The Nest of the Evil Dragon #2
Semiramis, the dragon of the evil realm, had made her nest in an unnamed mountain.
The mountain lay somewhere in the range that divided the Demon Realm from the nearest kingdom, though the exact spot was unknown.
That was why anyone seeking it had to pick through maps and search blindly—even after slaying wild beasts and monsters that prowled the slopes.
Fortunately, Adonis still remembered the few clues that had led him here, yet a new problem had arisen.
The mountain he had scoured in his past life had been flat. The one before him now was three-dimensional.
It nestled among a chain of peaks that rose and fell in endless confusion.
Still, he knew there was a giant tree right in front of the entrance to Semiramis’s lair, and he had managed to reach the slopes.
He would have sighed at the thought of combing through an entire range, but he kept walking.
Adonis scanned his muscular frame once more, then set his shoulders and began the ascent.
There was no other way.
The expression on his face was far from cheerful, yet the steps up the ridge were light and quick.
He had a goal he had once died without reaching, and the hunt and gathering during the climb had kept him fed and vigorous.
The mountain seemed endlessly high and steep, but this one was different.
Some stretches were so steep he could barely catch his breath; others were almost level, like flat plains.
He had felt comfortable, uncomfortable, tired, and exhilarated in turn.
While panting up the slope, a low growl reached his ears.
Whether it was the gentle slope or the very presence of the evil dragon’s nest, Adonis could not say.
It was, at least, fortunate—his feet were now planted on level ground.
He narrowed his eyes and stared at a wild boar huffing through sharp breaths, then darted sideways in a flash.
The boar, charging forward in its frenzy, missed him and smashed straight into a thick oak.
A heavy thud echoed through the forest.
The tree bent with a sickening crack and splintering wood.
Adonis fixed his gaze on the trunk and rose to his feet, staring straight back into the boar’s savage charge.
“**Kuaaaah!!**”
The boar, furious that it had missed, roared again and launched its next assault.
Even climbing uphill, its momentum was ferocious, driving its powerful legs harder into the earth than before.
Adonis watched every movement, then sidestepped the moment the boar was almost on top of him.
The evasion was flawless. Yet his face showed no trace of surprise, only casual indifference.
Indifference in thought, but not in action.
He pursued the boar’s hindquarters as it was forced forward and delivered a sharp low kick—the kind called calf kick—straight to the back of its hind leg.
The strike, infused with the strength of a revived hero, shattered the leg with a wet crunch.
The boar let out a pure cry of agony, not the threat-filled bellow of before.
Adonis drove his fist into the boar’s flank exactly as he had once done to a wolf, yet the blow was faster, deadlier, and far more powerful.
“**Kuaaaah!!**”
The boar howled again, its side now gushing blood. Its furious eyes dimmed as its strength ebbed away.
Adonis wiped the bloodied hand on the boar’s coarse hide. The texture was rough and spiky, but at least the surface was clean enough to serve its purpose.
He straightened up, glanced once at the fallen beast, and continued climbing toward the magic-sealed entrance to the lair.
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Vivian.
A member of the hero party sent to defeat the Demon King and end the war with the demons, an elf with snow-white hair and silver eyes.
She was now at her original homeland—the Elf Forest—on the verge of meeting the World Tree.
Every elf instinctively desired to be near the World Tree; the longer they were apart, the deeper their longing grew.
For elves, the World Tree was home, sanctuary, birthplace, and resting place alike.
That was why, when Vivian returned, all the elves had blessed her.
They had fought for peace, stained their hands with countless lives, and now lived in harmony.
Vivian herself knew her standing among them. Even now her posture remained proud.
The crime of pushing one person off a cliff had long been forgotten.
“Vivian. The World Tree calls for you. Have you prepared?”
Vivian was resting against the rocking chair of her own home when a woman with long emerald hair approached.
Like Vivian, she was an elf who served the World Tree, her ears slightly pointed like most.
“Yes. Of course.”
Vivian rose with a smile, and the woman nodded once before turning away.
The house she lived in stood at the highest point of the elven realm, and from here it took less than five minutes on foot to reach the World Tree.
Towering, magnificent, its branches spread wide to catch every falling sky-leaf, the World Tree filled Vivian’s vision with its grandeur.
She walked forward, grateful to the World Tree and her own kind for accepting her even after she had taken so many lives in the name of peace.
Soon the Fairy Queen turned toward her.
“The World Tree approaches. Kneel and show proper respect.”
“Yes.”
The Fairy Queen’s whispered command made Vivian kneel with extreme caution, head bowed.
The hem of her long skirt brushed her knees; the soft, plush earth beneath them was warm and alive.
The World Tree’s roots had grown deep here, and vitality surged through the soil.
