Chapter 223
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 223
Chapter Title: Red Mist in the Depths
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As if it had been waiting for this very moment, red mist erupted from the entrance to the root depths.
The monster was still unable to move beyond the barrier, stranded on the far side of the great forest.
But the spot where the red mist had burst forth was unmistakably the entrance to the depths where Nakwha had been embedded.
"Tr... Triana!!!"
Spotting it, Oselon widened his eyes and tried to break away from the battlefield. I grabbed his arm.
"Let go of me!! Triana... Triana!"
"Block access to that mist. Even I can't guarantee what happens if it's allowed to take hold even once."
"Urk?!"
"I'll go check it out."
"Pl... please. I beg you..."
In response to Oselon's desperate plea, I moved without a word.
At the point the red mist spread, spatial translocation was too risky.
I couldn't use it until I understood the mist's structure.
Weaving through the chaotic city, I reached the World Tree and descended into the root depths.
The passage leading to the depths had completely changed.
The elves guarding this place...
All dead, it seemed.
The elves exposed to the horrific red mist had their bodies twisted in gruesome ways.
[Approaching the red mist any further may have adverse effects.]
I know. Not grasping the red mist's structure means it's an unknown.
In other words, perfect countermeasures are impossible.
But I didn't stop.
If I'd shied away just because I didn't know the enemy, I never would have escaped Labyrinthos.
As I slowly stepped into the red mist, the horrific scene came into sharp focus—what hadn't been visible before.
This made the chances of any survivors inside extremely slim.
The corpses weren't just losing their original forms; they were morphing into grotesque monsters.
Yet the space itself seemed contaminated too—everything twisted, making it impossible to find my intended destination.
The Heart of the Machine God would be perfect for navigation.
The problem was that analyzing and cataloging the Red Moon's data was still too much for me right now.
The longer I delayed, the worse everything got.
Of course, contrary to Family Head Oselon's hopes, the odds of Triana still being alive were far too low.
"Sayer. How the hell is the Red Moon able to interfere only here?"
[Checking.]
As I wandered through the disorienting space where no directions could be discerned, the moment I was about to activate the Heart of the Machine God...
I felt something calling to me.
Instinctively, I headed toward it. At the end, I saw the World Tree's root, fully corrupted, and Triana slumped before it, clutching Nakwha to her chest.
Triana Bell Trigrad.
The high elf lady of House Trigrad had, since Leon's departure, stood guard beside his sword Nakwha under the protection of the elf guards.
She couldn't control Nakwha.
Even without fully understanding the sword, she knew that if the connected power was severed even once, the World Tree wouldn't hold. So she bore the duty of ensuring no one touched it.
Bringing Leon had been sheer luck.
Without him, the World Tree would be fully corrupted by now, and the Mother Forest uninhabitable for elves.
But the current situation was far from good.
With Leon's arrival in the forest, the World Tree had begun faintly regaining strength, but the demonic tree hammered in its wedge before it was too late, intensifying the corruption.
Each distant roar from outside felt like the World Tree's agonized groans.
She gazed anxiously at Nakwha embedded in the ground, her hands trembling.
Just hold on like this.
The World Tree was slowly recovering now.
The roars outside were distracting, but she couldn't be much help there anyway.
As a proxy candidate, her place was here, protecting it.
All past proxies had communed with the World Tree from this spot.
Leon's sword, Nakwha, oblivious to her inner turmoil, steadily emitted waves of power, resonating with the World Tree.
"Is... is everything okay out there?"
"We don't know. But it's clearly not good."
Triana nodded grimly at the elf guard's report.
"World Tree... please. Have mercy on us..."
She offered a prayer to the World Tree, spreading the power granted to her as proxy candidate around them.
Even amid the ongoing roars, she maintained her focus—until changes began rippling through the space around her.
Krunch... KRRRUNCH!!
Solid bedrock cracked, and the World Tree's roots rapidly began corrupting.
"What in the—?!"
She and the elf guards recoiled in shock.
Panicking at the sudden anomaly, they rushed over.
That was when it happened.
"For the union..."
One elf muttered in a eerie voice, eyes wild with madness as he drew a dagger from his robes.
