Chapter 219
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 219
Chapter Title: Facing the Demon Tree
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"I am Leon Cascadia of House Cascadia."
"That’s not…… what I’m asking."
He pressed his fingers firmly against his furrowed brow.
"I may distrust humans, but I’m not ignorant of them. You…… possess a power that no human—no, no young human—should have. Far too great a power."
"I hear that a lot. For now, could you grab my arm?"
"Your arm?"
"The Demon Tree is hidden deep within. So we’ll deliberately provoke it."
"Didn’t you just say not to touch it?"
"If I touch it alone, I won’t be able to find it. So from now on, stay close to me if possible."
His eyes widened as he grasped my meaning.
[Fire Ball]
A tiny flaming orb ignited at my fingertips.
The surface of the red sphere rippled with massive bands of fire, like solar flares from the sun, undulating slowly and smoothly.
It looked like an infinitely small sphere, but the phenomena it caused were anything but trivial.
"[Ignite.]"
Shwaaa……
The fireball shot forward in an instant, but no explosion followed.
Instead, it incinerated everything it touched, evaporating it utterly.
-Kiiiiiiiek!!!!
"Urk! What heat……."
"Stay sharp. As I explained earlier, if you can’t properly suppress your impulses, you’ll just keep getting swept away."
Carnivorous plants catch insects by exploiting their impulses.
They lure them in with irresistible scents, drawing them into their maws before snapping shut to devour them.
Suddenly, the surrounding space warped with a burst of brilliant light, twisting the coordinates.
We were being forcibly teleported into the creature’s hunting grounds.
Thanks to the faint mana currents I’d created around me to resist its random spatial distortion field, we transferred to the same location without scattering.
But this was no serene, empty void like before.
"Urp…… What in the world is……."
No smell assaulted the senses, yet nausea welled up inescapably.
The cave walls pulsed with violet slime, throbbing like a heartbeat.
And deep within that twisted cavern stretched a vibrant flower field.
At its center stood a white tree, so beautiful at first glance that it stole the breath.
I’d expected it to toss us into some random void like last time. But it seemed the Demon Tree needed substantial nutrients after all.
Judging by how it was already gearing up for a meal.
"How could such a sacred tree exist in this horrific, filthy space……."
I grabbed the Romilla family head as he instinctively moved toward the tree.
Typical elf, obsessed with trees.
I scanned our surroundings to assess the situation.
The Demon Tree matched what I knew.
But the nearby slime was different.
Everything here was unfamiliar.
One thing was clear, though.
Those tentacle-like protrusions lining the entire cave were connected to the tree, channeling considerable power to it.
Fortunately, the slime itself lacked any apparent defenses.
For now, I held back the Romilla family head, who was drawn to the tree like a moth to flame.
"Snap out of it. Forgot what I said?"
"Khup!!"
"Can you fight?"
"……As much as needed."
"See those tentacles?"
"Yes. We sever them?"
"Better to eliminate variables. Cut every single tentacle in this cave. Can you manage?"
"……If those dared attack Mother Forest and torment the World Tree, I’d gladly lay down my life."
He nocked an arrow to his bowstring.
Tzztztztz……
In response, I drew my spirit sword from my subspace and stepped toward the Demon Tree.
"While I fight the tree, you sever every tentacle."
"That’s all?"
"Yes."
Spinning my spirit sword Electra, I assumed a stance and amplified the aura surging through my body.
Then I charged swiftly at the Demon Tree.
It appeared utterly defenseless—a beautiful, motionless tree.
But I wasn’t falling for that again.
Looks could deceive; with the right conditions, this thing could devour dozens of Sword Masters effortlessly.
The moment my form entered the flower field strewn across the floor.
The tree’s trunk twisted with a grotesque crunch!.
At the same time, its hidden back side was revealed.
"Hup!?"
The Romilla family head’s startled cry echoed.
Small wonder.
The front was a pristine, beautiful white tree.
But the back…… was something else entirely.
Jet-black in hue.
Horribly contorted in form.
And covering its surface: countless unidentified faces.
They resembled humans trapped within, writhing and screaming to escape.