*Thump… thump…*
Small footsteps approached, brushing past Vivian’s ears.
Though she could not see ahead with her head lowered, she knew whose steps they were.
She had heard them several times in her life.
And once, when she had left for a mission heavy enough to crush her entire body, she had heard them again.
“Lift your head.”
The Fairy Queen, standing straight beside her, spoke.
Vivian slowly raised her eyes.
Brown earth, snow-white skin, snow-white legs and torso.
Before her stood a child with skin so pale it seemed almost luminous.
This being, though it appeared no more than an ordinary pretty child, was the World Tree’s will—pure even after countless centuries.
“I greet the World Tree.”
Vivian looked up at the child and bowed.
Her voice trembled; her eyes shone with devotion.
If she were an elf, she could not have felt otherwise.
Yet the World Tree’s expression was far from welcoming.
It did not return the greeting and covered its nose with its small hand to block the sharp, foul stench that assaulted it.
Moreover, it even spat words it was hard to believe it had spoken.
“**Ugh?!** It stinks like chicken coop manure!”
“Y-yes…?”
The World Tree’s contemptuous words left Vivian utterly bewildered.
The Fairy Queen beside her was equally shocked.
The World Tree had never shown such a face to an elf she could call her child.
“World Tree… what does this mean…?”
“Disgusting! It reeks! Filthy! How dare you call yourself an elf?!”
The Fairy Queen asked in panic, but the enraged World Tree answered in a sharp, piercing voice.
Vivian’s eyes wavered; her calm face cracked with bewilderment.
Even so, the World Tree pointed a finger at her and held its other hand over its nose.
“You call it filthy? Is it because of the blood on your hands, Vivian?”
“No! I had no choice! I understand that!”
“But the *mind*! The mind is so filthy!”
“If it is the mind… then it is the soul that is dirty? That means…?”
The Fairy Queen tilted her head in puzzlement, and the World Tree furrowed its brows even deeper.
It had never once believed the hero’s insults and slander.
Now it had touched the filthy soul of one of its own and felt its fury rise.
Moreover, though no evidence remained, it was certain the hero Adonis had been framed.
As one who had seen the hero with its own eyes, the certainty was absolute.
“You betrayed me! You betrayed the hero because your lust consumed you! Otherwise I could never smell such a rotten chicken-coop stench! It is unbearable!”
“Betrayed?! World Tree, I have never done such a thing! There must be some misunderstanding!”
The World Tree, nose still covered, took a step backward as Vivian cried out in outrage, eyes brimming with tears.
But inside Vivian’s chest, only confusion reigned.
It was not the wound of a false accusation but the sudden strike to her very core.
No matter how much the World Tree was, it could not read another’s soul completely—how, then?
Vivian clutched the collar of her clothes near her heart, desperate.
The World Tree shouted in a childlike voice that still carried the majesty of a ruler.
“Do you think I am stupid?! I already know you framed the hero! Humans may have been fooled, but I was not!”
The World Tree had seen an elf’s soul and understood that the words were false, that Vivian was only pretending to be wronged.
Still, it had called her for confirmation—out of curiosity, perhaps—and she had shown nothing but filth.
“Titania!”
“Yes.”
The Fairy Queen bowed her head, face stiff as stone, and the World Tree declared in solemn tones.
“From this moment, Vivian is no longer an elf! Banish her forever! Do not let her come near the forest! The stench would taint me or any other elf—I cannot bear it!”
“World Tree! What does this mean?!”
Vivian screamed in anguish, yet the World Tree’s expression and decision remained unmoved.
It ordered the Fairy Queen to expel Vivian with absolute firmness.
It also commanded that the order be made known to every elf living in the forest and, indeed, to all elves on the continent.
It sounded like an absurd lie, but the World Tree was the unshakeable belief of every elf.
They would obey any command.
From this instant, Vivian was no longer an elf—and she would be driven out as well.
“World Tree! I have never done such a thing! There must be some misunderstanding!”
“**Ugh…** It stinks! Hurry! Hurry and expel her! Far away!”
The World Tree covered its nose as if it could not hear, pushing Vivian farther into the distance.
Vivian was dragged away by the elves who had rushed at the World Tree’s summons, crying out her innocence to the very end.
Her face twisted in sorrow, a single tear traced down her cheek, her voice broken.
She squeezed every ounce of strength she had and pleaded.
But every word was a lie, and the lie ate at her like acid, making her filthier still.
The World Tree watched the color of Vivian’s soul grow even darker and shook its head.
It did not know the reason, but an elf driven this far had no hope left.
At least it had not killed her out of public service, merely banished her—but one day she would receive the punishment she deserved.
The World Tree gazed at Vivian, arms bound to a tree root, pulled along by her own kind, then turned its back.
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