Chapter 112
Chapter 112
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 112
Chapter Title: The Maze of the Fallen Forest
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Pfoosh!
The thing pierced by Kim Sion’s dagger slowly shed its camouflage, revealing its true form.
“……Urk!”
A dark elf with pitch-black skin and pointed ears.
The Fallen Forest.
These were the enemies clashing against the World Tree in this demonic battlefield.
“Thirty-two.”
A grin.
As Kim Sion swung his dagger with a smile.
Thud!
The dark elf impaled on the dagger began sinking into the swamp below.
“Forty-six.”
Yoon Seung-ah appeared beside him.
Fwoosh!
Black shadows erupted from her body, forming spikes that instantly pierced the dark elves lurking nearby.
“Don’t steal my kills!”
Kim Sion yelled in frustration, but Yoon Seung-ah ignored him completely, flicking her finger.
Ting!
The incoming black lightning bolt collided with the shadow and ricocheted away.
“I could’ve blocked that!”
That was when Yoon Seung-ah vanished once more.
Crunch!
That familiar sound echoed from somewhere.
“Tch!”
The bet Kim Sion had been so confident about was over.
Just twenty minutes into the fight.
Unlike Yoon Seung-ah or Kim Sion, who had barely two digits each.
“No fair.”
Go Yohan had already surpassed three digits with ease.
“……You’ve gotten even stronger.”
Kim Sion said, his eyes gleaming with envy.
He had noticed some change in Go Yohan after acquiring the Dwarven Iron Chalice.
But he hadn’t expected this much.
Shrieeek!
An arrow flew in from somewhere, perfectly blended with the forest’s darkness, impossible to track with the naked eye.
Clang!
Kim Sion deflected it and stepped forward.
Whoosh!
It felt like space itself was folding, just like when Go Yohan moved.
But unlike Go Yohan.
Rumble!
The speed Kim Sion achieved was purely thanks to his exceptional agility and strength.
Right in front of Kim Sion.
“……!”
He spotted the wavering camouflage of a dark elf.
Stab!
Kim Sion’s dagger pierced its heart without hesitation.
The old Kim Sion would have gone for the neck.
“Tch.”
But these dark elves had skin and bones tougher than imagined.
Single-horned demons like them were putting out power close to that of double-horned ones.
The Fallen Forest—this territory was clearly granting them some kind of strength.
Rustle.
Shadows rippled behind Kim Sion, and darkness swirled in an instant.
“And they play dirty too.”
These dark elves were already tricky enough, but unlike the demons they’d fought before, they even pulled stunts like this.
Using their allies as bait and striking in the gap.
Crunch!
But the dark elves failed to ambush Kim Sion.
The shadows bursting from his body had pierced the hearts of those trying to strike.
“What my sister can do….”
Kim Sion spun around, his dagger moving.
Splurt!
A bizarre spray of blood.
“I can do too.”
This was Kim Sion’s true talent.
“But I still won the bet.”
Kim Sion jolted in surprise, his dagger swinging on pure instinct.
Grip!
Go Yohan’s hand caught it.
“You scared me! Captain!”
Even Kim Sion was handled like a child by Go Yohan.
“One hundred fifty-one.”
“No way… Fine, you win!”
In truth, Kim Sion had been counting the dark elves Go Yohan cut down.
Not a single one off.
And so the bet ended.
“W-what do I have to do?”
A bet lost meant facing the consequences.
“Time to go to high school, right?”
“Aaahhh!”
Kim Sion’s scream echoed through the Fallen Forest.
*
*
*
[Remaining time: 181 hours]
The goddess’s warning rang out.
They had been in the gate for nearly a full day already.
The reason these guys—who would normally charge straight to their goal—were progressing so slowly was simple.
“It’s a maze.”
The Fallen Forest was one giant maze.
Just look at the spot where the first battle happened.
Once the fight ended.
Rumble!
Withered trees shot up, forming a denser forest, its structure growing even more complex.
And that wasn’t all.
Gurgle!
The murky swamp covering the ground churned as if to swallow everything on the surface.
Ripple.
Yoon Seung-ah tried to move through shadows with Go Yohan, but they reappeared only atop the tree right next to them.
‘Mana interference.’
The World Tree’s mana saturated the area, warping even spatial coordinates.
“Sis! Me too!”
“Jump.”
Hop!
In an instant, the trees where Go Yohan and the apostles had stood were sucked into the swamp, leaving an empty clearing.
But moments later.
Rumble rumble!
Withered trees sprouted again, reforming the forest.
“Ha.”
Kim Sion looked utterly dumbfounded.
He had never experienced such viciousness before.
Before they could even rest properly or decide a direction.
Swish!
Branches lashed out like whips toward Go Yohan, Kim Sion, and Yoon Seung-ah.
Clang!
They were so tough that even Kim Sion’s dagger barely withstood one strike.
Humm!
