Chapter 51
Chapter 51
Ch. 51 .｡.:✧ Elvenguard (4) ✧:.｡.
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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“Actually, about 3 months ago, a dungeon appeared at the roots of the World Tree,” Mia said.
“Priestess, that story…”
The elders tried to stop her.
“It doesn’t matter. He has already witnessed all of Elvenguard’s humiliation. There’s nothing more to be ashamed of,” Mia responded, stepping forward despite the elders’ attempts to dissuade her.
The elders, realizing they couldn’t stop her, quieted down.
It seemed the priestess’s authority was stronger than expected.
“Please explain in more detail,” I requested.
“3 months ago, while communing with the World Tree as usual, I detected demonic energy,” Mia began.
“Feeling an ominous presence, I dug into the ground to investigate and discovered a huge stone entryway had appeared at the roots of the World Tree.”
“A dungeon,” I remarked.
“Yes. Since it had appeared at the roots of the sacred tree, naturally there was a movement to save it. Brave elves volunteered to form a combat unit and entered the dungeon. The result was a devastating defeat. No one could get past the third room of the dungeon. There were many casualties, and attempts to conquer the dungeon gradually decreased until they stopped completely. That’s how we arrived at the current situation.”
It was an abandoned dungeon.
But since it wasn’t on the mercenaries’ maps, it wasn’t a black star dungeon either.
“How many people know about this?” I asked.
“Besides Elvenguard’s top ranks and you all, no one else,” Mia replied.
I crossed my arms and fell into thought for a moment.
A dungeon that had appeared at the roots of the World Tree.
It was a story I had never heard before, not in the game story or during the past 12 rounds.
In other words, it was a setting the system had arbitrarily added to fit the plot.
Then what was the setting that had a hole in it this time?
It was obvious.
‘It was a bit strange for the World Tree to fall into Kali’s hands overnight.’
Even though it was a tree bestowed with divinity, it was being dominated and controlled by one of the Four Heavenly Kings?
No matter how much Kali was a former druid, this was too much.
But what if Kali hadn’t come 6 months later and suddenly taken over the World Tree?
What if, starting from 3 months ago, over the course of 9 months, she had been slowly eroding the World Tree through the dungeon?
Then the pieces would fit together.
Moreover, they said demonic energy was flowing out of the dungeon.
In ordinary dungeons, demonic energy wasn’t detected.
It meant one of the Four Heavenly Kings was inside.
“We had kept this a secret even from the Great Spirits… But for some reason, the Great Spirit of Fire found out,” Mia continued.
“The Great Spirit of Fire was a hardliner, believing that since the World Tree would endlessly revive anyway, we should just burn it all down. But when we kept refusing, it seems he tried to force his way…”
Mia lowered her head, looking ashamed as she spoke.
Now the situation made a bit more sense.
From Ifrit’s perspective, the dungeon that had appeared at the base of the World Tree must have been very irritating.
He took the stance that they should burn it all down, not knowing what impact it would have on the World Tree later.
Considering that the World Tree would later be corrupted, Ifrit’s intuition was accurate.
On the other hand, if the World Tree disappeared, the elves would have to become nomads from that day on.
They would have to embark on an endless journey until they found the revived World Tree, so they couldn’t agree with his opinion to burn it.
It made sense that Ifrit, feeling frustrated, tried to burn it all down.
‘If I had passed by without knowing, it could have been a big problem.’
I had obtained valuable information that I didn’t know even after regressing 12 times.
A chance to prevent the great disaster 6 months later.
And a chance to eliminate the Heavenly King Kali early on.
“Why don’t you entrust the request to me? I will remove the dungeon,” I offered.
“What…?” Mia was surprised.
We had to hurry.
It was easy to mistakenly think there were 6 months left until the World Tree’s corruption, but in reality, that wasn’t the case.
In fact, the corruption might have already been completed long ago, and only the transformation into the Tree of Death was scheduled for 6 months later.
There was no way for us to know exactly how much time we had left.
We could only prepare as quickly as possible, enter, and execute Kali.
That was the best we could do.
“Please provide me with data on the dungeon. Testimonies from those with experience are also good,” I requested.
“Wait a minute…!”
Alicia grabbed my sleeve and pulled me aside.
Her expression was quite urgent.
I excused myself for a moment and listened as Alicia whispered to me.
“Are you really going to do it? You know how important the World Tree is to the elves, right? For a dungeon to appear at the World Tree, it means they must have tried to remove it by any means necessary. But if they failed, it means the difficulty level is unimaginably high,” Alicia warned.
“What, are you scared? If you’re scared, you can sit out,” I replied.
“Yes, I am scared. That’s why I’m telling you to do this one alone,” Alicia said.
“But if we solve a problem that the elves were too embarrassed to even mention to outsiders, how much of a reward do you think we’ll receive? Combined with stopping the Great Spirit, it seems like we’ll get a tremendous reward. If you don’t want it, well, I can’t help it. I’ll just take it all for myself…”
“I-I changed my mind! I want to go in too!” Alicia shouted, hurriedly changing her words.
Of course she would.
I had traded the reward for saving Elvenguard for information about the dungeon.
If we gave up on conquering the dungeon here, it would be a shame.
A mage had joined the conquering party.
“Undecided…”
I turned to her.
“…Yeah?”
Undecided looked up at me with food smeared around her mouth.
There was no need to ask.
If her master was going, she was going.
I wiped her mouth with a napkin and faced Mia again.
“So, will you entrust the request to me?” I asked.
“What reward do you plan to receive?” Mia inquired.
