The Sprouting of the World Tree

The remaining rewards rolled in one after another.

"...?"

Tae-hyun blinked in surprise. Wait, it works like this?

Using the demons as meat shields was purely because he had no other choice, not because he was trying to be greedy.

Man, if anyone else saw this, they'd totally misunderstand.

Carbanog shot him a look dripping with suspicion, but Tae-hyun remained completely unfazed.

It's honestly a miracle there's any loot left after an explosion like that, Tae-hyun thought, bewildered, as he checked the items.

Most of them were drops left behind by the vaporized demons: Essence of Madness, Essence of Terror, Essence of Chaos...

Tae-hyun gratefully swept up the essences. Perhaps thanks to the authority of Archisus, a surprisingly large number of essences had survived the blast. Anyone else would have walked away with far less.

"!!!"

He couldn't care less about drawing the ire of other dragons. The important thing was that it was a dragon scale!

Wait, is there no Dragon Heart?

A Dragon Heart! If he had one of those, Tae-hyun could immediately ditch being a blacksmith and become an Archmage on the spot.

Carbanog was utterly appalled. Is that really something the Incarnation of Archisus should be saying?

Unfortunately, there was no Dragon Heart. Honestly, after a blast of that magnitude, it would have been more ridiculous if a delicate dragon heart had somehow survived.

"......"

Bizarrely enough, several cuts of meat had actually dropped.

Archisus's Luck is... seriously weird.

He knew the Luck stat boosted drop rates, but getting items in situations where they logically shouldn't exist felt a bit uncanny. How did a few cuts of meat survive that apocalyptic explosion?

Statistically, since there were far more meat items than dragon hearts, it wasn't impossible for them to drop, but still...

Dragon scales... can I even work with this?

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

In some ways, dragon scales were even trickier to handle than Adamantium. They were materials deeply infused with powerful magic. Blacksmiths who specialized in magical equipment usually had to learn magic separately. The path of a blacksmith was truly long and arduous.

I really want to find a way to attach this to my armor.

Tae-hyun decided to mull it over later.

Oh, right. I need to check the dragon bomb skill.

"...!"

This skill was incredibly powerful! Tae-hyun's instincts flared the moment he read the description.

A bomb created by permanently consuming stats. He could either modify an existing bomb or craft an entirely new one from scratch.

Ah, but it would be perfect if I could use my Luck stat... why does it have to be random?

He had Luck to spare, so sacrificing some of it to make a bomb wouldn't hurt. But any other stat was strictly off-limits!

"Tae-hyun, shouldn't we get moving?" Lee Da-bi asked cautiously.

The surrounding landscape had been completely leveled in a perfect circle, giving the area an eerie, desolate vibe.

"True. This is exactly the kind of terrain those Guild Alliance bastards would love to swarm."

With everything flattened, there was nowhere to hide—making it the perfect spot to get jumped.

Of course, the Guild Alliance currently had absolutely no room to worry about that.

"Die, you bastards...!"

"W-what? A potion—"

The Guild Alliance members, who had been gleefully launching their counterattack, scrambled to pull out potions as the shockwave swept toward them. But this wasn't something a single potion could fix.

"Just how many times is it going to detonate?! Arghhh!"

Mass logout!

The explosion was so massive that it even caught several players who had managed to flee early. The terrifying blast chased them down at an unbelievable speed.

—L-look at this explosion, everyone! What on earth is this...!

The Guild Alliance cameramen, who had prepared to capture an epic war documentary, suddenly found themselves filming a live-action disaster movie. A terrifyingly realistic disaster movie!

If the explosion caught you, you died!

Rankers and high-level players quickly summoned their mounts and rode like madmen, but the rest didn't have that luxury.

"Aaaargh! Take me with you!"

"Hey! I said wait up!"

Naturally, the rankers didn't stop to pick them up. Their own survival came first!

Given the circumstances, the Guild Alliance was currently scattered to the winds, desperately trying to make their way back to the Capital. Counterattack? They just needed to regain their sanity first!

Unaware of this, Tae-hyun had no choice but to remain cautious.

"Shall we slowly slip away then? We got the dragon, and the Guild Alliance got thoroughly smashed earlier... they'll probably keep quiet for a while, right?"

The Guild Alliance had virtually no way to control the outskirts of the Auston Kingdom now. They had lost Hakkaras, and the forces they brought out had been utterly decimated.

Now, they would be lucky if they could even defend the Capital and the central regions.

Just as Tae-hyun and Lee Da-bi were about to leave the devastated ruins, a message window popped up.

"...?"

Setting aside the fact that a seed apparently had its own free will, Tae-hyun was flustered.

Now is a bit awkward...

His Infamy was way too high! On top of that, wasn't this place way too close to the Guild Alliance? If possible, he wanted to plant it inside the Atali Kingdom!

The seed vibrated like crazy, as if screaming that it couldn't miss this opportunity.

Tae-hyun activated Divine Foresight.

Is it really okay to plant it here?

The divine guidance clearly pointed directly at his feet. Plant it!

