Chapter 182
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 182
In a certain dimension, there existed a great and primordial life.
It tended to a child born from a severed piece of itself—a giant tree. This tree grew to become a divine being and soon gained sentience. Eventually, it fell in love with a human.
“O Great Tree of Life, please accept this humble child.”
“Please accept this child into your family, O Great Myth.”
“And bestow the blessing of life upon us humans!”
The tree did not listen. The fact that human lives were finite was a law of Life itself. No one could recklessly receive the blessing of the tree, which was the child of Life.
Yet, day by day, its love for the tiny human child only grew. The child was pure and gentle, treating the tree as family. But the human child was far too fragile.
“The child you loved is dead.”
“The child was torn into five pieces and killed—a punishment for treating the child of a god with such disrespect!”
“This is a rightful heavenly punishment, so do not be angry. Show only mercy!”
“We humans, including that child, all rest within the embrace of Life!”
The tree wept in profound sorrow. The tears shed by the child of Life became a divine blessing to the humans, who only grew more cruel. They began offering it bloody sacrifices.
“We offer you sacrifices, so bestow your blessing upon us…!”
“Send down the rain of life!”
One of the humans shouted.
“If not that, then grant eternal life to everyone!”
How shameless.
“If you do, will your beloved not also return to life?”
“O Tree, why are you so cruel to humans? Why must the lives of noble humans be so short?”
“Grant us immortality! Bestow eternal life upon us!”
Swayed by their coaxing, the tree finally shattered the boundary between life and death, resurrecting the human child it had so loved. Life, infuriated by the actions of its child who had defied its authority, became deeply enraged and cast a curse.
“A-a disaster! A disaster has come!”
“■■■■■…!”
“An evil spirit has possessed the sacred tree! We must burn it!”
“■■■■■■…!”
“The tree has become a beast!”
The Tree of Life became a beast, its body twisted into a punishment. It was given four wide legs that hindered its movement, a long neck that prevented it from ever seeing the small humans below, and a massive form that could no longer mingle with the delicate things it once loved. This was the price for defying providence and giving in to greed.
“Aaaah…! The tree, the tree has cursed us!”
“Please, we have committed no sin…! Have mercy!”
“Why are you turning us into beasts?!”
The humans who had recklessly received the blessing of life were also turned into beasts.
The wicked humans who had plotted and killed the one loved by the Tree of Life became the Night Monsters, cursed with eternal sleeplessness. Meanwhile, the other humans, who had dared to indulge in the undeserved blessings spread by the Tree of Life, became the Monsters of the Day.
“Kieeeek…!”
“Kkahk, kraaa… aaah…!”
“Kreeeeeeeek…!”
They all became beasts, abandoned by Life.
Their dimension, forsaken by providence, gradually began to shrink. The sun, a searing punishment left behind by Life, was so scorching they wished for death. Day by day, their intellect deteriorated to that of animals, leaving only agony.
“■■■….”
Among them was the human child, resurrected by the mistake of the beast that was once the Tree of Life.
The pitiful child, torn into five pieces by humans, had been made whole again by the beast, only to be divided once more into five pieces as punishment. The beast wanted only to protect this tiny child within its embrace.
To do so, the beast swelled its body to an immense, colossal size. It blocked the boundaries of the dimension, halting its collapse. It created and raised a moon to shield them from the scorching sun and shed tears to cool the world.
“Grrrrr….”
“Krruk, kkeuk….”
And the wicked monsters, now four-legged beasts, wished for this sweet time to last longer. Even having lost their human intellect, they craved a longer night and a larger dimension.
The lowly beasts hovered around the small, fragile tree that had been the beginning of it all. For the sake of its small tree, the giant beast embraced all those monsters, raised the moon more frequently, and visited other dimensions to cool its searing body.
Even so, the terrible heat left behind by Life did not fade.
* * *
“…Or so the story goes,” Kang Seo-dam said, looking exhausted as he finished piecing together the dungeon’s lore with the other Hunters.
“So, Hunter Seo Gio’s assumption was correct after all.”
“My god, I can’t believe that was actually true.”
“But if that’s the case, figuring out how to clear this is going to be a real headache.”
The other Hunters clicked their tongues in frustration.
“Then why were the Night Monsters feeding those trees? Rain falls periodically anyway, so why go out of their way to provide fertilizer?”
“Uh… maybe to get more slaves? If those trees grow, they become new Trees of Life, right? Otherwise, there’d be no reason to prepare extra fertilizer.”
