout, promptly picked up where it left off. That little amphibian truly possessed an uncanny sense of timing.
Maintaining our bearings through periodic check-ins, the suffocating density of the timberland gradually receded until the trees thinned to a halt.
"...A cliff?"
"A cliff."
[A cliff indeed.]
Before us stood a sheer precipice that looked as though it had been sliced clean with a blade. Strangely enough, the entire wall was pure, immaculate white.
Looking up at the bluff, I reached out and gently laid a palm against its face. Its polished, unyielding texture was striking. It was smooth enough that my reflection faintly mirrored back at me. In an instant, I realized the composition of the cliff face.
'...Don't tell me this is marble?'
Nothing else in nature possessed such sleek perfection. I tilted my head back to reassess the height. Though nearly vertical, the drop wasn't excessively tall. With a decent surge of power, reaching the summit would be trivial.
Taking a few paces back, I charged forward and sprang upward with everything I had the moment my boots kissed the base of the wall.
Whoosh!
"Whoa-argh!"
Startled, I flailed wildly through the air. Perhaps because I had channeled mana into the jump, I vaulted considerably higher than intended. Even so, I didn't botch the landing. In fact, that frantic midair paddling proved oddly useful for orienting myself.
Roll—
Just before impact, I instinctively tucked my limbs and rolled across the surface. The kinetic force was safely dispersed, and with Protective Astral Aura cloaking my frame, I didn't suffer a single scratch.
'...A plateau?'
Upon clearing the ledge, an expansive, barren plain stretched out before me. The entire foundation was paved with brilliant white marble. After a moment of dumbfounded marveling, I leaned over the edge to look down at the party below.
Seeing them all craning their necks upward in unison was absurdly comical.
"Ppeep!"
"Ah, right. You can just fly."
Tyrano was a dragon hatchling, after all; the little rascal simply fluttered its wings and hovered straight up. Flight truly was the ultimate privilege.
I slipped off my pack and retrieved heavy climbing spikes and coils of sturdy rope. The rope had been bought off the Gallery, while the metal stakes were items I had forged by hand just in case.
Clang! Clang!
I drove the steel spikes straight into the marble using the brute force of my bare hands. It didn't even sting. Securing the rope to the anchor, I tossed the length down the cliff. The climbers could simply haul themselves up now.
However, there was an obvious logistical hurdle: Cain. Not the miniature paladin himself, but the spectral steed he rode. And beyond Cain's mount, the Giraffe and Largo presented an identical problem.
"I'll just tie the line around them and haul them up myself."
[A remarkably straightforward yet brutish approach.]
"Hey, it's the easiest way, isn't it?"
Cain offered an acknowledging nod. True to my word, I hoisted the warhorse and Largo straight up the cliff face using pure, unadulterated muscle. This was precisely why keeping one's body in peak physical condition was paramount. When the body was sturdy, the brain didn't have to suffer.
"Only Master can say that."
"Results speak for themselves."
There was no need to overcomplicate matters when brute force worked so cleanly. The fruits of training my external martial arts throughout the harsh winter were paying off in spades. Now that the entire vanguard had been hauled to the summit, it was time to traverse the marble expanse.
It was a bleak, desolate wasteland with nothing on the horizon, so barren it felt almost like an alabaster desert.
"Master. Tree visible over there."
"Yeah, I see it."
The saving grace was that the silhouette presumed to be the World Tree was visible in the far distance. During my astral projections, I hadn't caught the detail, but up close, it radiated a faint golden luminescence.
'A golden tree? That makes me even more uneasy...'
The World Tree sapling back at our shelter was an ordinary, vibrant green tree. Yet this one gleamed like spun gold. Usually, radiant anomalies in this forest heralded terrible news, but who could say? We would find out once we drew near.
Rumble, rumble—
Midway through our trek across the plain, the ground shuddered faintly. The moment the tremor registered through the soles of my boots, I drew my sword without hesitation. The rest of the party bristled into action, each brandishing their armaments. Everyone adopted a sharp, defensive stance.