And then.
SPLURCH!!
He carved out his own heart.
Even as the heart throbbed in his grip, he merely knelt—still alive.
Everyone froze, speechless at the grotesque sight.
Wasn't he one who'd retreated here from the front lines? He looked fine until suddenly...
Blrp! BLRP!!
At the same time, faint wisps of bizarre red mist leaked from his body. Some nearby elf guards twisted in agony, foaming at the mouth.
"Sn... snap out of it!"
"What is this?! Poison?!"
"It's not poison! It resembles that bizarre stuff pushing in from outside!"
Ignoring the wary ones, the maddened elf guards staggered into position, knelt, and muttered the same words, ripping out their own hearts.
Grotesque. Too grotesque.
But what followed was even more horrifying.
Like catalysts in a magic circle, they spewed mist, generating an eerie red glow.
A massive gust accompanied the spreading red mist.
Sensing the dread, she instinctively shielded the sword Nakwha, which was healing the World Tree.
"Run!!!!"
The quick-witted elves fled on instinct, despite their duty to guard the sword and World Tree.
It wasn't their fault.
Survival instinct aside, the red mist induced sheer terror that shattered the mind on sight.
"GAAAAAHHH!!!"
"AAAAAHHH!!"
Horrific screams echoed from the corridors beyond.
Left alone, Triana feared the same fate but didn't budge from protecting the sword.
Her skin began mottling purple.
Not just her—the World Tree's weakest part, the heart-like root depths, corrupted purple once more.
Ah... no...
The World Tree was steadily corrupting.
No way it could hold out like before.
Left unchecked, it would be fully tainted in moments.
The red mist played a part, but...
The bigger issue was Nakwa, embedded in the ground, refusing to activate.
Why now? Of all times?
She gripped the hilt of Nakwha, its activation halted by the red mist.
Trembling, she spoke.
She didn't know the red mist had severed the spirit link between the sword and Leon.
Did it matter? She'd heard the activation phrase Leon used.
"Bloom..."
But the sword didn't respond.
Leon had said no one but him could wield it.
Still, she couldn't stop.
"Bloom... please... please move!"
Her pleas grew tearful.
"Please... if you don't help, the World Tree is in danger... please..."
The sword remained inert.
Tears falling turned purple.
Coughing painfully, she desperately clung to the sword.
The only means to heal the World Tree.
She couldn't lose it.
Even as she died, she poured every ounce of World Tree-granted power into the sword.
But the red mist was stronger than she'd imagined, crumbling her consciousness in an instant.
As she nearly collapsed, unable to protect it...
Something unexpected happened.
A small ring accessory on her person faintly resonated, resisting the invading corruption.
'This thing...'
She'd never expected it.
It was a gift from the doll-masked woman who'd saved her from attackers when she left the forest.
Just a powerless ornament. How?
The thought didn't last.
It had pushed back once, but the all-encompassing red mist eroded her again.
No time to ponder its nature or the masked woman's identity.
She hugged the sword tighter.
Shielding Nakwha once more with her power as the mist closed in.
Even if she died here, she had to protect it.
Leon had risked his life for her. She had to honor his request.
As a child of the World Tree. As a high elf to lead her people.
She fulfilled her duty.
That thought alone remained.
Even as the ring's power depleted and her mind shattered again, she didn't flee.
Despite superhuman efforts beyond her limits, nothing changed much.
The World Tree fully corrupted. Nakwha lost its light.
She was dying too.
In that futile death, she heard footsteps.
Tap... tap.
Slow, but steady—not sluggish.
The muffled sound grew closer.
Thud.
At the same time.
The energy enveloping her, driving her to death, was repelled in an instant.
"Foolish. You should've thought of escaping first instead of standing guard."
At the calm voice, she lifted her hollow eyes to its owner.
Pushing back the red mist with flows of blue light—it was none other than Leon.
"Still, you held out well. Your resonance with the World Tree here let me find you quickly."
Leon Cascadia.
At his presence, Triana collapsed, strength gone.
At the same time. Leon reached into the air.
THUNK!!!
With a heavy thud, Nakwha pulled free from the half-embedded ground and settled solidly into his hand.