Shedding Yggdrasil
The brown shell that had covered it was cast off, replaced by a layer of ashen bark.
Blisters rose across the roots, vines, and the entire tree.
They writhed, then burst open with pus as something forced its way out.
It was an arm. A leg. A human body.
The grotesque sight brought the entire raid team to a halt.
“……I thought I’d seen everything after watching gates fuse in real time. Guess I was wrong.”
“……Same here.”
“……What the actual fuck.”
Eight hours.
That was how long it had taken to shrink that cursed tree that once blotted out the sky down to the size of an apartment building.
And the moment they did, it changed again?
The raid team’s eyes turned upward.
At the very top of the monstrous World Tree, a being flapped its wings.
A scarab made entirely of eyeballs.
Para, the Legion Commander of Despair.
The creature was laughing, as if mocking the humans below.
Look at these humans staring up at me with such despairing faces. How delightful.
So scream for me, humans. Entertain me.
Kkikikik—!
Para laughed as it slipped back into the World Tree.
Then Yggdrasil—no, now Para—opened mouths that had sprouted along its trunk and roared. The roots, stems, and branches all trembled as if in ecstasy.
“Hoo……”
“Ptooey……”
Once the monster shell was gone, an even more monstrous monster appeared…….
No one said it out loud, but they were all falling into despair—until a calm voice rang in their ears and steadied their hearts.
“Snap out of it. How long are you going to stand there like idiots, just staring?”
……They weren’t giving up.
Sanwang’s voice remained calm as he scolded them.
It was understandable for their will to falter after everything they’d endured, or because of the horrific sight that was too disgusting to even speak of.
But don’t forget.
“……This is an 8-Level Gate. The opponent is an 8-Level boss. This much is to be expected. Did you really think this would be the end? If so, you have no conscience.”
Get your heads straight.
At Sanwang’s rebuke, the raid team’s expressions returned to normal. Cold, warrior-like faces.
Yes. That’s it. Those are my comrades.
Sanwang smiled inwardly with satisfaction and once again seized control of the battlefield.
“We’re resuming combat. If you can’t get your shit together, I’ll kick your asses. Understood?”
“Yes!!”
The raid team reformed their formation and re-entered the fight.
They continued their assault in perfect sync with Sanwang’s commands, just as they had before.
All the while, Sanwang’s eyes remained fixed on the ashen World Tree.
It’s not the World Tree we’re fighting. It’s been cursed or corrupted somehow. And there must be something interfering with it…….
That was what Lee Shin had told him.
Vita nodded as if in agreement. Her eyes burned with rage. For the World Tree’s guardian spirit to be this furious…….
That scarab is controlling it.
The scarab made of eyeballs—Para, the Legion Commander of Despair.
Of course, Sanwang had no way of knowing the name “Para.” He wasn’t an old monster like Lee Shin, nor could he see status windows.
But the countless data stored in Sanwang’s mind extracted the most critical information.
If it really is a parasitic monster like I suspect, its stamina and defense must be pathetically weak.
In fact, when the raid team had fallen into despair earlier, Sanwang’s eyes had actually lit up.
Because the creature had blatantly revealed itself as a parasitic type.
From all the data he had analyzed, he had never once seen a parasitic monster with decent base stats.
If we can just pin down its location, we can end this in one strike.
The problem was that it clearly wouldn’t stay still. This was an 8-Level Gate, after all.
Just like how Ancient Golems, Krakens, and King Slimes constantly moved their vulnerable cores, that scarab would surely keep moving inside the World Tree to protect itself.
It was an eerily accurate assessment.
But judgment was one thing—execution was another.
It was easy to say, but finding Para as it freely moved inside the World Tree and pinning it down was nearly impossible.
That was exactly why Para was acting so relaxed.
After all, any attack would only hit the shell.
Beating on the World Tree like this was meaningless if the main body wasn’t taking damage.
In the end, the stupid humans would be the ones to tire out first. And when that happened, they would fall back into despair.
As if echoing that very thought, the corpses sprouting everywhere began to laugh in unison—kkikikik.
But Para didn’t know.
That there was already someone here who could turn the impossible into reality.
The figure standing beside Sanwang, leaning on crutches.
“Baek Yeon-woo.”
Hadn’t Park Su-bin once said that his very existence was a cheat?
Baek Yeon-woo’s existence was a miracle.
“Can you see it?”
“……”
Baek Yeon-woo’s sky-blue pupils contracted.
The miraculous eyes that could read attack trajectories, analyze magic arrays, and even learn from an enemy’s experience.
Heavenly Eye.
Baek Yeon-woo’s Cheon-an scanned the World Tree and, sure enough, located the scarab crawling around inside it.
“I see it.”
“Can you pin it down?”
Simply locating it was already a miracle, but the most important task still remained.
He had to break through the fierce battlefield, approach the main body, and immobilize it so it couldn’t move. It might even be more insane than simply seeing it.
Yet Baek Yeon-woo simply raised his sharp eyelashes and asked arrogantly,
“Can I kill it?”
“……”
Sanwang stared down at the provocative answer.
