Chapter 166
Chapter 166
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 166
Chapter Title: Guardians of the World Tree (1)
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Melissa shot up from her jade throne like an exploding ember.
"Which way!"
"Pardon?"
"Which way! The side with the severed branch! South or north?!"
"W-Well..."
"South or north! Cut the crap and tell me right now!"
Her red hair flared like crimson flames, and furious mana blazed around her. The intense volcanic heat scorched the entire hall, curling every leaf black.
The elderly elf recoiled in shock. He'd never seen the woman this agitated before. Even with his seasoned composure, it was hard to stay calm. Clutching his pounding heart, he hurried to answer before he went up in flames alive.
"S-South, my lady! South! Precisely the second branch from the south, the World Tree's branch at the heart of the 'Forest of Reverie'—it's been severed! Cough, cough..."
No sooner had he finished than the oppressive heat dominating the space dissipated.
Melissa slumped back onto the throne. The boiling rage that could have incinerated the world faded into hollow emptiness. All that remained was a powdery sorrow, ground to ash and endlessly chewed over.
"The south... That's not where humans live... No way it came from that direction... The north branch, it should have been the north one that broke... Why not the north..."
"..."
Her voice mingled dry sobs with feeble sighs. The elf held his breath, prostrating himself flat. Like a bird with its head buried in the dirt, he waited powerlessly for the storm's aftermath to subside without a sound.
Unfortunately, that hope went unfulfilled.
Snap!
――――――――― Whoosh!
A finger snap echoed, and a streak of flame flickered.
The elf jolted upright in alarm. The afterimage of a shooting star-like fiery tail stretched from right before the throne to the distant horizon.
"M-Melissa, what was that just now..."
"...I also cleared out a few of the World Tree branches planted in the north. On second thought, I figured we'd need an entrance here too."
"..."
The elf gaped in stunned silence.
Burning such a distant spot from her seat? No, even worse—removing divine relics that had guarded against intruders for centuries, just for that reason? Didn't that leave this place defenselessly exposed to outsiders beyond the great forest?
A flurry of thoughts raced through his mind in an instant. But he voiced none of them. His survival thus far had come from knowing when to hold his tongue and read the room.
"Th-Then I'll dispatch guardians and patrols to bolster the northern borders for the time being. Just give the order on whom to send..."
"...Handle that yourself and get out. Don't wake me again until there's word from the north."
"Y-Yes, understood... Thank you for your mercy, and I sincerely apologize once more, Keeper of the World Tree."
The old elf bowed until his forehead touched the ground, then fled the chamber as fast as he could.
A hollow silence followed in his wake.
Left alone, Melissa sat motionless like a broken puppet doll. Her gaze drifted upward wistfully. The hall's lush ceiling held majestic, translucent orbs dangling like celestial fruits.
On their surface shimmered the silhouette of a giant awaiting only her, backdropped by golden fields, like a dream haze.
Kadim's group was still steeped in dazed afterglow.
Glances flicked from this side, then that. Unable to bear it, Kadim snapped.
"...If you have something to say, spit it out. Stop skulking around like rats with side-eye."
"..."
"..."
Duncan and Ilenia flinched and averted their eyes.
They had mountains of words piled in their throats, but none dared cross their lips. They could only ruminated on the indescribable awe once more. Recalling the miraculous sight of that warrior severing the massive branch—'a part of the divine'—with a single axe blow laced with a sandstorm.
The Forest of Reverie had returned to an ordinary woodland. Though the sandstorm had razed the vegetation... compared to before, it was certainly mundane now.
No need to feel alienated by the alien environment, fret over illusions, or dull their senses with drink. Kadim hid the agony from the relic's backlash, so the group's march quickened dramatically.
They covered two days' distance in half a day. The guide wiped his dry face and unrolled the map.
"Well, despite all the twists and turns... we're almost there. At this pace, we'll reach the destination, the 'forest's heart,' in two days."
"..."
"My instincts tell me... sigh... that's where the 'archmage' you're seeking will be."
Duncan shuddered and shot a puzzled look, wondering how he knew. Kadim, meanwhile, hardened his lips stoically. The moment to decide had arrived.
Whether to keep traveling with this woman or shake her off here.
Before deciding, there was something to confirm.
As early evening fell, he made an excuse and slipped away with only Duncan. Confirming the archaeologist's absence with a glance, Duncan reported what he'd pieced together.
"...I carried out your orders successfully, milord. I checked her bag without her noticing."
"Good. Did you find anything suspicious inside?"
"Y-Yes... I did, but... well, how to explain it..."
Duncan hesitated, then pulled out the Shadow Mantle.
"S-Something like this mantle... fabric..."
"...?"
"Yes, nothing else special... but under the ancient scrolls, there was a ton of 'pitch-black fabric' just like this mantle. So much that no matter how much I pulled out, it never ended..."
The bridge of the warrior's nose twitched.
Was that all? Yes, that was it. Did he empty it all? No, it was too big. Kadim pondered silently, then pressed for the exact details of that day.
"Pardon? Oh, well... after you left, milord, she suddenly started chugging booze like it was water, right? Got totally wasted and started mumbling to herself..."
"..."
After hearing it all, Kadim returned to camp with Duncan.
Ilenia waited with a simple meal ready: dried meat and veggies stewed in wine. The chunks tasted like musty dust, but the good wine made it palatable.
As sharp silence hung after eating, Ilenia said offhandedly.
"Oh, mercenary? That 'Silver Coin of the Fallen Kingdom' you took before—mind lending it for a bit? Got something to study..."
"..."
The relic infused with the Forgotten God's holy power, the Silver Coin of the Fallen Kingdom.
It enabled dark rites and granted resistance just by holding it. Ilenia's intent was surely one of two things.