“In any case, the monsters didn’t bother guarding them because they knew the beast wouldn’t let the trees it cherishes die so easily—even if they were bringing fertilizer because they wanted to rush the growth of a new Tree of Life.”
“Was that Rampage Phenomenon from before led by the Tree of Life? Like a parent protecting its child…?”
“Well, all the monsters in the entire dungeon did go wild.”
Jeong Young-won, who had been listening to the conversation, chimed in.
“So the rain falling in this rainforest was actually the tears shed by the Tree of Life.”
Only then did it make sense why contact with the rain drove people mad.
“Since it’s the tears—or maybe even the blood—shed by a mythical being in pain and despair… it’s only natural that a mere human would lose their mind from a single drop. This is definitely worth investigating.”
“But the dungeon’s monsters seemed fine with it.”
“That’s because they’ve already gone mad; it’s why they’re like this in the first place, isn’t it? They’re incredibly hostile toward humans, and now I see why. They’re on edge, irritable, and half-insane. It would be stranger if they welcomed intruders.”
While they all harbored a deep hatred for humans, there were differences among the monsters. Some hated humans so much they kept their distance, some calmly assessed situations to hatch schemes, and others simply rushed in to kill without a second thought.
‘And these are the third type.’
Jeong Young-won also fell into deep thought.
“To clear this…”
“It’s a headache.”
“This isn’t something we can solve just by smashing everything.”
“The religious order that hired us won’t just stand by and let us, either.”
“We need to complete the raid while keeping the dungeon as intact as possible for future use.”
“It’s certainly a dungeon with a lot of plants that seem useful…”
“It would be a waste to destroy it.”
The poisons in this dungeon were all fast-acting and highly lethal. If they could be extracted and distributed, it would bring in a massive income. With diligent analysis, they could even be used to create antidotes.
“In this day and age, poisons and medicines are incredibly valuable.”
At Jeong Young-won’s words, the Hunters’ gazes briefly shifted to Seo Gio.
“Do you have something to say to me?”
“Ah, no. I’m sorry, I just momentarily…”
“I understand. The medicine I gave you must have been exceptionally effective,” Giovanni said with a divine smile. “Please offer your gratitude to the Sun.”
“O-of course…!”
A few people were starting to think, ‘Something’s a little off about him.’ But Gio wasn’t worried. He had the kind of blissfully clear mind that never borrowed trouble.
Instead, Kang Seo-dam did the worrying for him.
“…”
Unable to hide his stiff expression, Kang Seo-dam eventually let out a small sigh and nodded.
“…It’s shameful to say this when there have been so many casualties, but it’s true that we wish to keep the dungeon as intact as possible. That was also specified in the contract.”
“Yes, I remember. Don’t worry, Priest.”
“Fortunately, we’ve figured out the dungeon’s overall story and found our clues. The important thing now is how to clear this dungeon peacefully. First, let’s think about the clear conditions this dungeon requires.”
Clear conditions varied from dungeon to dungeon. Sometimes you had to resolve the final boss’s deep-seated grudge, sometimes you had to solve a specific riddle, and sometimes you just had to open a particular door and escape.
“Hmm, if we just kill all the monsters in this dungeon… wouldn’t the Tree of Life feel a bit better? From the sounds of it, it got stabbed in the back multiple times. It must hold a grudge, right?”
“If that were the clear condition, it wouldn’t be solved with just one subjugation. We’d have to come back multiple times, wouldn’t we? And what if the Tree of Life resolves its grudge and just dissolves the dungeon?”
“True, it might feel satisfied and just let go. Ah, then what are we supposed to do? Should we just gently… dig up those tiny trees and move them somewhere else?”
“If we try to move them, we’ll probably all get slaughtered by rampaging monsters. Everyone’s exhausted just from figuring out the lore. Isn’t there a gentler way? Now that we know the story, isn’t there a better method?”
At that, Gio stepped forward.
“What if the heat here were to subside?”
“Excuse me? The heat?”
“Then the Monsters of the Day would fall asleep, and we could just deal with the Night Monsters.”
“Uh… so what Hunter Seo Gio is saying is…”
Before the other Hunters could finish, Sa Na-rae tilted his head and asked, “The carrot instead of the stick?”
“It was the warm sunshine, not the cold wind, that made the traveler take off his coat,” Gio replied smoothly.
“Though this dungeon is currently driven mad because of that very sunshine.”