What filled those mysterious sky-blue eyes was stubbornness—and absolute certainty.
“Hahaha.”
Well, I did think the kid that arrogant bastard brought seemed too normal…… Guess I was right.
This guy was just as much of a lunatic.
Kkik. Sanwang, covering his face as his shoulders shook with laughter, finally spoke.
“Fine. Kill it.”
The moment permission was granted, Baek Yeon-woo broke into a bright smile.
Like a fox that had found delicious prey. Truly delighted, Baek Yeon-woo shot forward at terrifying speed.
By the time the crutches he’d kicked away stopped rolling on the ground, he had already entered the battlefield.
The moment he joined the fight, attacks came flying at him.
He dodged the shooting vines by a hair’s breadth. A simple shift of weight using his waist deflected the strikes. The spores exploding beneath his feet were avoided with a tumbling roll.
Fast. Agile. Fluid.
More like a beast following pure instinct than a rational human.
With incredibly stylish and refreshing movements, Baek Yeon-woo weaved through the attacks and raced toward the center of the battlefield.
But then.
“……Huh……?”
Sanwang’s expression changed.
The man who had been laughing cheerfully just moments ago now stared at Baek Yeon-woo’s movements with his jaw dropped in shock. For someone who rarely showed surprise, this was extremely unusual.
But it couldn’t be helped.
“Wait, is that……?”
The natural footwork that used the neck and lower body to control acceleration and direction while keeping the arms relaxed.
It was a movement technique Sanwang knew…… no, one he knew all too well.
The stance that completely abandoned defense in pursuit of extreme agility and offensive power.
“Ma…… Jang-dong?”
It was none other than the movement technique of his former comrade.
It was the footwork of Tuwang Ma Jang-dong.
「Genius」 (SSS)
: Talent bestowed by the heavens. Perfectly learns and internalizes memories observed through ‘Heavenly Eye.’ Connects them to muscles and sensory organs for perfect implementation. Implementation rate varies based on the user’s proficiency and physical ability.
It was a monstrous talent that far surpassed even the “Griff” that Lee Shin had once known.
This genius who laughed in the face of Lee Shin’s carefully defined boundaries between learned martial artists and instinct-driven ones.
This was Lee Shin’s final arrangement.
There was no stopping him now.
Baek Yeon-woo broke through the battlefield so swiftly that even his comrades flinched.
For this moment, he was the protagonist of the battlefield.
Even Para, who had been inside the World Tree, noticed Baek Yeon-woo’s presence at that exact moment. How could it not, when those eyes were staring so intently?
Those blue eyes were dangerous.
The instant it realized this, all priorities shifted. The World Tree screamed as it fired its vines.
A tangled mass of vines came rushing in—
—only to be struck down by tree stumps that suddenly sprouted from the opposite side. They were Sanwang’s stumps.
“Change of plans. From now on, we go all-out.”
Sanwang had instinctively realized it.
That Baek Yeon-woo’s “Can I kill it?” was not an empty question.
That kid could actually kill it. They could end this battle right here.
The moment he realized it was an opportunity, Sanwang’s eyes changed completely.
“Everyone, take the awakening agents.”
At Sanwang’s order, the raid team swallowed the awakening agents without hesitation.
An S-rank awakening agent that increased all stats by 1.5 times for 30 minutes, but caused the user to retire for an hour afterward.
There was no retreat. This battle would end here, no matter what.
“From now on, everything will be twice as fast. Keep up, all of you.”
The raid team’s speed increased dramatically. Their attacks, now on a completely different level, hammered the World Tree. Its shell was shredded like it had been thrown into a blender.
“Baek Yeon-woo, show us everything you’ve got. The outcome of this battle rests on you.”
Some people crumbled under pressure. Others thrived on it. Baek Yeon-woo clearly belonged to the latter.
A smile rose on his characteristically pale face.
“In that case.”
I’ll play to my heart’s content.
Baek Yeon-woo had just reached the attack range of the roots.
He reached into his subspace pouch and pulled something out.
A crude, black lump of metal.
Sanwang, who saw the object from afar, burst into roaring laughter. That arrogant brat—did he really bring that thing too?!
It was only natural. Sanwang had never imagined he would see that brutish weapon again.
It was the weapon Tuwang had used in his early days.
◈ One day, a young man found a sword deep in the forest. It was as dark as pitch blackness, and its blade—made of steel and obsidian—was heavy and weighty. The sword spoke to the young man: ‘Shut up and kill.’
Baek Yeon-woo rested Muksal on his shoulder. Just like Tuwang once had.
It was a crude stance that had once been mocked by the swordsmen of prestigious families as lacking foundation. Yet in his prime, Tuwang had conquered the world with that very same unrefined posture.
He spun to avoid the flying roots. He leaped like a beast to dodge the descending ones. When three or four roots attacked at once—
Swish—!
He soared into the air and spun like a top.
Slice—!
The severed roots writhed like earthworms before going still. By then, Baek Yeon-woo was already far ahead.
He never stopped for even a second.
Attack and movement were always simultaneous. Defense? Throw it to the dogs. The best defense was to blow the enemy’s head off.
