Chapter 230
Chapter 230
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 230
Chapter Title: World Tree vs Death Lord (2)
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# 230
“Amazing.”
Rokan was genuinely impressed.
It wasn’t the Death Lord rampaging inside the World Tree that surprised him.
His admiration was directed at the World Tree itself.
Unlike ordinary giant monsters like the Giant Sandworm, which had no way to deal with something invading their bodies, the World Tree extended fuzzy, hair-like branches into its interior to torment the Death Lord while unleashing the full force of the life energy it harbored.
That light, fatal to the undead, was deadly even to the Death Lord. The aura of death enveloping him unraveled on its own, and his bones began to soften and melt.
He focused all his power to hold it off somehow, but his death energy was gradually disarming and scattering.
Of course, it wasn’t just harming the Death Lord. The death energy released from his body spread throughout the World Tree’s insides. It gnawed away at the interior like a deadly poison.
On top of that, the slashes of death energy he flung cut down the World Tree’s life force.
The Death Lord attacked from both inside and out, while the World Tree, rooted in place, poured everything into suppressing the intruder within—a silent but fiercely intense clash that dragged on for quite some time.
“Is it over?”
After a long while, the battle finally reached its conclusion.
The undead clinging to the World Tree’s surface had mostly been shaken off by the elves’ efforts, but in the end, the outcome hinged on the duel between the World Tree and the Death Lord.
A draw.
To be precise, it was the World Tree’s victory.
The Death Lord couldn’t withstand the immense life energy within the World Tree and melted away, condensing his death energy into a bead to protect himself.
Rather than total annihilation, he chose to be sealed.
“That thing...”
But the bead of death was harmful to the world in its own right.
Sealed in form though it was, it still emanated vast death energy capable of corrupting the world as it floated inside the World Tree.
The World Tree could hold out like this for a while and prevent the power from spreading, but if it were fully eroded and collapsed, allowing the bead to escape into the world, the Death Lord would undoubtedly revive.
And so, the World Tree made its decision.
-My children, I entrust the future to you.
Paralarang.
The World Tree’s body trembled violently. With it, dandelion-seed-like wisps of energy scattered from its massive form.
The World Tree’s possibilities floated into the air and flew off to every corner of the world.
“I see.”
Now Rokan understood why the half-elves were so obsessed with the “World Tree’s Possibilities.”
They weren’t just plants brimming with strong life force—they were true legacies left by the World Tree itself.
“Hmm.”
Knowing that made him feel a twinge of guilt for destroying so many of their saplings and sprouts, but what could he do? That’s just how survival worked.
He summoned Digdog and slowly approached the surface, watching everything unfolding inside the World Tree without missing a beat.
Because the World Tree’s arrangements didn’t end there.
“That’s...”
Having scattered its “possibilities” to the world, the World Tree squeezed out its last strength.
It tore off a part of its own withering body and began wrapping the Death Lord’s bead of death.
As if they had always been one, it enveloped the bead and stretched out long, forming the shape of a staff.
To keep the bead’s power from breaking the seal.
And so that even when used as an “item,” it wouldn’t unleash its full potential.
The completed form was something Rokan knew well.
“Staff of Death!”
Indeed, it was the Staff of Death—the very one he had given to the undead before crossing the rift in time.
What he’d thought was merely a key to reviving the Death Lord turned out to be the Death Lord himself.
If one knew the proper method, or could stimulate the bead to awaken, reviving the Death Lord wouldn’t be so difficult.
“Then this place is...”
Creeeak, craaaack, rumble!
Before Rokan could even reach the surface, the World Tree collapsed.
The elves, honoring its will, began a swift retreat, while the exhausted undead were drawn to the death energy leaking from the Staff of Death and couldn’t leave the spot.
It was the moment the Field Death Temple and the Staff of Death were created.
“Then.”
Puff!
Rokan burst onto the surface at the perfect timing and charged forward.
Before the undead there could link deeply with the Staff of Death, he seized it.
He didn’t know how much the undead NPC expedition members knew to come here, but Rokan alone had witnessed the backstory of the Staff of Death’s creation with his own eyes.
So if he struck first before they moved, he could swipe the Staff of Death without anyone knowing.