“Peace brings about helplessness far more effectively than pain.”
Creatures struggle in pain, but they fall asleep in peace. Most living things were like that.
“If the Tree of Life simply wanted to protect its family, we just need to let it do exactly that. It only ever wanted to build a safe and comfortable nest for its beloved family.”
The tree supporting this dungeon wasn’t even aggressive, except when its small saplings were touched.
“Then the dungeon would be preserved as well, wouldn’t it?”
“Certainly, if this place becomes a decent nursery, but…” the Hunters asked with complicated expressions. “How would that even be possible? We might be able to drop by and clear out monsters whenever we have time, but driving out all the heat in this dungeon… it’s just too vast.”
“Exactly. Maybe we could manage if we destroyed the fake sun, but if we destroy the entire environment—the sun, the moon, and everything else—the plants growing here will be ruined too.”
“Sucking out just the heat won’t be easy. It’s not something one or two people who can handle magic or holy power can do. I mean, of course it would be a great method if it were possible…”
At that, Gio asked, “Would it work if there were multiple people?”
“Uh, pardon?”
“People who can absorb heat, I mean.”
“…Are there people like that?”
At that point, Kang Seo-dam chimed in.
“Priests of the Sun can fundamentally manipulate heat. However, my capacity is at most equivalent to about ten buildings, and this young priest’s capacity is about the size of a single large tree.”
“Aren’t there other Priests of the Sun here as well?”
“If my knowledge is correct, the number of remaining brothers, including us, is six. We alone are not enough. But if the mages join forces with us, it might be possible to some extent.”
After a moment of contemplation, he continued. “We also have artifacts.”
Artifacts that absorbed heat were patented products of the Sun Cult. Since they had brought a large quantity for this dungeon, which had been reported as hot, it didn’t seem like they would be entirely useless.
“But even so, we can’t drive out all the heat. As long as that sun doesn’t disappear, there’s nothing we can do. And even if we wanted to eliminate the sun, there’s no way to do it, and the blow to our side would be severe. We wouldn’t be able to maintain the dungeon, either…”
Kang Seo-dam asked, “What are your thoughts, Hunter Seo Gio?”
“First, let me share one of my theories.”
“Yes, please go ahead.”
“It feels like a sauna in here, doesn’t it?”
“…It does.”
“The humidity is high.”
“Indeed.”
“Why do you think that is?”
“…” Kang Seo-dam answered. “Because it rains a lot?”
“It doesn’t rain that frequently.”
“It did rain quite heavily in a short span of time, but… yes, I see.”
“That couldn’t possibly generate such suffocating humidity.”
It was a level of humidity that would be difficult for anyone but a Hunter to endure. It felt like trying to breathe with a wet cloth pressed against your face. There was no way such immense humidity could be created by just a few downpours.
“Which means there is another water source.”
“I thought so, too.”
Gio pointed at the trees. “The trees in this dungeon are very large.”
“They are.”
“Their roots must be massive, too, right?”
“…And deep?”
“Could they have grown this large if the only water they had to drink was the occasional rain?”
“Since it’s a dungeon, there might have been other factors, but that makes sense.”
“I believe there might be a massive body of water sleeping beneath this ground.”
“A massive body of water.”
“Yes,” Giovanni said with a smile. “Since I have a lot of connections to water, I feel strangely confident about this.”
“…Ah…”
At this point, it was practically a divine prophecy.
‘Should I be glad he’s telling us in such a kind manner?’
Pressing his lips together against a wave of strange exhaustion, Kang Seo-dam soon asked, “Then, if we draw up that massive water source…”
“The Tree of Life will be able to catch its breath a bit.”
“And the time the moon stays up will become longer as well.”
“First, we must confirm if there really is water, and if there is a way to draw it up.”
“Wouldn’t we find out if we just pulled out an entire tree?”
“…Yes, well… I suppose so.”
I’m sorry, but I’d rather you didn’t expect such miracles from mere humans.
“…” Taking a deep breath, Kang Seo-dam continued. “Let’s sort things out one by one, step by step.”
They still had plenty of food, and there was no shortage of talented individuals.
“If it looks like it’s going to take too long, we can simply transition this into a long-term expedition.”
“Does it absolutely have to take that long?”
“Ah, did I mishear you?”
“If you’ll allow me, I’ll start by taking care of the heat.”
Saying so, Gio lifted the hem of his cloak.
“…”
“Dana.”
From the deeply submerged shadow, a cat meowed.
“Meow.”