Of course, Para wasn’t stupid enough to just sit and watch.
The moment it first drew on its magic power, the mouths on the World Tree howled.
In that instant, a wave of black magic power spread out from the World Tree.
Where that wave touched the ground, massive corpse golems began to rise.
Now it was even summoning minions.
One might complain that this was going too far, but Baek Yeon-woo only smiled. On the contrary, he seemed to enjoy it as he sped up even more.
Grrrrraaaaaaaaah—!
Roots filled the sky while house-sized corpse golems charged from the ground. At that moment, Yu Ri-ra’s sniping shots struck the golems, and the half-body of the giant summoned by Park Su-bin blocked the roots.
“Yeon-woo!”
“Clear the path!”
Park Su-bin ran ahead to guard Baek Yeon-woo’s front. At the same time, the giant’s half-body swung its fists like crazy, smashing away the incoming roots and golems.
Then roots burst up from the altar itself.
Para, sensing danger, had doubled the number of roots.
But this side had roots too.
──────!
Vita let out a cry filled with rage. At the same time, tree trunks surged upward like a tidal wave and tangled with the enemy’s expanded roots.
And that wasn’t the end. Thousands of spirits rained down from above in a bombing run.
The raid team’s magic, Yu Ri-ra’s sniping, Sanwang’s tree trunks, and the spirit bombardment.
The creature let out a bizarre shriek that no one had heard before.
It had finally realized.
That these humans were not mere toys. That its own life was in danger.
It unleashed gloomy magic power, and the World Tree activated that pattern.
Fwaaaah!
Letters sparkled all over its trunk—this time in a different ashen color.
Then the magic power was sucked into the World Tree.
The time needed to gather magic power: 20 seconds.
They had to choose. Advance, or retreat?
Their choice was to push forward.
“Baek Yeon-woo!”
“Over there!”
The place Baek Yeon-woo pointed to was the very top.
Confirmed.
When Park Su-bin nodded, the half-body of the milky-white giant extended its palm. Baek Yeon-woo naturally stepped onto it, and the giant swung its arm, hurling him with tremendous force.
Baek Yeon-woo soared into the sky.
He closed the distance in a single breath.
However.
Thud.
A vine that had been shot out grazed him. Before he could reach the top, he lost momentum and began to fall…….
“Kick.”
At that moment, Para met his gaze.
Baek Yeon-woo was staring straight at it—and smiling.
“Got you, you son of a bitch.”
A dagger brushed past Para’s side.
Kang Han-bi’sTarget Moving activated.
Defying gravity, Baek Yeon-woo moved to the dagger’s location and drove Muksal deep into the trunk where the creature was hiding.
Kyeeeeeeeeeeek—!!
Para screamed as it was impaled by Muksal. Baek Yeon-woo released the sword with a look of regret.
……I couldn’t kill it.
His body fell helplessly. After pushing his mobility to the absolute limit, every circuit in his body had shut down.
At this height, falling like this could be dangerous.
That was when it happened.
Kim Yu-shin sprinted up a vertically rising trunk, caught the falling Baek Yeon-woo, and fled to the opposite side.
“Good work.”
“……I couldn’t kill it.”
“The rest is up to Sir Sanwang.”
At Kim Yu-shin’s words, Baek Yeon-woo—still in his arms—looked toward where Sanwang had been waiting.
And smiled.
A rainbow.
A seven-colored rainbow had unfolded around Sanwang.
The powers of life were gathering around him.
Sanwang was drawing the string of the Elden Bow that he had obtained just days ago.
And nocked on that string was an arrow with a sprouting leaf.
It was Vita, transformed into an arrow.
“I can’t lose to the kids, can I?”
Vita sparkled in response for a brief moment.
The Elden Bow began to wither. It was having its spirit power drained by Vita in real time.
The moment the Elden Bow turned to dust and disappeared, the bowstring was released.
A single line drawn from the ground to the sky.
It was a seven-colored rainbow. The rainbow shone brilliantly.
It passed straight through Para, who was still impaled on Muksal, and continued into the distant sky beyond.
·
·
The ashen sky regained its original blue hue.
* * *
·
·
And at that very moment.
“Wait a second!!”
Lee Shin, who had come running from far away, dove straight into the dispersing pile of World Tree debris. He flailed his hands around as if searching for something, then—
—his expression suddenly brightened.
“Found it!”
What he held in his hand as he stood up was a fruit.
A bright red, mouth-wateringly delicious-looking fruit.
“You idiot, you can’t just—”
“Shh.”
“??”
Lee Shin muttered while staring into empty air.
Sanwang mimicked the shape of his mouth in confusion at the bizarre behavior.
“……Enhance?”
Enhance what?
While Sanwang tilted his head, Lee Shin turned to him with a refreshed expression and held out the fruit.
“Eat it. Quickly.”
“Hey, item distribution should be—”
“Hey! Eat it right now!!”
“Uh…….”
Overwhelmed by Lee Shin’s forcefulness, Sanwang accepted the fruit.
And took a bite.
Crunch.