Chapter 309
Chapter 309
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 309
Chapter Title: World Tree (1)
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“Are you planning to just leave your younger brother like that?”
Demian turned his gaze and asked. There lay the Ruler of Myriad Flames, dead.
He had gotten caught up in the battle between Demian and the Four Great Demon Kings, ultimately losing his life. It was the classic case of a shrimp crushed in a whale fight.
It was a pathetic end, unworthy of a pillar of Pandemonium. Likely due to the awl embedded in his chest.
The awl had been crafted with demonic true power. The Ruler of Myriad Flames must have stabbed it into his own chest to apply its authority to both himself and his brother simultaneously.
With his knowledge as a black mage, Demian quickly realized the truth.
“That’s a fitting end for the likes of him.”
Contrary to his words, the Empire’s Greatest Swordsman looked at his younger brother with bitter eyes.
“We can retrieve his corpse later. Right now, the World Tree takes priority.”
The Empire’s Greatest Swordsman rose to his feet. But he couldn’t stand properly and staggered.
Demian hoisted the Empire’s Greatest Swordsman onto his back. Then he headed for Elfheim.
* * *
Demian returned to Elfheim’s royal castle with the Empire’s Greatest Swordsman.
“The World Tree is collapsing!”
“W-what do we do?”
“We’re all going to die! Aaaah!”
The interior of the royal castle was utter chaos. The elves could only stare helplessly as the World Tree crumbled.
“……To the palace.”
The Empire’s Greatest Swordsman urged Demian on. Demian supported him as they entered the royal palace.
“You’ve arrived.”
Millenu greeted the two. But she didn’t look to be in great shape either.
Just like the World Tree, her body was slowly scattering into dust.
Like the World Tree, she too was dying.
“I watched the two of you fight through magic. You’ve both been through a lot.”
Millenu praised them in a gentle voice. In contrast, the Empire’s Greatest Swordsman asked in a troubled tone.
“Is there no way to save the World Tree?”
Millenu gave a wry smile without a word. At that gesture, the Empire’s Greatest Swordsman sighed.
“As expected, it’s impossible.”
Reviving the dead was impossible. It was a truth no one could change.
Countless mages and black mages had researched ways to overcome this truth, but all had failed.
“You truly are a fascinating person. Hating elves yet sincerely wishing for Elfheim’s survival.”
“I’m merely following my mother’s will.”
“That’s a relief. Thanks to that, we’ve gained a sturdy ally.”
Finding it hard to speak, Millenu paused to catch her breath.
“You asked if there’s a way to save the World Tree? There is exactly one.”
“What is it?”
“It’s possible if Demian Haksen helps.”
Millenu turned to Demian as she spoke.
“Demian Haksen, I watched you through magic. You using your authority from inside that pit.”
Demian immediately understood what Millenu was talking about.
“You’ve grasped the method of time reversal, haven’t you? Using that, we can save the World Tree.”
“No, it’s impossible.”
Demian shook his head.
“Even reversing the collapsing rubble took all my mana and stamina.”
In such a state, he couldn’t even estimate how much mana would be needed to revive the World Tree.
“No, it will be possible.”
Millenu pointed to Demian’s wrist as she spoke.
“You have Erebos, after all.”
“……You knew about Erebos?”
Demian asked in surprise.
Erebos was an item with no records anywhere in the world.
Even the demons didn’t fully know its true nature.
“Yes, I know. I even know who made it.”
“Who?”
“A man named Ruin created it.”
Ruin.
It was a name he’d heard before. The name Dorgo had shouted.
“Dorgo mentioned that name too. Just who is this Ruin?”
Millenu’s eyes wavered for a moment. After hesitating, she told Demian.
“The true hero who drove the demons and monsters from the continent.”
“From the Salvation Corps? But I’ve never heard that name.”
“Of course not. We killed him and erased his name.”
Millenu spoke the shocking truth as if it were nothing.
“Most of the feats credited to the Salvation Corps were accomplished by Ruin. Our corps merely claimed them as our own.”
Demian couldn’t help but be shocked.
Demian had grown up hearing tales of the Salvation Corps since childhood.
People praised the corps’ nobility and might through fairy tales, plays, songs, and more.
And now, it was all a lie?
“Why would you do such a thing?”
“Some for honor, some out of jealousy. And I…… for my race’s future.”
“The future?”
“If a being like Ruin remained by humanity’s side, it would threaten the elves.”
At this point, Demian grew curious about who Ruin was.
What kind of man was he, to create Erebos and earn such wariness from Millenu?
“What kind of man was Ruin? How did he make Erebos?”
