Requiem (2)
Whoosh!
The darkness in Rune's hand transformed into a massive scythe.
“This should do nicely for cutting.”
Whooooom!
Aaaah!
The anguished wail grew louder, threatening to burst eardrums.
“You have no regrets, right?”
Amanda answered with a quiet nod instead of words.
[It was once my body, but now it's nothing more than a demonized root.]
Her eyes, filled with resolve, looked sorrowful.
“……Understood.”
Rune turned his gaze toward the tree.
Crack!
At Rune's will, the tree's shadow twisted into vines and bound the pitch-black trunk.
Hiss!
The tree, wrapped like a black bandage, spewed demonic energy and began to corrode the bindings.
‘Not a chance.’
The tree thrashed its massive trunk, trying to tear free, but the shadows tightened their grip once more.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Unable to move freely, the tree roots stomped the ground in fury.
The more it struggled, the tighter the shadow cords from the tree's own silhouette constricted its body.
Rune, having minimized its movements, muttered to himself.
“Trees are weak to fire, after all.”
Fwoosh!
The Seal of Fire blazed vividly in the air.
Flames erupted from the seal and began to scorch the tree's trunk.
Soon, the sound of burning branches rang out like screams.
Kiiiii—kikikik!
Along with a foul stench, black smoke began to engulf the surroundings.
‘So it was steeped in demonic energy.’
Rune absorbed the demonic energy he had inhaled into the darkness within his body.
But he couldn't swallow all the smoke carrying the life-draining force.
Before the smoke could blacken his throat, Rune activated the Seal of Water.
Splash.
A clear sound rang out as moisture gathered at the command of the Water's master.
Rune took pearl powder from his spatial pouch and mixed it into the flowing water.
Glancing back, he saw the falling white snow repelling the demonic energy.
It wasn't complete annihilation, but that level of defense was enough to keep things from getting out of hand.
‘Still, we can't keep defending forever.’
“Pii!”
Baekya chirped and immediately burrowed into Rune's collar.
“Baekya, you're quick on the uptake.”
The tree fired sharp black thorns filled with malice.
Rune smirked and swung the scythe.
Ting! Ting-ting!
The pitch-black thorns bounced away in an instant.
Then, Rune shot forward like an arrow toward the tree.
Shoo-shoo-shoot!
Rune formed small orbs of condensed darkness and launched them at the tree.
The tree tried to swat them away with its branches, but the darkness dodged nimbly and clung to it like shadows, gnawing into the trunk.
The tree, its body being devoured by darkness, let out a piercing shriek.
Aaaah!
The darkness grew larger as it tore away chunks of the tree and its demonic energy.
Chomp-chomp! Crunch!
Uwooooo!
To drive away the darkness that was eating it like a carnivorous fish, the tree opened its knot-holes and spewed out ominous gas.
Rune frowned at the vile sight.
“Stop struggling and go quietly.”
With the massive scythe in hand, he appeared from the tree's blind spot and cleanly severed a branch.
Thud!
The severed branch crashed to the ground with a heavy sound.
“One more.”
Rune appeared on the opposite side via teleportation.
This time, he sliced through five thick branches at once with the scythe.
Thud! Thud!
The thick branches flew into the air.
Then, as if someone had thrown them, they plummeted to the ground.
Aaaah! Aaaah!
The tree, screaming quite loudly, released waves of black energy in succession.
Some of the flowers had their white snow shaken off by the impact.
Crackle.
Soon the petals dried up and turned to dust.
[!]
Amanda, possessed by the tree spirit, bit her lip.
However, fresh snow soon filled the empty spaces.
“To even use a curse wave… it really soaked up quite a lot.”
It was admiration, though not quite.
Even with magical protection, the wailing voices carrying resentment made his ears sting.
Rune watched the rampaging tree, then moved behind it and slashed horizontally across its back.
Slash!
Unable to withstand the force of its own turning body, the tree's bark was torn open.
‘One more time.’
Just as he was about to bring the scythe down fully—
A large knot-hole formed where the scythe had cut.
It emitted a horrifying wail.
Aaaah!
The grotesque and bizarre curse wave from the tree made his head throb.
It was fortunate that it was Rune; an ordinary person would have had their head explode long ago.
“They say no tree stays standing after ten chops.”
Crunch!
The scythe that had extended far to the right vanished in an instant.
Rune, having shifted diagonally upward, once again held a large scythe in his hand.
Whoosh!
With a heavy sound, the blade tried to carve indiscriminately through the body.
However, because the motion was so large, the pitch-black tree predicted the attack and dodged.
Then, a knot-hole opened its maw toward Rune's direction.
“Just as I thought.”
Grin.
Rune was no longer at the spot where the curse wave had been fired.
“Right here.”
Where he stood was atop the tree, in midair.
Rune spun the scythe and moved his body diagonally in one fluid motion.
Slash!
The sound of splitting firewood rang out.
The tree, cleaved from its upper right side down to its base in a single stroke, thrashed in agony.
Aaaah!
It screamed in a voice that could only be described as a death wail.
The horrifying sound made the atmosphere feel bleak, even though the battle had heated his blood.
Rune calmly sliced the remaining pieces with the scythe.
Slash!
Slash!
The once massive, pitch-black tree fell to the ground as mere firewood fragments.
The mercilessly shattered tree.
Rune picked up the sticky, sap-like lump that had been at its center and examined it.
“This isn't a tree… what is it?”
[It's the wish contained within a fragment of the World Tree's root.]
Amanda recited.
[It was once part of me.]
Rune sighed and spoke.
“Then this is the end, isn't it?”
Amanda nodded quietly, and Rune voiced a light complaint.
“If it weren't for Baekya, we never would've found this place. It would've stayed buried. We were planning to leave tonight.”