[Staff of Death][Legend]
A staff-shaped seal containing the slumbering Death Lord. The World Tree’s life force and the Death Lord’s death energy coexist strangely, allowing the use of both powers.
Destruction may revive the Death Lord.
-Attack Power: 2,900
-Magic Attack Power: 5,200
-Durability: 1,000,000 / 1,000,000 (decreases over time)
-All Stats +200
-[World Tree’s Blessing] usable
-Holder gains [Death Drain] effect
-All skill effects +100%
“Maybe that’s why they came here—to learn how to use the Staff of Death.”
Checking the item info, Rokan could guess the expedition’s goal. Old items could have their info altered or erased depending on when they were found.
The Staff of Death he’d just acquired in the present had no such details, so the undead likely saw it as just the Death Lord’s relic.
The Death Lord had a swordsman’s style but was also a peak necromancer, so wielding a staff was hardly strange.
“But what happens if I just take it?”
In that sense, Rokan had no intention of handing it over to the undead.
The temptation of 3 levels was huge, but he wasn’t insane enough to sell a Legend-grade item for 3 levels.
No sooner had he thought that than he stowed the Staff of Death in his inventory and slipped away from the World Tree’s ruins, which had nearly become the Death Temple.
“Kai! Legend Rider!”
After running for a while, he mounted Kai, now fully transformed into a Great Peng, and put even more distance between them.
He’d released Polymorph, but the expedition never suspected him since they didn’t expect anyone who returned with them through time to be here.
With Bone Drakes still circling the sky and occasional bird-like flying monsters in sight, a Great Peng wasn’t all that unusual.
Having covered vast distance in an instant, Rokan continued his train of thought.
What would happen if he kept the Staff of Death for himself?
“The past would change.”
The answer was obvious.
If the past changed, so would the present.
He didn’t know if they wanted more than just “information gathering,” but it wasn’t impossible.
The moment he returned to the present with it, the Field Death Temple and Staff of Death would vanish, and the powerful monsters hunting it would likely turn to dust.
The ones bound to the Staff of Death would be released into the world and eventually subjugated somehow.
Terrain shifts or racial territory changes might occur, but that wasn’t his concern.
“The system will handle it.”
If it were a change like the World Tree or Death Lord surviving, it’d cause a cataclysm, but the system would probably adjust for this much.
The players on the receiving end might be baffled, though.
“The problem is how to get back...”
But a problem remained.
The expedition might linger here without their goal, but once they left and the time rift closed, Rokan could end up a time orphan.
Yet going first through the rift would draw all eyes inevitably.
The undead leaders were waiting with sharp glares, after all.
“Going first is a problem too.”
He could die and respawn to escape, but from that moment, he’d be a wanted man.
All undead forces would hunt him, and even Rokan would find that a headache.
So, was there a way to leave quietly without leaving a trace of his presence?
He already knew.
Releasing Polymorph and fleeing outright instead of sneaking were all for that reason.
“I’ll have to skip it.”
He’d abandon the time rift they’d used to come here.
It might make him a time orphan when it closed, but according to rumors from his past life, cases like his weren’t unheard of.
An expedition presumed to have taken the Staff of Death had ditched the others and crossed back immediately, forcing the stragglers to suffer through some quest to return.
But back then, they hadn’t fully secured the Staff of Death—hence no changes rippled to the present.
The staff here probably still reeked of World Tree energy, making the seal hard to break.
The present one had plenty of death energy left, amplified by catalysts from racial quests.
“Staying here isn’t all bad either.”
Sure, being a time orphan meant hardship, but there were gains too.
Gear from this era.
Maybe he could stock up on the strongest items from when all races wielded peak power.
“It’s been a while since I power-leveled.”
With prime hunting grounds aplenty, levels were a bonus.
Just monopolizing the Death Lord’s undead legions he’d seen earlier could’ve pushed him to High Master or close.
“Wonder what else this era has.”
And one more thing. He grew curious about the other races’ states and scenarios here.
Was it the era of “Stormwind”? Or the “Lion King”? If he snagged the last Lion King relic here, would the set complete and unseal?
Shaking off worries about becoming a time orphan, a strange excitement bubbled up.
“Let’s go, Kai!”
He raised Kai’s altitude and soared toward the distant horizon in one breath.