“Ruin was…….”
Suddenly, Millenu’s eyes widened. She bent at the waist and coughed.
“Cough, cough.”
Powder poured from her mouth. It meant her organs were crumbling.
“……Demian, I want to explain everything, but there’s truly no time left.”
Millenu clutched her chest and spoke with difficulty.
“Erebos is a weapon that transforms all things into power and absorbs them. Dorgo planned to use the power accumulated in Erebos to return to the past.”
Demian looked puzzled. He’d used Erebos for a long time but had never sensed any power stored inside.
“After killing Ruin, we all sought to become Erebos’s master. But Erebos chose no one. Instead, it destroyed itself.”
Millenu formed hand seals, opening a subspace. From within emerged a large blade shard.
“This is the piece I took back then. Demian, I entrust it to you, believing in you.”
With those words, Millenu’s body crumbled into powder.
* * *
Demian stared at the powder Millenu left behind for a long while.
His mind was in turmoil from the flood of information.
But he had no time to ponder long. From the moment Millenu died, the World Tree’s collapse accelerated.
Its vast branches came crashing down, and the trunk followed.
“Demian, I leave it to you.”
The Empire’s Greatest Swordsman spoke in a desperate tone. Demian set aside his doubts and drew Erebos.
The shard Millenu had produced was enormous.
In his previous life, Dorgo had destroyed Elfheim, then found the shard and fused it with Erebos.
‘Back then, he couldn’t complete Erebos. But now…….’
After reincarnating, Demian had found shards even Dorgo hadn’t and absorbed them into Erebos.
“Erebos, absorb.”
The shard turned to liquid and clung to Erebos.
Erebos’s missing parts began to fill. The damaged sections started regenerating.
Unfortunately, Erebos still wasn’t complete this time either. It remained broken.
But there was a meaningful change.
‘It’s longer than in my previous life.’
Erebos’s restoration surpassed his previous life. And judging by the blade, completion was near.
Demian gripped Erebos tight. Perhaps due to greater restoration, he could feel power accumulated within.
‘This power……?’
It was the power that had erupted when he stabbed Erebos into his body to commit suicide.
‘So it wasn’t from my body—it was stored in Erebos.’
Demian drew out Erebos’s power and infused it into his authority.
The six authorities began to glow. Demian placed his glowing hand on the World Tree.
‘……No reaction.’
As Millenu said, the authority should revive the World Tree.
But no matter how much power he poured in, he couldn’t turn back the World Tree’s time.
‘What’s wrong? What’s the problem?’
Demian retraced his past memories and tried everything exactly the same.
The only difference was the authority he hadn’t yet awakened.
‘But that authority wasn’t used?’
Greed.
The seventh authority could detect vast areas.
In his previous life, when the authorities activated, Greed’s hadn’t been used.
‘Is that what’s needed?’
Demian infused power into the seventh sigil. Greed’s authority awakened.
The seven authorities linked as one. In that instant, Demian’s vision went dark.
‘Where is this?’
Demian floated in the darkness. He flailed his limbs but couldn’t move forward.
Then, something unfolded before his eyes.
A massive seed fell into the sea. It sprouted and grew tall.
It was the World Tree’s life.
The World Tree’s life—from its first sprout to the present—unfolded like a map.
‘This is a coordinate.’
Demian instinctively realized. This was the coordinate for traveling back in time.
‘The farther back, the more power it takes.’
The World Tree’s history spanned over three thousand years.
Naturally, going back three thousand years would be impossible even with all of Erebos’s power.
‘One day ago…… that should be feasible.’
Demian was about to set the coordinate and execute when another map unfolded before him. Seeing it, Demian couldn’t help but be shocked.
‘That’s me?’
It was Demian’s life unfolding.
His delinquent days, boyhood, and even infancy.
But the map split into two from the middle.
The moment he saw the other path, Demian felt chills.
‘……Death Knight.’
Demian’s life was divided into two.
His current life and his past life.
His present self and his self as the Death Knight.
Gazing at the map, a chilling thought struck Demian.
‘No way…… I can recreate the Death Knight era?’
Just imagining it filled him with disgust. He felt like vomiting, going mad.
But regardless of those emotions, Demian couldn’t tear his eyes from the map.
The Death Knight era was the ugliest period of Demian’s life.
Yet separately, the fact that the Demian of that time was the ‘strongest’ remained unchanged.
‘……No, that won’t happen.’
Demian erased the thought. He turned his gaze back to the World Tree’s map.
‘Revert the World Tree to one day ago.’
The power drawn from Erebos rapidly depleted.
And an enormous change occurred.