Chapter 192
Chapter 192
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 192
Chapter Title: Flames Engulf the World Tree
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Two days ago, an incident occurred where ten elves committed mass suicide.
In a nearby forest, the elves were found dead with their throats slit.
There were no signs of struggle on them.
They had clearly taken their own lives.
Moreover, the imperial army's investigation found no traces of magic whatsoever.
They were officially ruled as suicides.
Elves place great importance on all things natural.
As such, the ideal death that elves generally desired was a natural one.
It was safe to say that they almost never ended their own lives.
So why had these elves committed mass suicide?
And it wasn't even in the forest where elves lived—the World Forest.
They had deliberately left the World Forest to kill themselves. Why?
It was only natural for people to have questions.
Leyzon was no exception.
After hearing the news about the elves from a pioneer, Leyzon pressed his chin thoughtfully.
Someone who had met a similar end not long ago came to mind.
'Judgment Lord.'
The figure who had been found dead with their throat slit.
It hadn't been determined whether the Judgment Lord's death was murder or suicide.
But there had been no signs of battle there either.
Just a single clean cut across the throat.
Leyzon didn't believe for a second that the Judgment Lord had taken their own life.
They were absolutely not the type to commit suicide.
Now, hearing about the elves' deaths, he couldn't shake the eerie similarities between the Judgment Lord's death and this mass suicide.
'Throats slit, no signs of combat.'
And no traces of magic either.
There were too many strangely overlapping details.
Of course, this was all just speculation.
There was no real connection between the Judgment Lord and the elves.
But Leyzon couldn't shake the nagging feeling.
He had ignored the Judgment Lord's death, and now a similar incident had erupted.
It felt like a massive trap yawning open.
Leyzon tapped his crossed arms slowly with his index finger.
With the Judgment Lord, he hadn't wanted to get involved and had quickly backed off.
But now, he was aiming for the World Forest.
He had to go to the elf village, so this was an unavoidable issue.
'What to do.'
Leyzon fell into thought.
Should he ignore it again and move on?
Or investigate the situation?
That was when it happened.
Syria spoke up, having caught a whiff of something burning.
The World Forest.
Leyzon's head snapped up the moment he heard those words.
"H-Hey, look at that!"
"It's burning! The World Forest is burning!"
"Yggdrasil is on fire!"
Soon, bells rang out warning of the fire, and people screamed.
High in the sky, flames roared fiercely.
The source of the blaze was the world's largest tree.
The World Tree, Yggdrasil.
Flames erupting from Yggdrasil dyed the sky red.
"Damn it, this world never catches a break!"
The moment Leyzon saw it, he was already running.
"Syria, bring the three as shadows!"
Hearing Syria's response, he bolted out of the village.
At the same time, he summoned Bone Broom.
"Attribute fusion, Dragon Scale."
Without hesitation, Leyzon applied Dragon Scale and took to the air.
The flames were so intense that even from this distance, his face burned.
The fire had spread enough to engulf the entire World Forest.
"Damn it."
Leyzon swallowed a curse.
It wasn't heroic concern for the elf village that drove him.
'Siriell's research.'
The research materials that might breakthrough his talents.
All of it was in the World Forest.
If it burned, there'd be no way to recover his severed talents.
Leyzon pushed Bone Broom to its limits.
Flying at max speed, the World Forest loomed close in no time.
The World Forest was a total wreck, swallowed by flames.
And the fire kept spreading in all directions.
His skin burned hot.
Even Leyzon couldn't plunge into those flames barehanded.
"Blood Crystal, attribute fusion Camouflage."
Leyzon cloaked his body in Blood Crystal, morphing it into a robe.
The blood weakened the heat.
It would serve as makeshift fireproof gear.
"Leyzon-nim, I brought all three!"
Just then, Syria appeared, bat wings spread wide.
"Poison Spider."
"Cough, cough, right here."
Poison Spider poked his head out from the smoke, hurrying.
He stared blankly at the blazing World Forest.
To him, the World Forest was home.
Even if rejected by the elves, it was where he had lived.
Seeing his homeland burn left him speechless.
"Poison Spider, we need to head to Siriell's house right now."
"Ah, yes! I'll guide you!"
Poison Spider snapped out of it and responded.
Even now, Siriell's research was burning away.
He didn't know who started the fire, but murderous rage boiled up.
"Eden, can you suppress the flames with curses?"
Leyzon recalled how Monkey Harban had quelled flames with curses recently.
So he asked, and Eden emerged from Leyzon's embrace.
"I'll try."
A curse spread from Eden's hand.
Surrounding trees were instantly covered in curse.
The fiercely burning flames shrank in moments.
Eden kept casting without pause.
Each time, the flames on the trees dwindled and vanished.