'...Nothing happened?'
Yet despite the localized quake, no threat manifested. It wasn't an overreaction on our part; every single time the earth had shaken previously, some ungodly mutant beast had erupted from the ground. Scanning our surroundings, I slowly eased my blade back into its scabbard. There was no immediate need to fight.
"Ta-da-dan~ ta-da~ ta-ta-ta~"
Maengkkongi's performance hadn't skipped a beat either. That frog possessed an uncanny sixth sense for danger. The fact that he carried the tune straight through the tremor suggested the situation was nothing to lose our heads over.
'Still, putting blind faith in a frog would be stupid.'
This was the Forest of the Four Seasons; something could burst forth at any second, from any direction. The moment you let your guard down, you were corpse meat. Keeping our senses alert, I led the march toward the glittering glow of the World Tree.
I had initially assumed this area was simply a massive, continuous plateau, but it wasn't long before that assumption was shattered.
"Whoa..."
I gasped at the colossal chasm yawning before our feet. It was no simple trench. A hollow of unfathomable proportions had been gouged into the earth, looking for all the world as though a massive meteorite had struck dead-center. The crucial difference, however, was that a meteor crater was an act of nature—this basin was unmistakably artificial.
And above all else...
"Master. That is what I saw."
[Is that... an apparatus? It is utterly colossal.]
Looming squarely within the colossal pit was an enormous machine. The moment my eyes took in its geometry, I recognized what it was.
An excavator—the kind deployed in gargantuan open-pit mining operations and massive civil engineering works. Yet this particular machine rivaled the scale of an entire modern skyscraper. Even viewing it from a considerable distance, its proportions completely warped my sense of perspective.
'Did they build one of these in America too?'
I recalled seeing pictures on the internet once, hailed as the largest land vehicle ever constructed by humankind. Furthermore, I knew those bucket-wheel beasts were capable of self-propulsion like armored vehicles. Sure enough, colossal caterpillar tracks were anchored along its undercarriage.
After a brief moment of awe at the mechanical titan, an inconvenient reality crashed down on me.
"Sigh... Looks like we'll have to descend into that pit after all."
To reach the World Tree, we had to traverse straight through the excavated depression. Circling around was out of the question; the colossal crater spanned the entire breadth of the terrain before us. The lone silver lining was that the gradient was gentle enough that we didn't need to rappel down with ropes.
Still, the polished floor was slick, forcing us to pick our way down with extreme care. Given the sheer magnitude of the pit, merely hiking down to the basin floor consumed a substantial chunk of time.
"It's nearly lunchtime anyway, so let's take a breather down there."
[Will it be safe?]
"That's why we need to sweep the perimeter first."
If luck was against us, that colossal mechanical construct might suddenly whir to life. The giant Kraken had functioned that way, and so had the mechanical legion that ambushed us when we fled the Central Research Institute. As an absolute rule, ancient machines were never to be trusted. A meticulous inspection was always the safest path.
Glint!
"Hm?"
My boot clipped something loose on the ground that distinctly wasn't marble. Bending down, I scooped up the mineral fragment. Unlike the milky white stone of the quarry, this piece caught the light with an unmistakable metallic luster. Almost like...
"This is..."
The dwarf pegged it as adamantium on sight. The problem was, this wasn't unrefined ore. It looked as though it had sheared off from some manufactured structure. Slipping the shard into my pocket for the moment, I closed the distance toward the towering excavator.
Before long, another detail caught my eye.
"Why is that cutting edge gleaming like that? That sure as hell isn't ordinary steel..."
The colossal excavator's bucket teeth were forged entirely from solid adamantium.
The cutting blades of a machine the size of a skyscraper were fashioned completely from indestructible adamantium.
And it wasn't merely the gargantuan excavator. Scattered across the surrounding excavation zone were various abandoned implements—everything from hand pickaxes to massive mechanical drill bits typically employed in deep-core tunneling. Every single one of them was crafted from the exact same miraculous metal.
'...Just what on earth were the ancient gods trying to dig up out here?'