...Well, it might actually be better than planting it in the Atali Kingdom.

One of the reasons Tae-hyun was hesitant was his insanely high Infamy stat. The seed's growth was influenced by Luck, Reputation, Infamy, and Divinity, and of all things, his Infamy was...

If it ends up corrupting the surrounding area or releasing toxic miasma... that would be bad.

He would cry tears of blood if that happened in his own territory. But if he planted it in someone else's land, it wouldn't be his problem!

Alright. Let's give it a shot!

"Plant!"

Tae-hyun threw the seed. It rapidly burrowed deep into the earth and vanished.

Then, everything went quiet.

"...???"

Did I get scammed?

Tae-hyun was momentarily taken aback. Who was the guy who gave him this seed again? Alexeos!

That bastard Alexeos! A dragon through and through, scamming me like this...!

Alexeos had gifted Tae-hyun all sorts of support and authorities just so he could raid Hakkaras. If he had heard Tae-hyun saying this, he would have clutched the back of his neck in outrage.

"Tae-hyun, what's wrong?"

"I planted the seed, but nothing's coming up... I think I got scammed. That bastard Alexeos, if he were still alive, I'd turn him into a bomb!"

"...?"

Lee Da-bi tilted her head. "Doesn't it usually take some time for a seed to sprout after you plant it?"

"Ah. Right."

Tae-hyun immediately cheered up. True, Alexeos was a fairly trustworthy dragon.

"Then let's go somewhere else for a bit. Da-bi, how much gold did you end up in the negative?"

"It's really fine..."

"Let me pay you back."

The two turned and walked away.

Wiggle, wiggle—

Meanwhile, behind them, the ground began to heave.

Tae-hyun gathered his scattered companions. From Akisus's Artillery onward, everyone seemed to have survived somehow.

—T-this... makes no sense...

"What's wrong with him?"

Tae-hyun tilted his head, pointing at the demon trapped in the cage.

Whenever this demon saw Tae-hyun before, he would yell, "Do you know who I am?! Let me out!" Now, the moment he saw Tae-hyun, he shrieked and couldn't even meet his eyes.

—Well, after seeing the explosion you unleashed, Pope, he was completely traumatized...

—I think he's lost his mind a bit.

—Should we splash some holy water on him?

—No, it's nice and quiet now. Let's leave him be.

The artillery NPCs chatted among themselves. Hearing their conversation, Tae-hyun finally realized why the demon was acting like that.

Ah... that's a misunderstanding.

The sight of him detonating a dragon to sweep away the demons all at once! Tae-hyun hadn't wiped out the demons on purpose. He really had no other choice!

Curious about the demon's identity, Tae-hyun had planned to ask who he was once the battle ended, but now he was just flustered.

"Hey. That was a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠misunderstanding."

—Eek! Eeeek!

"...I said it was a misunderstanding."

—I-I'll... I'll get Archisused... I'm going to get Archisused...! Just like those other demons...!

"Sigh."

He needed to give it some time. Tae-hyun figured he could summon some of the other demons from his territory to try and persuade this one. Since they were fellow demons, surely they could communicate?

Rumble—

"Anyway, great job on this raid, everyone. It was tough in many ways, but you all did wonderfully... Wait. Where did Cain go?"

Cain, who had been fighting alongside Kim Tae-san's group and fled with them, still hadn't returned.

Tae-hyun shrugged.

"Well, if he's not here, nothing we can do."

Waiting was not in his vocabulary!

"At any rate, everyone did their best—"

Rumble, rummmmble—

"...Who keeps making that noise?"

—It's not me.

"Not me either."

"Me neither..."

Tae-hyun realized something was off. Everyone was gathered here standing perfectly still, so why was there such a heavy, vibrating sound?

"?!"

"!!"

Is this a good thing?

He wasn't entirely sure, but it certainly felt like a win! Tae-hyun rejoiced, thinking that at the very least, he hadn't pulled a dud.

But the system notifications were only just getting started.

Oh... oh?

Was having angels show up a good thing? Having met angels a few times before, Tae-hyun knew better. Just because they were angels didn't mean they were benevolent NPCs. Depending on the god they served, they could be far more dangerous than demons!

Ah, dammit. Thank goodness I didn't plant this in my territory.

Tae-hyun cursed under his breath, but felt a wave of relief wash over him. It was a massive stroke of luck that he hadn't planted it in Atali!

Of course, from the Guild Alliance's perspective, this was an absolute nightmare. Not only had he completely vaporized the surrounding area, but he had also planted a tree that practically invited demons to visit!

Tae-hyun truly was the type of person who, once he visited a place, would rip out its very foundations before leaving.

A colossal tree now stood before them, appearing to stretch from the deepest depths of the earth all the way to the edge of the heavens.

Can we use the tree to travel?

Tae-hyun stared up at the World Tree, trying to figure out how to utilize it, when the final message window popped up.

Why did it have to be Archisus...

Tae-hyun immediately felt a deep sense of dread.

He could only pray that, for once, this ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠would turn out to be something normal.