The Giving Tree (2)
Slowly opening my eyes, I shoved aside whatever heavy thing was pressing down on me and looked around.
“……Where the hell is this?”
It was a cave I'd never seen before in my life.
There were rocks of all sizes scattered everywhere……
“Ah!”
Right.
That corpse had suddenly exploded at the end.
I remembered getting flung away by the blast.
Regaining my senses, I quickly scanned my surroundings.
“Elpinire! Where are—.”
I didn't even need to look.
The heavy thing that had been pinning me down until just now.
Elpinire entered my view, so wrecked that I wondered if she was even human anymore.
My eyes trembled finely as I stared at her.
Yeah.
I remembered this too.
Right before the ma gi exploded.
Elpinire had thrown herself over me, embracing me and taking the impact instead.
Thanks to her, I survived.
Cheori survived too.
Without her, I'd be dead for sure.
Track the traces of the human eroded by ma gi
I clenched my fist so hard it turned white and bowed my head deeply.
Elpinire had wrapped around me and died.
For her sake, even in death, I had to.
Moving to the next floor
protect the World Tree……
10th Floor
Protect the World Tree
Not Achieved
※ Additional rewards generated if with Elpinire.
I glared at the system messages, grinding my teeth.
Elpinire was dead.
But it says to do it together?
Who the hell is it mocking right now?
The moment I opened my mouth to yell at the empty air—
“Kkung kkung.”
Cheori, who'd slithered down from my neck, let out cries on top of Elpinire's chest.
I turned my head and stared at it intently.
The little guy was bouncing up and down on her chest.
“……What are you doing?”
“Kkung! Kkwoong kkung!”
It was thumping her chest with its tail.
With serious eyes, it pointed its tail tip at the spot over her heart.
I gradually widened my eyes at the sight and asked.
“……She's alive?”
“Kkung!”
Cheori nodded vigorously.
I hurriedly leaned in and pressed my ear to Elpinire's chest.
It's true.
Her heart is really beating.
Faintly, but Elpinire's heart was still pulsing.
Grinning widely, I quickly slipped my hand into my robe.
A small bottle emerged.
I uncorked the tightly sealed stopper and tilted it to her lips.
“Whoa……”
The World Tree's elixir flowed down her throat.
As soon as the entire bottle's contents slid down, Elpinire's melted, crushed, mangled body began regenerating to its original state.
An absurd, bizarre sight.
I was stunned for a moment by the scene more magical than magic itself.
Then her eyelids fluttered, and I shouted urgently.
“Elpinire! Can you hear me!?”
“Ugh…… My head hurts, so shut up.”
Whoa.
She's talking properly—fully conscious.
I let out a sigh of relief and lightly slapped her cheek.
“Hey. Snap out of it.”
“Ugh…… Head hurts, don't talk to me, human.”
I narrowed my eyes at Elpinire, whose face was flushed red like she was drunk.
Her body had healed, but she was totally wasted.
Who the hell thought of making a healing potion taste like booze?
I let out a long sigh and reluctantly raised my hand to slap her cheek with the Black Dragon.
“I'm sober now.”
“……”
“Put that hand down, human.”
I canceled the Black Dragon at the sight of Elpinire sitting up straight already.
“Elpinire.”
“I know.”
She knew what we had to do without me saying it.
Elpinire nodded and stood up immediately.
I tried to follow, putting strength into my legs.
“Ugh……”
Stagger.
My legs had no strength.
Elpinire caught me as I lost balance and trembled when she saw my legs.
“Human. Your legs right now……”
“……I know.”
I'd felt it when I staggered.
Oh, my leg bones are completely shattered.
I hadn't even noticed the pain.
Elpinire pulled out her own World Tree elixir.
“Here, my elixir. You used yours on me, so drink this.”
“No. Later.”
“What? With legs like that—”
“I've got a plan.”
I looked at her with serious eyes.
“Help me out of the cave.”
Meeting my gaze, Elpinire looked troubled but reluctantly nodded.
“But drink it right after we get out.”
“Don't worry.”
With that, I was piggybacked out of the cave at high speed.
Under the twilight sky, we stood quietly and stared at one spot.
“……”
Even from where we stood, a massive horde of mutants was visible.
Four shadowy figures floated ahead like vanguard leaders, approaching the World Tree.
The World Tree before them had a portion of its leaves burned away, looking empty.
“Now drink it, human.”
“No, not yet.”
Yeah.
Not the right time yet.
“Put me down.”
“What?”
“Hurry.”
I slid off her back with difficulty and hooked my left arm around her neck from the front.
“Elpinire. Hold me tight.”
“What?”
“And you said to feed it right away?”
“What? Wait—!”
Sip, exhale……
Calmly breathing out, I slowly clenched my fist.
I could hear Elpinire saying something, but it was just noise to my ears now.
