I'm a Super Cool Butterfly Waking Up a Tree!
"What are they...?"
Alina, who had rushed up to the building's rooftop to assess the situation, could not hide her bewilderment.
For starters, the sound of the explosion had indeed come from Count Zeno's estate.
She could clearly see the front gates of the Count's mansion shattered into pieces.
And through those ruined gates, countless monsters were pouring inside.
I had a bad feeling about this, but so this was their plan all along.
A familiar scent wafted from the monsters clashing with Count Zeno's forces as they surged forward.
They were the very same beasts that had relentlessly pursued Alina until just recently.
Which meant the mastermind behind this chaos was undoubtedly the monster tamer.
I wonder if the tree is okay? If the monster tamer is the mastermind, Kati should be safe.
The monster tamer knew that Kati was a Shinnok and considered her incredibly important.
So, if anything, he would treat her with the utmost care. There was no need to worry about her being harmed.
The real problem was Count Zeno.
Well, there goes any chance of peacefully ousting him.
We were just about to discuss how to depose Count Zeno without causing damage to the city or resorting to violence.
But since someone had already kicked the door open with brute force, we just had to ride the wave and find a way to take control of the situation.
For now, I had to go.
After all, I was worried about my tree friend, Kati.
It felt like it had been way too long since we last met.
"You're going, right? I'm coming with you."
Alina, realizing I was about to head toward the mansion, quickly offered to tag along.
To draw up any sort of plan, it was crucial to get a clear grasp of the situation firsthand.
As I clung to Alina's shoulder—a spot I was quite used to by now—we were suddenly soaring through the air.
This building actually has an elevator, you know. But hey, this is faster, so I'm not complaining.
Alina was probably just unused to them because she always avoided elevators with security cameras.
Still, she couldn't keep scaling down walls so dangerously forever.
Well, the others would probably handle that for her.
Good luck, guys!
I waved my little feet at the startled people looking down at us from the railing, silently thanking them in advance for the hardships they were about to endure.
After all, habits built over a lifetime aren't easily broken overnight.
Is she going to jump out the window every time she leaves work? Those poor guys are going to have a rough time.
Seeing how she leaped off the rooftop without a moment's hesitation, that actually seemed highly likely.
I offered my silent condolences to those whose lifespans would undoubtedly shorten day by day.
"It really is him."
No doubt about it.
"Gwek."
Once we reached the streets and slipped among the monsters, my suspicion about the culprit turned into absolute certainty.
The moment the monsters spotted me, every single one of them bowed their heads.
They were definitely the tamer's beasts, still mistaking me for the messenger of some incredibly grand entity.
Which means the monster tamer must be nearby too.
He was probably leading the charge at the very front.
What drove him right now was likely fear and a desperate desire for atonement toward that "great existence."
Since he wouldn't feel an ounce of fear toward someone like Count Zeno, he would want to stand at the vanguard to pay for his sins as much as possible.
Let's circle around the side.
"Gwe-ek."
"Got it."
Alina immediately changed direction, taking a detour to approach Count Zeno's mansion from a different angle.
If we went through the front gate, we would definitely run into him.
There was no need to give him a chance to realize he was mistaken about me.
Besides, my only goals were Kati's safety and rescue.
I had no reason to clash head-on with Count Zeno.
Kati! I'm on my way!
I sent my thoughts toward the tree inside the mansion.
Surely, she would sense that I was coming.
"There are no guards at all. Are you going straight in?"
Yeah. Alina, wait outside for now.
I fluttered through an open window, stopping Alina from following me inside.
There might still be dangers lurking within the mansion, so I couldn't just let her walk in.
Besides, sneaking in was much safer if I did it alone.
"You have to come back. Promise me, okay?"
Of course. Trust me.
"Gwek."
Fortunately, Alina didn't stubborn it out and stepped back obediently.
I had been worried she might insist on coming, so I was glad she was such a good girl.
With a confident cry, I headed toward the source of Kati's energy.
Wow, she's really far in.
I could sense her presence in the room furthest from the front entrance.
Considering how quiet and undisturbed her energy felt despite all the explosions and roaring outside, she seemed to be fast asleep.
Here I was, working myself to the bone to rescue her, and she was just peacefully napping?
I'm going to give her a good smacking when I see her.
This is the place. I'm coming in!