They slammed into the wall of shadows Yoon Seung-ah created, straining desperately to break through.
The surefire way was.
Crunch!
Go Yohan ripping it all apart.
The world line filled with black—merely grasping and tearing a part of it shredded space itself.
A brief moment of rest.
Go Yohan clenched and unclenched his fist, testing his senses.
‘Definitely.’
It had changed.
Whether from the enhanced Divine Eye after acquiring the Iron Chalice, he could now interfere with the world line more reliably, and the range of his influence had widened.
“Captain!”
“One sec.”
Go Yohan let an incoming branch grab him.
Swish!
The rock-hard branch clamped onto his arm, straining fiercely to tear him apart.
But.
[Black Steelization]
Go Yohan’s arm began turning pitch-black.
Smooth and glossy, it devoured all surrounding color, gleaming as if emitting its own light.
Rip!
It tore away every attacking branch.
[Strength Enhancement]
[Agility Enhancement]
[Mana Enhancement]
He felt all his stats surge at once.
Shrieeek!
An arrow flew in during the opening.
A dark elf hidden somewhere had fired it, thinking Go Yohan showed a gap.
Ting!
With a mere flick of his hand, Go Yohan deflected the arrow and reached out—
“Gaaah!”
The dark elf that fired it got snagged by branches and sucked into the swamp.
“Man….”
Go Yohan gave a wry smile.
“What a tiring place.”
Everything in this space was an enemy.
*
*
*
[Remaining time: 170 hours]
The Fallen Forest was a battlefield.
Of the World Tree—and the dark elves.
Hop.
No need to interrogate a captured dark elf, this cursed spawn of evil that had fallen to corruption.
Everything in this space told the tale.
“The World Tree seems to be resisting fiercely.”
Yoon Seung-ah said.
She felt exactly what Go Yohan did.
Her Divine Eye was weaker, but no one surpassed her in ‘understanding.’
“The dark elves haven’t been able to claim the World Tree easily either….”
Yoon Seung-ah continued.
“It’s like the World Tree is trying to corrupt the entire land it’s hidden in.”
“Seems that way.”
Go Yohan said as he tore space apart.
The ripped space became their new path forward.
“But that won’t last much longer.”
This forest was proof.
The Fallen Forest, already in sync with the World Tree.
It meant the World Tree itself had partially corrupted.
Perhaps.
“Who knows how long this fight has gone on. This place feels like its own timeline. Only something like the World Tree, treated as divine, could hold out this long.”
Crunch.
The remaining time the goddess spoke of.
It might not just mean the time until they were expelled from the space.
Something had been triggered by their arrival, and it was the time until the World Tree fully corrupted.
Shrieeek.
He caught the incoming arrow.
Even without Go Yohan moving.
Splurt!
Kim Sion was already hunting the ones that fired them.
Pff pff pff!
Yoon Seung-ah’s magic was disposing of them.
“The dark elves are proof. They’re desperate to stop us.”
As time passed, Go Yohan’s Divine Eye was regaining its full power.
In the blackened world, he could sort the lines and spot the gaps.
Bundles of thread moving through them.
Their urgency was palpable.
“The dark elves can’t find the World Tree either. Trapped in the maze like us.”
Nod.
Yoon Seung-ah nodded.
“Can you do it?”
They had already spent nearly 30 hours here.
Nonstop movement, yet no clue how far the maze’s end was.
A world like crudely woven glass shards—raw power alone had clear limits.
“It won’t be easy.”
A rare groan from Yoon Seung-ah.
“It’s been fractured for too long. The World Tree poured everything into it, and demonic power is entangled too. If we had a bit more time, maybe, but right now…”
Her always-honest words were trustworthy.
But one thing was certain.
“……Permission.”
Yoon Seung-ah wouldn’t say impossible.
If she did, it just meant she wanted permission from Go Yohan for something.
“Will you allow the horn?”
Yoon Seung-ah asked cautiously.
“No choice. Time’s the priority. But not for long—I don’t want to see you hurt.”
At Go Yohan’s words, Yoon Seung-ah’s eyes trembled.
“Wow…!”
Kim Sion approached after clearing nearby dark elves.
“It’s been forever.”
Kim Sion had caught on, and Go Yohan stepped back.
“Thank you, Captain.”
Hop.
Yoon Seung-ah kicked off the tree she stood on and landed atop the swamp.
The corrupted swamp, as if waiting for that moment.
Rumble!
It surged up to devour her.
The instant a circular black ring formed.
Boom!
The ring exploded in a flash, shoving back the surrounding swamp.
Hummm.
Mana so intense it raised goosebumps.
This was a glimpse of the apostles’ true power.
[Sloth seeks release of her power.]
[Will you permit it?]
Even the goddess issued a single warning for this mana.
“I permit it.”
My goddess.
Crack!
On Yoon Seung-ah’s right forehead, her skin began to writhe.