I had just finished contemplating that as well.
A reward that Elvenguard could easily provide but was by no means of little value.
“I will take a portion of the rights to the World Tree. How about receiving all future prophecies as compensation?” I proposed.
“…”
Even though her expression was hidden behind a white veil, it seemed like Mia’s face stiffened.
The elders also couldn’t hide their perplexed looks.
The World Tree’s prophecies.
Individually, they might seem inferior to the tarot readings of a scammer.
But it was a different story when dozens or hundreds of those prophecies were gathered.
Until the moment I went to defeat the final boss, I would have to overcome at least 5 near-death situations.
The 4 Heavenly Kings and the final boss.
Each time, I would have to gamble with my life.
If I could know the future, even slightly, and prepare for it, nothing could be better.
“Please… give us some time. It seems it will be difficult for us to give you an immediate answer,” Mia requested.
“Of course. Take your time to respond. But if you take too long, who knows what else might happen to the World Tree, so it’s best to hurry,” I advised.
“…”
With a slight warning, I stood up.
I shook hands with the stiff-faced elders and left the dining room.
Alicia, who had somehow followed beside me, asked with a worried face,
“Do you… have some kind of grudge against dungeons? Why are you so obsessed with dungeons?”
“You don’t need to know. Even if I tell you, you won’t understand,” I dismissed her.
“…”
In any case, at this point, not only the existence of the final boss but even the existence of the Four Heavenly Kings was unknown.
Even if I shouted that we had to destroy the dungeons to prevent the world’s destruction, they would only treat me as a madman.
“I think I can understand,” Alicia persisted.
“As if,”
I scoffed, turning my head away.
Alicia puffed out her cheeks, looking quite displeased.
She didn’t need to know right now.
“Get ready. As soon as they agree to entrust us with the request, we’ll enter the dungeon immediately,” I instructed.
“How can you be so sure?” Alicia asked.
“Because I made an offer they can’t refuse.”
Although they had said they would take time, their answer was already obvious.
It was only a matter of time before we took on the request.
So we had to quickly become much stronger in a short period of time.
“Let’s borrow a training ground. Teach me magic in an accelerated course,” I suggested.
It was the perfect time to learn magic.
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“Absolutely not. Handing over all of the World Tree’s prophecies is akin to selling Elvenguard’s future,” one elder objected.
“There is a risk of having all our national policies read. It could pose a great threat to our security,” another added.
“Still, the World Tree’s prophecies are a small price to pay, aren’t they? If it weren’t for that human, we would be leading 100,000 refugees, wandering around aimlessly by now,” a third elder pointed out.
“It is indeed a cheap price. To remove the danger that has appeared at the roots of the World Tree itself…” a fourth elder mused.
Opinions were divided.
Mia sat in the conference room where arguments were flying back and forth and let out a quiet sigh.
The World Tree’s prophecies might be somewhat ambiguous, but their accuracy was certain.
That’s why Elvenguard had a high level of dependence on the prophecies.
And thanks to that, they had gained significant benefits.
So the choice to permanently sell the World Tree’s prophecies was not one that could be made easily.
Both sides had valid points.
But Mia already seemed to know what conclusion would be reached.
“Ugh,” Mia groaned.
“Are you alright, Priestess?” an attendant asked.
“I’m fine. I’ll go rest for a bit,” Mia replied.
A sudden headache had struck her.
The meeting didn’t seem like it would reach a conclusion anytime soon anyway.
Mia quietly stood up from her seat and left the conference room, holding her throbbing head.
“Priestess, let’s check if that human is outside…” an attendant suggested.
“It’s fine. I’ve already faced him anyway. That human isn’t someone who would do anything wicked,”
Mia dismissed the concern.
Her head was killing her, but the attendants kept looking around outside, blocking her way.
Annoyed, Mia ignored the attendants and strode outside.
‘A lowborn human will take the priestess.’
It was a terrifying prophecy.
The priestess would forcibly lose her chastity to a human man.
So they had to be careful, but there was no need to be rude to every human man she encountered.
Although she had only faced him briefly, it was enough to roughly grasp his character.
He wasn’t the kind of trash who treated women like objects.
Mia had reached that conclusion.
“Ugh…”
Mia groaned as she arrived at the base of the World Tree.
Entering the dark tunnel inside, she kept letting out moans of pain from the unbearable headache.
“World Tree…”
Past the tunnel, a huge cavity was revealed.
It was a room where the World Tree’s roots were entangled and spread across the walls.
The fireflies inside kept emitting light, dimly illuminating the dark room.
Every time Mia’s head throbbed with pain, the fireflies flickered together.
“Please calm down. It feels like my head will split apart…”
The mind of the World Tree and the priestess were connected.
If one side felt extreme pain or strong emotions, it was conveyed to the other side.
So it meant the World Tree was currently experiencing dozens of times the pain Mia was feeling.
Mia staggered over and placed her hand on the wall.
To commune with the World Tree.
To have a conversation.
The World Tree’s screams flowed into Mia’s mind.
Mia closed her eyes tightly and furrowed her brow.
The deal Cheon Michael Jackson had proposed came to mind.
‘Just how much did he know?’
The right to hear all future prophecies from the World Tree.
Taken separately, it was a deal that Elvenguard couldn’t offer unless they were crazy.
But if it was in exchange for dealing with a troublesome issue that Elvenguard couldn’t solve on their own and couldn’t ask for outside help due to their pride, then the story was different.
“Cheon Michael Jackson… Just who are you…” Mia muttered.
He was a weirdo.
This absurd deal, they now had no choice but to accept it.
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