It was only because Rune possessed strength beyond that of a typical hatchling that the situation had been resolved so quickly.
Finding this location only on the day of departure was, in a way, possible only because luck had aligned.
[As long as demons existed, I couldn't let the ones I saved be discovered.]
Amanda's hand rested on her chest.
[I waited in this space that only I could open and close. For the right time to come. But…]
Her gaze turned to the sky without moon or stars.
The unchanging sky she had watched without knowing how time flowed.
[My original body began to blacken while absorbing the demonic energy buried bit by bit in the children's souls.]
The tree Rune had cut down must have originally been the spirit's body.
Amanda's eyes looked at the sap lump in Rune's hand.
[I lost the body that could control this space and had to remain trapped. Then, that bird…]
“Pii!”
Amanda's gaze shifted to Baekya, who had only poked its head out from inside the collar.
“Did Baekya do something?”
Amanda nodded and continued.
[That bird pecked with its beak and created a small crack. Through that tiny gap, I was able to call out this elf child.]
Rune looked down at Baekya with fresh eyes.
“Pii?”
The bird blinked innocently and met Rune's gaze.
‘This situation is too clear to call it mere coincidence.’
Clearly, Baekya must have been able to see the hidden space.
Amanda concluded in a calm tone.
[There's not much time left now.]
Tears welled in Amanda's eyes.
Suppressing an expression that threatened to crumble in sorrow, the spirit continued.
[It's ironic. Only after my body became demonized did my wish come true.]
“……”
He couldn't carelessly say he was sorry.
Feeling pity, Rune spoke.
“The traditional funeral would be to bury even your remaining tree fragments beneath the World Tree, but……”
The weeping spirit shook her head.
[I know. They're far too tainted by demonic energy for that.]
Even though Amanda had only temporarily lent her body.
The tree spirit, having lost its body, could no longer remain in this world.
[Please take what was once my body.]
It was too dangerous to leave in the elf territory as it was.
“I will. Is there nothing else you want?”
At that question, the spirit wearing Amanda's appearance spoke.
[Just… being able to see these children find their place is enough.]
Rune looked at her and nodded.
The tree spirit possessing Amanda squeezed out her final strength.
Crack.
The fine crack Baekya had made in the air split longer.
[Go now. To the place where you belong.]
The young souls the World Tree had protected for so long.
The colorful flowers, their souls glowing, slipped through the opening in space.
The world they saw for the first time sparkled with festival lights.
The flowers that had never learned sorrow.
The young souls lingered briefly over that scenery before departing for their destined places.
That night.
The elves, deep in the midst of their festival, witnessed three-colored flowers scattering into the sky from the top of the World Tree.
Some of them flew into the village, one or two or three at a time.
The flowers, like a single night's dream, would soon disappear after that night passed.
***
“Nngh.”
Rune emerged from the barrier, dragging Amanda by the ankles, and reappeared beneath the World Tree.
“Pii-pii-pii!”
“This is all because of you. What a hassle.”
“Pii-yak!”
Rune, who had been grumbling, looked at the chirping bird again.
And this time, he spoke sincerely.
“That was just talk…… You did well.”
“Pii, piit.”
Rune added to the bird looking up at him.
“When I found it, it only looked like it had a small crack. To make a fissure with just your beak when there's no proper entrance……”
“Pyak-pyak!”
Baekya flapped its wings with a “Ha!” expression, its yellow eyes sparkling.
Rune chuckled.
‘It's absurd, yet impressive.’
Not only had it managed to find a place no one knew about, but imagining how diligently it must have pecked with its beak made it seem all the more remarkable.
At the same time, he couldn't help but wonder what that bird's beak was even made of.
‘I should contact everyone first.’
Rune leaned Amanda roughly against the tree and activated the Mokoji Stone.
Rune: Found Baekya.
Perdikion: What? I'll head over right away.
Heungmi: Heungmi will be there soon too!
Jed: Goodness! That rascal was hiding for quite a while. I'll be right there!
Not long after the brown text appeared, the sound of Dullahan's footsteps could be heard.
Clank! Clank!
—Eh?! No, Lord Rune. This is the place we checked just a moment ago. When did you get here?
Dullahan and Jed, who had been nearby, were the first to reach Rune.
“I just happened to walk here.”
—My, your feet must be incredibly fast, Lord Rune!
Suddenly, Jed noticed Amanda slumped against the tree.
—Huh? It's the half-elf young lady. ……Eh? Eh? Don't tell me?
Rune replied to Jed, who was making a fuss as if he had realized something.
“You're probably right.”
—Ooooooh! Then this person is the one who can read the World Tree……!
“Shh.”
Rune held a finger to his lips.
There were no presences nearby, but he had to be careful about words spreading.
Jed immediately fell silent and lowered his voice to a whisper.
—M-my, how did such an esteemed person end up in this humble place? And in this state, no less. On such a fine day, don't tell me she was robbed!?
Since she had been lying on the ground where the elf graves were, it was understandable that he found it absurd.
However, before Rune could say anything, Heungmi and Perdikion, who had received the message, arrived.
Perdikion spoke first.
“It seems you found Baekya safely. But why is this one collapsed here?”
Heungmi blinked and looked up at Rune with worried eyes.
“Is she asleep? She's not hurt, is she?”
Indeed, Amanda was so limp that she looked as if she had fainted.
Rune shook his head and explained.
“There's nothing wrong with her body, so she'll be fine. She's just lacking energy.”
‘Even if it's part of the dying World Tree, it's still a form of descent.’
Then, Rune gave a rough explanation of the situation.
“Baekya cracked the barrier with its beak? This bird?”
When Perdikion asked in disbelief, Baekya proudly rubbed its beak with its wing.
“Pii!”
It even raised its head stiffly and chirped proudly.