Before long, I arrived in front of a tightly locked room.
It was sealed with high-tech equipment that looked completely out of place in a wooden mansion, but the mechanism was fundamentally designed to keep things from getting out, not in.
Which meant breaking it from the outside would be a piece of cake.
I poured a splash of my acidic blood onto the lock, and it melted away into useless sludge in an instant.
The Count really needs to invest in better security.
Kati! I'm here!
"Gwek!"
As I entered the room through the ridiculously easy-to-open door, I found Kati standing there—though for some reason, she was much larger than when we had parted.
Wasn't she just a tiny sapling before?
Now, she was big enough to be called a proper baby tree.
Well, she's certainly much easier to recognize now.
Her leaves had taken on a whiter hue, and her trunk was engraved with a pattern that looked almost identical to the design on my wings. There was no mistaking her.
But why isn't she reacting at all even though I've walked in?
Is she seriously asleep?
I fluttered over to a familiar branch and tapped on her trunk.
Since this was an emergency, I tapped as hard as I could without actually hurting her.
She's not waking up... She's definitely not dead, so why isn't she waking up?
The problem was, no matter how much I tapped, she didn't budge.
If she were just sleeping, she should have woken up by now.
Since our contract was still active, she was definitely alive.
Her current state felt more like a deep, prolonged hibernation.
If that was the case, there had to be a way to wake her.
Am I too weak? What can I do to give her a big enough shock to wake her up?
Of course, directly attacking her was out of the question.
What kind of scumbag attacks their own friend?
Even if I did, it would be an absolute last resort.
So, what was the most powerful tool in my arsenal?
The five newly acquired skills were obviously out. They targeted the mind, not physical impact.
They were mental attacks, not physical ones.
Wait, that leaves just one, doesn't it? Perfect! I've been dying to try this one out anyway!
Fortunately, out of the six new skills, exactly one was perfect for this situation.
Besides, I needed to test how much energy it had to absorb before it exploded.
I melted the locked window of this room as well and slipped outside.
As I soared above the mansion, I got a bird's-eye view of the full-scale war raging between Count Zeno's forces and the monster tamer's beasts.
So this is what emotions smell like. I want to eat them!
Hovering right above the battlefield, I smelled the thick scent of blood alongside a sweet, mouth-watering fragrance I had never encountered before.
Instinctively, I knew what it was: emotion. Specifically, the terror of death born of despair.
Once I recognized it, I could actually see a thick, purple haze drifting all over the area.
Though every fiber of my being screamed to devour it, I held back.
Right now, that energy needed to be my gunpowder, not my food.
Flowerpot of Despair
The moment I focused my will to activate the skill, I felt the demonic energy that had been slumbering inside me get sucked out into the air.
Soon, a violet flower bud materialized in the empty air.
Moving it instinctively with my mind, I dropped the bud right into the center of the battlefield and began pumping it full of demonic energy through our connected link.
Oh, it's starting to bloom.
Fed directly by my demonic energy while absorbing the ambient emotions and nutrients from the living beings around it, the bud began to unfurl.
With every petal that slowly stretched outward, its presence grew so overwhelming that the combatants on the battlefield finally began to notice it.
Too late.
Several of them stopped fighting and rushed toward the bud.
But having already absorbed a massive amount of energy, the bud was incredibly powerful on its own.
In an instant, it drained those who drew near of absolutely everything.
The moment their shriveled, mummy-like husks collapsed to the ground, the bud burst into full bloom.
It looked like a cluster of countless blossoms opening together in breathtaking beauty.
The fully bloomed flower hovered in the air, as if waiting for my command.
Ah, so I have to detonate it myself. Well, let's see what this baby can do!
Without a shred of hesitation, I pressed the mental detonator.
Then, the fully bloomed flower sucked in everything—including the very air around it—and expanded once more.
It transformed into a massive, beautiful, violet flower of despair that swallowed everything in its path.
Anyone who witnessed this spectacle and understood the situation would surely say...
That the flower of despair had bloomed.
Whoa, whoa... Wow! It's so pretty!
I realized after detonating it that I could actually trigger it even before it fully bloomed, though it would be weaker.
But since it was huge, it looked absolutely gorgeous. And hey, I only fed it bad monsters and bad humans, so no harm done, right?
Ah! I wonder if Kati woke up? I really hope this did the trick!