The Living World Tree
“Evan-nim! Are you okay!?”
I landed safely on the ground. Rapi was peering at me anxiously from my arms.
“...”
My broken leg, with the bone jutting out, throbbed painfully. I used mana to numb the nerves in my leg. It wouldn't move anymore, but at least the pain was gone. After some basic first aid, I stood using my sword as a crutch.
“Evan-nim, a potion... no... what do we do about the branch chief... Spilvena... Maybe we should head back to Rimhold...”
Rapi was rambling incoherently in her panic.
“No, we've come too far. It'd take at least five days to get back to Rimhold, and if we let that bear cub slip away now, it'll be even more dangerous.”
We had to catch the bastard with the Swallower's Power while we could. If we let that endlessly growing devourer go, it'd become a massive threat down the line.
“But how...? My magic's useless... Even your Aura Blade just revives it!!”
Rapi's panicked words were spot on. But...
“That'd be true if it was just me. Think about it, Rapi. Why did we come here?”
“The Dark Lord..! The Dark Lord is here!”
All these problems would be solved once we found Hayes. No time to waste. Rather than chasing the bastard, we needed to head deeper into the forest.
With Rapi supporting me, we pressed on. The deeper we went, the thicker the life mana grew. I breathed it in, absorbing the life mana. Good thing I hadn't used a potion. If I had, my wounds would've already healed, diluting the life mana's effects. Life mana had plenty of benefits as long as it wasn't in excess. It all depended on how you used it.
“Hoo... Sigh...”
With every breath, my injuries mended. My blood replenished, torn muscles knit back together. My ragged mana circuits reinforced, and my depleted mana reserves refilled. Overall, I was in decent shape. Time to heal the last part.
I directed the life mana surging through my body toward my leg, focusing on my shattered calf bone.
“Tch—! Damn it.”
As it healed, the nerves I'd numbed came back to life. The pent-up pain hit all at once, cold sweat pouring down. But my body was mostly recovered. I shrugged off Rapi's support and walked on my healed leg. It hurt, but it worked.
“Rapi, your mana’s recovering fast too, right?”
“Yes... This mana zone... My mana’s already over halfway...”
Despite her words of recovery, Rapi's voice was growing weaker. Suddenly, she collapsed. I caught her and urgently checked her condition. Visually, her body seemed fine. No signs of life mana overload. Mana issue? No, that wasn't it either. The blue crystal on her staff was glowing, and the mana reflux function was working normally. I couldn't figure out why she'd lost consciousness.
“Damn. One mountain after another.”
I hoisted the fallen Rapi onto my back and kept moving. We'd barely taken a few steps when a wave emanated from her. Not mana—an aura. I'd felt it somewhere before, but couldn't place it.
Swoooosh—!
The wave spread, and suddenly golden orbs of light appeared. They hovered in a line, as if guiding us somewhere.
“Rapi, what the hell did you do?”
No answer from the unconscious Rapi, obviously. I eyed the flickering lights. Up close, I sensed they were concentrations of life force. Hayes? But she used death mana. Holding back my questions, I followed where the lights led. The deeper we went, the more the scenery changed. The Shadow Forest was dark as its name implied, thanks to the dense canopy. But here, the sky opened wide, revealing blue heavens and a high sun. And with the dense life force, my half-recovered body fully healed. Vitality surged through me. Yet this place's life mana didn't overwhelm—no excess effects. A mystical spot. Even back when the Great Forest existed, there was nothing like this.
Following the lights up the final hill...
Swoooosh—!
They rose into the sky and vanished upon arrival. Beyond the fading lights stood an elf with snow-white hair, back turned.
“Hayes..?”
There weren't many elves left these days. And only one had hair that white. I took a step toward her. She turned. Snow-white hair, golden eyes. A face identical to Hayes's. But...
“Who the hell are you?”
The mana from the elf before me wasn't death. It was robust life force. She looked exactly like Hayes, but everything else was different. Even now. She smiled with Hayes's face—Hayes never smiled like that. Identical looks, but utterly different in every other way.
Her smiling lips parted.
Life.
“Life..? Hey—”
Mid-sentence, a forgotten existence flashed in my mind. In the world of Adenia, only one being wielded the power of life.
“World Tree? You're supposed to be dead. How are you alive?”
The World Tree with its life authority had definitely died by the time I started acting. If it had been in normal condition, it wouldn't have let the Great Forest burn. The excess life mana leaking from its dead body was the accepted theory. Yet the elf before me claimed to be life—the World Tree.
“Why'd you call me here?”
...
She fell silent at my question, staring intently before stepping forward. Flowers bloomed vibrantly around her with each step. The world rejoiced at her movement.
“...!?”
I hadn't taken my eyes off her. Yet in one step, the World Tree closed to breathing distance. Despite my surprise, my body reacted on instinct, sword raised in counter stance. But even that—she moved first, hand raised to grab my arm. Her movements felt uncanny somehow. Up close, she said nothing, just gazed at me. Our golden eyes met. It felt like being pulled in. A needle-like pain pricked briefly.
“...Kgh.”
A flood of information poured into my head. Answers to my curiosities, hammered in directly, bypassing language.
“You didn't call me... I came here?”
The World Tree nodded. She pointed at Rapi on my back.
“Spirit's child? This kid? Wait, there were spirits in Adenia?”
Spirits you see in fantasy worlds weren't in Adenia. They'd all been devoured by the Abyss. As near-spiritual entities without material bodies, they were vulnerable to the Abyss's power. The only way to see them was Abyss-corrupted ones, long since extinct. I looked back into the World Tree's eyes questioningly. Another info surge—the pain lessened this time.