Every tree in the World Forest was building-sized.
Reducing those flames scaled down the inferno.
"I'll put some out too!"
Syria spread her wings and soared over the World Forest.
Blood droplets from her wings extinguished the flames below.
Leyzon accelerated Bone Broom through the blaze.
Poison Spider clung desperately to his back, guiding the way.
Whoosh!
Finally, Leyzon burst through the smoke.
Before him lay the elf village, Agrasil.
Elves were in utter chaos from the burning World Tree.
Elf spirit mages summoned spirits, desperately trying to douse the flames.
Warriors hauled lake water, spraying it madly.
A few mages among them fought desperately too.
But no matter how hard the elves tried, Yggdrasil's flames wouldn't yield.
Leyzon's eyes caught the magnificent blaze of Yggdrasil.
The world's largest tree blazed like the source of all fire.
It seemed impossible to extinguish.
'If that doesn't go out...'
Yggdrasil, where Siriell's house was, would burn completely.
That absolutely could not happen.
Leyzon dove down on Bone Broom.
Poison Spider landed behind him.
The elves, amid the chaos, didn't notice Leyzon.
Leyzon had no intention of greeting them anyway.
"Niaprineu?"
Then, an elf hauling water recognized Poison Spider.
His soot-covered face was one Leyzon knew.
"Gid."
Gid Agrasil, search captain of the Agrasil tribe.
Calling his name made Gid's eyes widen sharply.
He recognized the robed figure as Leyzon.
"Ni-Niaprineu, did you bring him here for us?"
Leyzon and Poison Spider both blinked.
They quickly realized what misunderstanding Gid had.
"That's not..."
"Yeah, Niaprineu brought me here on purpose."
Leyzon cut off Poison Spider before he could correct it, covering his mouth.
Poison Spider panicked, but Leyzon ignored him.
A brilliant idea had struck him.
"From now on, I'm going to be your lifelong benefactor. Get ready to serve me."
Gid frantically wiped the soot from his face.
Then he bowed deeply to Leyzon and Poison Spider.
"If you can just quench Yggdrasil's flames, I'll do anything!
Roast me as your benefactor, and I won't even scream—please, I beg you!"
To elves, Yggdrasil was more precious than anything.
Gid knew Leyzon's power well.
He believed Leyzon could do it.
So Gid bowed eagerly and pleaded.
"Poison Spider."
Poison Spider nodded at Leyzon's call.
He immediately headed toward Siriell's house.
Meanwhile, Leyzon flung open his robe.
"Eden."
At Leyzon's call, Eden appeared in human form.
Gid flinched as Eden materialized from the smoke.
He clearly didn't know who Eden was yet.
"Curse the flames as much as you can from now on."
"Waaah, time to shine~."
Eden raised his hand with a lazy smile.
Despite the nonchalance, an overwhelming aura erupted from him.
Nearby elves passing by fainted from the domineering presence.
But Eden paid no mind.
Instead, he layered curses endlessly in his grasp.
The air warped around Eden.
Even the fierce flames couldn't withstand the compressed power and extinguished.
Wind blew.
The winds of the world shifted toward one man.
Eden's suit whipped wildly in the gale.
A pitch-black mask descended over Eden's face.
The crudely woven straw mask was utterly grotesque.
The mask proclaimed to all present.
The King of Curses had arrived.
The world instantly turned ashen.
The gray spread through the World Forest, reaching Yggdrasil.
The gray climbed from the roots, stealing even the flames' color.
The blaze that seemed to devour everything halted abruptly.
Flames freezing in place seemed impossible, but they did.
Atop the world where the curse halted all.
Thud—
A man in a face-covering robe stepped forward.
His hair had already shifted to a mix of white and red.
His fangs lengthened, eyes glowing red.
Leyzon and Syria's undead fusion.
At that moment, the World Forest began to shake violently.
Elves turned toward the source of the tremors one by one.
Soon, they stared behind them in stunned silence.
There, a massive wave surged.
A colossal wave of shadow and blood intertwined.
He continuously activated magic effects to swell the wave.
A staff spun rapidly in Leyzon's grasp.
"Curse Inn."
Curse spread over Leyzon's body, amplifying dark attribute power.
"Fear Sphere."
Fear emanating from his body boosted the power further.
From the [Bound Filthy Resentment] in his right hand, vengeful spirits wailed as they spread.
The shadow and blood wave grew endlessly taller.
Soon, it reached the sky.
Elves gazed up at the blackened sky.
The wave didn't look of this world.
Leyzon aimed his staff amid their dazed forms.
"Time to put out the fire."
Yggdrasil, dyed gray by the curse.
The moment the sky-touching wave of blood and shadow crashed down.