Black Dragon
Krunch.
My fist transformed in an instant.
I packed it full of even more black mist.
More.
Not enough yet.
Not even the amount for Gwangpok.
A bit more.
A stronger force.
I crammed as much as possible onto my right hand.
My right arm trembled like it would burst.
Just holding it made blood stream from my eyes, nose, and mouth.
Doing it this far made my head spin.
With a blood-smeared smile, I swung my fist straight ahead.
“Kk—.”
Boom—kwagwagwagwak!
A deafening roar like my eardrums would tear, and my body shot forward.
Elpinire gulped at the unprecedented speed, finally understanding what I'd meant, and hurriedly uncorked the World Tree elixir.
“Drink! Hurry!”
Gulp!
The bottle's neck jammed into the limp human's mouth.
His Adam's apple bobbed once, and his ragged shoulders and dangling lower body instantly restored.
Regaining consciousness after briefly blacking out, I whipped around.
“Whoa, it worked.”
I hadn't thought it'd actually work.
Chuckling wryly, I eyed the rapidly approaching World Tree.
Learned method of high-speed movement using Black Dragon right hand and Smoke propulsion.
Smoke technique Musangbi (Fog Flight) created.
Thanks to Musangbi, I was hurtling toward the World Tree at incomparable speed.
At this rate, I'd reach it in no time.
But.
“H-Human! Something's wrong! My vision's spinning!”
“You think I'm not!?”
“Can we land like this!?”
“How should I know!?”
My vision was spinning like mad.
Being my first time, keeping balance was hard, and even if I did, I couldn't hold it.
My body spun 360 degrees with all its might.
Suddenly, a mass of black ma gi entered my view.
“Ugh?”
Thud!
A dull impact hit my body.
I felt something blocking my path.
“You hit someone! You just hit someone!”
“I know! Stop freaking out!”
“It might be an elf! Stop now!”
“If I could, I would!”
“Beeee……”
And it's not an elf.
So ignore it.
I couldn't spit out the last part amid the dizziness and used the ma gi mass as a foothold to skid-land on the ground.
“Urp……”
“Urgh……”
My stomach churned.
How many spins was that?
Finally calming my roiling gut, we looked up and said in unison to Elses-to, whose jaw had dropped.
“Grandpa. We're not late, right?”
“Chief. We're not late, are we?”
“Kkung!”
Elses-to snapped his jaw shut at our question.
He opened and closed his mouth a few times before speaking in a hollow voice.
“Why'd you come?”
“Gotta protect it.”
I came to clear the Evergreen Tower's condition, succeed it, and survive the Black Dragon.
Elpinire came for the mother who birthed her and the elves.
To protect the World Tree.
That's all.
Finally checking my feet, I widened my eyes.
“What the hell is this.”
It was limp, not moving an inch.
Did it die?
Elpinire backed away, now noticing it too, and muttered in panic.
“This guy's Karos?”
No vital signs.
Really died from the fall.
As the evaporating ma gi faded, its original form appeared.
A burly middle-aged man with a chin beard.
We'd unintentionally sent one of the remaining four humans next to the Black Dragon.
Turning our gaze to the advancing monster horde.
The three remaining humans there were fully unleashing ma gi.
“Guess we're not too late.”
I'd worried seeing the tree's tip burned.
But they hadn't reached it yet.
The three humans in the sky raised their hands in unison.
At that moment, the following monsters roared and charged.
“Tch. You fools. Why come ruin our resolve.”
Elses-to smirked and slammed his massive greatsword into the ground.
A green protective barrier enveloped me and Elpinire.
“Now that these fools are here, let me correct myself.”
Ahem.
Clearing his throat, Elses-to bellowed.
“We won't die today! We'll protect the World Tree and survive!”
“……”
“Surviving is true filial piety! Can't remain unfilial to the end!”
“……”
“Everyone ready to act spoiled with Mother!?”
-Yes!
The elves' voices boomed in response.
Finally satisfied, Elses-to smiled, yanked his greatsword from the ground, and shouted.
“Charge! For Mother! For the elves!”
-Woooaaar!
The elves charged at the hundreds of monsters.
I led the front, fist clenched, rushing in.
“I'll take Lenny. Elpinire, you handle Shrin!”
“Shut up, Grandpa! Watch yourself!”
“Grandpa…… First time hearing that—I'm touched. Mir. Will you take the central one, Yuto?”
I nodded, spun mid-run, and swung my fist at the ground.
Smoke - Musangbi (Fog Flight)
Black mist sprayed widely at the ground.
Using it as a foothold, my body rocketed upward.
Not for attack—just pure movement.
No strain on my arm.
I could use this repeatedly without issue.
Launched high into the sky by the recoil, I locked eyes on the central man.
Smoke - Muyeong (Mist Shadow)
And thrust my fist forward.