The "spirit's child" meant little. A lightning spirit, fleeing and hiding from the Abyss, had expended its last light—and it happened to fuse with Rapi. Pure human soul mixed with spirit power. That's why her lightning aptitude was so high. Her soul was intertwined with a spirit. Astonishing. She gained lightning talent, but also the downside: mixed spirit and human senses made her mana unstable.
“Her shitty aim's from clashing senses, huh.”
I'd uncovered Rapi's talent's root. And when this kid entered the forest, her instincts drew out spirit power to guide us here.
“So she passed out from using spirit power?”
...
She nodded confirmation. The World Tree looking just like Hayes felt off-putting. Unlike the crybaby, she kept smiling. Seeing Hayes's face smile like that was weird.
“I get why we're here, but why look like Hayes? And how are you alive?”
...
The World Tree pouted. More info flowed in. The World Tree was the source of life. But to manage overflowing life, it needed death's power. Instinctively, it required a gardener to prune life for sustenance. Thus, elves with death power began appearing. At first, no issues. Death power curbed life excess, blessed elves, repelled invading Abyss. Then misfortune struck. The first daughter spoke a false prophecy.
“What?”
The first daughter was obsessively attached to the World Tree. She rejected anyone else communing with it. Declaring herself high priestess, she believed only she truly served it. Rejecting life-death balance, she saw only life as supreme—the World Tree's power itself—and persecuted death-wielding elves. They kept appearing despite purges. Before dying, she prophesied: an elf with death power would destroy the world. A lie.
The World Tree couldn't refute it. Over eons without death power, life overloaded. Acting against it would've erupted like a volcano, wiping out all Great Forest children tracelessly. For the elves, it stayed silent. Couldn't bear innocents sacrificed on lies, so it reclaimed death power. Yet cracks formed. Accumulated death overflowed into one elf.
“That was Hayes?”
...
Fortunately, other elves didn't eliminate Hayes. But they didn't let her use her death either. The World Tree held hope, then despair. Falling like this wasn't bad. As it slowly released power to spare elves harm in its final moments, one man appeared and saved the pitiful child—and itself.
...
The smiling World Tree pointed at me.
“Then why didn't you show during the Abyss fights, and only now?”
Long silence. Recovery needed.
Her words brought more info. Even after the fire released excess life, eons of accumulation remained. Waking now was thanks to constant death gates here dissipating life.
“Why the same face as Hayes?”
...
Info clarified: The World Tree didn't resemble Hayes. Elves originated from the World Tree, so purest-blooded Hayes was born resembling it.
“Lots of new info. Interesting enough. But more important—you're the World Tree, so you've noticed the Abyss bear rampaging in the forest?”
...
Her smiling face hardened as she nodded. That serious expression matched Hayes perfectly.
“It's using the Swallower's power, devouring everything. We stop it now. Can you handle it directly?”
Impossible. Outside. Power limited.
She shook her head. She could only exist here. Too soon after waking to exert influence.
“Then where's Hayes?”
If the World Tree couldn't, Hayes could. The World Tree extended her arm, cupping her hands. Life force gathered, condensing from light into a flower and fruit.
“World Tree Fruit? It really exists.”
An item from Star of Adenia that only existed in data. In a way, an elixir superior.
This. Daughter. Save.
Eat the life fruit and save Hayes, she conveyed.
“Save Hayes?”
Nothing in this world threatened her now. Even if the bear flew, it was just Swallower power. Limits without the original owner.
...
“Holy shit.”
Through her golden eyes, I saw what Hayes had done over the years. After I vanished, she'd overexerted opening the netherworld. And now she was dying.
Hayes, what the fuck have you been up to? Even after 50 years, still the same idiot.
“So, where's that crybaby moron?”
I grabbed the World Tree's shoulders and shook. Her snow-white hair fluttered, golden eyes gleaming between strands.
Crunch—! Crunch—!
Leaning against a tree to rest, Hayes turned at the sound. An enormous bear loomed. Its body sprouted massive toothy mouths fitting its size. Blood coated every maw. Thick blood scent pierced her damaged senses. It had devoured countless. Yet the teeth kept greedily chomping. Each snap devoured surrounding life mana, swelling the bear. One mouth clutched an armored arm—clearly the Death Knight's.
“...Swallower..?”
She'd killed it with her companion. Yet this bear inexplicably wielded its Swallower's Power.
Hayes rose, leaning on the tree with her weakened body.
Crunch—! Crunch—! Gulp—!
“Kehhehe. Found you. Dark Lord! Perfect for an epilogue.”
The bear eyed her with abyss eyes. Saliva dripped from its gulping throat. Panting, licking its chops like a beast. Hayes spread shadows.
Swoooosh—!
Gripping her scythe of doom, she staggered from weakness.
“Kehhehe... You're really weakened. Effects of opening the netherworld these past 50 years?”
The Abyss being knew her deeds. As the bear said, Hayes was weakened. Beyond that—dying. Fresh from the netherworld, mana low. Power-wise, the bear had the edge.
“Kehhehe!! No words? Scared of my power!!”
Crunch—! Crunch—!
The Abyss bear grew cocky. But it didn't matter. Before raw power, Hayes wielded death mana. No escaping her death's touch while alive in Adenia.
“Hey, Dark Lord. Know who I just met!? I'll tell you before eating!”
Intoxicated by borrowed power too.
“...Bear. Listen.”
“Huh? Haha! Yeah! Beg for—!”
As it crossed arms smugly, Hayes lunged with her staggering body. One lesson learned journeying with her companion—the greatest: strike first.
“Die.”
Swoooosh—!