Opposite the deceptively beautiful side lay this nightmarish visage, hidden away.
And that was the Demon Tree’s true form.
Simply gazing upon it inflicted a horrifying mental curse, but I had some immunity, and the Romilla family head endured thanks to the mental barrier spell I’d cast—barely avoiding death.
Shriiiing!!!
Soon, its rotten branches stirred.
Like living whips, they lunged from all directions—but they didn’t target me.
Instead, they coiled around the surroundings.
"Even with those weird things attached, old habits die hard."
I shouted as I eyed the branches forming a massive circular enclosure, like a giant plant prison.
"Family Head Romilla!!"
He flinched, glancing at me while slicing tentacles with arrows and daggers.
"You!!"
"Don’t think—just cut them all. Understood?"
I could see his eyes wavering.
"If you fail, the elves all die."
The Demon Tree’s trickiest trait?
It shed all spatial constraints.
It lured prey with bait before teleporting them.
No way it lacked teleportation itself.
But its spatial transfer differed slightly from standard magic.
More akin to an innate ability.
Utterly divine in scope, yet not quite a true divine power.
At least this confirmed something.
The cultists who wielded Demon Trees weren’t directly involved here.
Sssss……
The transferred space was hellish scenery incarnate.
An endless river of molten lava.
Sparse rock pillars jutting from it.
Magma streams dripping from fissures in the solid rock ceiling.
This place existed, yet didn’t.
The Demon Tree’s camouflage, essentially.
The extreme environment was its digestive juices.
By now, the Romilla family head likely saw only the tightly wound sphere of branches enveloping me.
No outside interference possible from here, nor inward.
That’s why I’d left the violet tentacles to him.
Lifting my gaze, I spotted the massive pillar and the enormous disk-like stone platform atop it, where the tree rested.
The sole difference: violet tentacles protruding from tiny spatial rifts around the tree, injecting something eerie into it.
I didn’t know the mechanism, but it was sustaining power despite the shifted space.
The screaming faces studding its surface grinned sinisterly at me in unison.
Simultaneously, multicolored buds bloomed upward along its body.
They seemed innocuous, but full bloom meant game over.
Silent mockery preceded its elongated branches lashing at me.
Each whip cracked past the sound barrier effortlessly—clearly wood, yet impossibly tough and sharp.
Aura blades barely severed them; even Sword Masters struggled.
Dozens unrelentingly assaulting? Terrifying.
But to it, I was an unknown foe.
To me? A tiresomely familiar one.
Whirlic!!!
Branches coiled around my body and swung to decapitate me filled my vision.
No sign yet of interference from those violet tentacles.
"Sheesh. World Trees, Demon Trees, Fallen Petals……."
A chuckle escaped me.
The Demon Tree seemed merely grotesque at a glance, but it was undeniably far more dangerous than it appeared.
Yet to me, it was just a familiar enemy.
[The Demon Tree is an extremely dangerous entity. Full preparation recommended.]
"Still just a tree in the end."
[Records indicate you have died to the Demon Tree a total of 78,323,212…… times.]
"Which means I’m that familiar with it. Forget how many times I’ve died—how many times have I diced it up?"
The archive fell silent at my words.
The clear fact: I’d shredded it more times than it had killed me.
"Those purple tentacles are a wrinkle, but if they’re nothing special, I’ll end this quick."
Even same species vary; complacency equals death—I knew that.
But knowing a species’ limits and tactics beforehand was a massive advantage.
Trees keep cropping up. Should’ve uprooted that Fallen Petal too.
Boom!!! Boom!
With deafening blasts, branches erupted across the lava zone, relentlessly lunging at Leon.
But Leon danced through the air, evading like a streak of lightning at unbelievable speeds.
Inevitably, dozens of long branches flailing about tangled their paths.
And he never missed that split-second vulnerability.
Kwachik!!
Black energy seeped into Leon’s plunging sword.
"Let’s see if this works too."
Ssssss!!!!
A chilling aura froze the scorching heat in an instant.
Simultaneously, a black reaper in a hooded robe materialized behind Leon, drawing a massive scythe.
[Thanatos]