Using dark rites for trickery, or creating a hideout like last time.
But with the 'Aculanos Tattoo' and 'Atala's Relic,' countering dark rites was now possible. A perfect chance to probe her intentions. Kadim gripped his axe handle with one hand, handed over the coin with the other.
Thinking everything would come to a head tonight.
"[O primordial darkness, buried in the light that deludes all things, forgotten even in name... Do not forsake your servants who wander this land bearing the pain of lost homeland...]"
⟨ Passage of the Forgotten ⟩
The priest of the Forgotten God used the Silver Coin of the Fallen Kingdom to open a passage to another place.
Hummm―
A hideout filled with impenetrable darkness.
Gazing at this space still evoked an inexplicable sense of familiarity. As if to prove it wasn't a trap, Ilenia stepped forward first. Following her in, she lit a faint candle-like flame and bowed demurely.
"Forgive my past rudeness, Kadim. It was unavoidable to evade the 'Watching Eye.' I meant to set up this hideout quickly and relay the message, but circumstances forced a hasty arrival, so preparations are only now complete."
"..."
At least this proved she wasn't up to no good with the loaned coin.
But she'd already pulled one trick. Kadim stared at the woman, shedding her frivolous mask for an impassive true face.
"You fooled Duncan nicely."
"..."
"This is your real self, isn't it? Not some reckless archaeologist. If you'd truly lost your senses that drunk, you wouldn't babble—you'd sit stone-faced like this."
After Duncan's report, Kadim had concluded as much.
She knew her bag was targeted. So she hid the real contents deep, covering them with black fabric. And that day, she faked drunkenness to give Duncan an opening. No one would doubt items checked and pulled out themselves.
Her thin lips quivered. Joy? Frustration? Ilenia flashed an ambiguous smile.
"You caught on. But I wasn't entirely sober—I dulled my senses enough to lose touch with reality. Nearly let Duncan slip by."
"...His presence?"
"Yes. Though I was puzzled. Even drunk, it's odd I'd miss not just him, but the Shadow Mantle—a holy relic—as a servant of that god..."
She then asked about the 'transparent dagger' Duncan now used and its origin. Kadim said it came from slaying a shady mercenary tied to the underworld in Duncan's hometown.
"Then it must be a blade from a 'Night Raven sect' follower in league with the underworld, passed to that mercenary somehow, then to Duncan. Such coincidence can't be chance. It seems no one in our group escaped the Forgotten God's notice."
Kadim stirred faintly.
That meant not just him and Ilenia—Duncan too had some tie to the Forgotten God. True, for a mere merchant, his presence was eerily faint. Merchants thrive by drawing crowds and eyes, after all...
But Duncan wasn't the priority now. Kadim nodded lightly to refocus.
"Anyway, sorry for rummaging without permission. But now we're beyond Elga's gaze, so time to reveal what you've hidden."
What she'd packed in that bag, who severed the divine branch to breach the Forest of Reverie, why she insisted on seeing the dragon.
Did the Forgotten God cult view Melissa as the scourge to slay?
Ilenia's tale began with the dragon.
"Rapustran... the last dragon left in this world, essentially. The others perished entirely in the 'Night of Heavenly Punishment'—the cataclysm that closed the mythic age."
... 'Night of Heavenly Punishment'?
An unfamiliar event popped up right away. Ilenia pressed on without explaining.
"You've met Rapustran before, haven't you, Kadim? 300 years ago, on your first journey."
"...Yeah."
On that quest to rescue a bratty young lord from the dragon.
"Then did you perhaps... ask him for aid against the 'Great Demon' about to ravage the world and end it all?"
"..."
"...Only to be flatly refused."
True enough.
After barely surviving a wager with the dragon and saving his skin, Kadim had pleaded desperately. A dragon, strongest creature on earth—its power would make slaying the Great Demon feasible. Impossible in the game system, but in this real-turned-game world, no limits on actions.
Yet the dragon rejected him outright.
Not from doubt. Even believed, it refused.
"As you might guess from that... Rapustran shuns worldly affairs utterly. Even if the world might end, he won't intervene unless doom is truly imminent. Likely scarred from his kin's helpless slaughter in the 'Night of Heavenly Punishment.'"
As he opened his mouth to finally ask what the 'Night of Heavenly Punishment' was, Ilenia dropped a bombshell.
"Yet 100 years ago, Rapustran fought a deathmatch here in this forest against 'someone.'"
"...!"
"And suffered a crushing defeat... grievous wounds."
Ripples spread in the warrior's eyes.
Green as he was then, just brushing a fragment of that power nearly killed him. For such a dragon to lose? No—to even feel so threatened as to stake its life?
Only one being came to mind who could enable that here.
"The dragon couldn't go all-out for some reason... but defeat is defeat. To heal, it secluded for ages. Meanwhile, the victor over the supreme being ascended to omnipotence, bending all to their will."
"..."
"But this time... the outcome will differ. Alone, even you'd struggle against them... but with the dragon's help, it'll change."
Impossible alone, but with the mightiest ally...
Impossible alone, but with the strongest supporter...
"...With the 'Supreme Being' and the 'Warrior of Revelation' joined... even a 'great mage' transcending mortal bounds can't withstand."
Ilenia's eyes gleamed resolute. Kneeling with utter sincerity, she pleaded with gut-wrenching desperation.
"Thus, O Warrior of Revelation stained in blood... who defiles this land and will one day topple the halo in the heavens..."
"..."
"Please join with the dragon... to stop the great mage 'Melissa,' once the ancient blaze that saved the world, now a conflagration consuming it."
Pure darkness, even the candle's afterimage extinguished, settled on the warrior's face.