Purification

"If it's traces left by an evil god, then yeah, we probably should. But even though I know it's not the actual World Tree, I still hesitate to burn something this magnificent."

Sezanne couldn't help but waver at the tree's splendid appearance either.

"Why don't we just end the exploration here? Tom, Danny, what do you guys think?"

"Once we've checked whether there's a path leading down to the next floor, I'd say the exploration is over if there isn't one. There's no need to burn the tree."

Danny agreed with Tom's words. Neither of them wanted to set such a beautiful tree on fire.

"All right. Let's wrap up the exploration then. We'll leave the matter of this tree to Count Shulman's discretion. The fourth floor only has slimes anyway, so it should be fine."

"But from what I heard at the mercenary training camp, the deepest floor of any dungeon is supposed to have a boss that gathers demonic energy."

It was Pyutel.

"I heard the same thing. When a dungeon is first created and demonic energy from the demon realm seeps in, the strongest monster that absorbs that energy becomes the boss."

When Pyurie chimed in, I started wondering too.

"That's correct. However, since this dungeon was discovered decades ago, the boss might have already been subjugated sometime in between."

According to Sezanne, once an early-stage dungeon boss was defeated, few entities remained that could gather demonic energy afterward. That turned it into a bossless dungeon. From then on, it simply became a monster farm where hunters reaped the benefits.

"Okay. Then I'll note in the exploration report that the dungeon boss seems to have been handled that way. For now, let's eat something here before we head back up."

The area around the enormous tree that resembled a World Tree had solid ground, so I climbed onto the dirt, peeled off my waders to let them dry, and gathered fallen branches from the swamp to start a fire. I handed the food ingredients we'd brought to Yanne. She and Pyurie immediately volunteered to make stew and grilled meat.

"Master, where are you going?"

"Just going to take a closer look at the tree."

It looked even taller than Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest building on Earth. I wanted to capture a photo.

"I brought my phone just in case. I wonder if it'll actually work down here."

When I'd bought the waders, I'd ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wondered if I could bring Earth items through. I'd tossed the phone into my inventory on the off chance it would make the trip. I had been worried it might break, but the phone turned on without any issues. Of course, there was no signal.

"Oh, right. This isn't my real face right now."

I hesitated. My current avatar looked similar to me, but it was still someone else's face. In the end I decided to treat it like a heavy filter and raised the phone for a selfie.

"Huh?"

My handsome(?) reflection appeared on the screen, but the World Tree was nowhere to be seen.

"What the hell!?"

I switched to the rear camera and aimed it at the massive tree. Again, nothing. The ground, the grass, my hand, and my body all showed up perfectly, but the World Tree that filled the entire background was missing from the display.

A chill raced down my spine. The thought hit me immediately: we had never identified the monster on the third floor that used sound to enchant the men and trap them in illusions. If the same creature was now projecting a false vision over all of us, that would explain everything. The goosebumps wouldn't stop.

I quickly opened the map, zooming in and out. A red dot sat near the center of the visible World Tree.

I approached cautiously and pressed my palm against the bark. It felt completely real. But when I looked through the phone, my hand appeared to be touching empty air, stopped by an invisible wall. It was like performing a pantomime where everyone else could see the invisible barrier but I couldn't.

After a moment's thought, I decided to test it. I pulled out several Molotov cocktails.

[Boom! Boom!]

I lit five Molotov cocktails and circled the tree, hurling them one after another. Black smoke rose as flames quickly spread across the bark. The moment Sezanne and the others saw the smoke, they came running.

"What are you doing?! How could you set such a beautiful tree on fire?"

"Everyone, weapons out. The tree itself was the illusion."

"What? But..."

Sezanne wore a look of disbelief, but when Meni grabbed her spear and shield, the rest of the party quickly followed suit, raising shields in front.

"Look! The slimes are swarming!"

As the World Tree burned, dozens of swamp slimes began pouring in from every direction.

"They're coming to protect the tree. Here, take these. Light them and throw them at the slimes. Be careful not to get oil on your hands."

Following my father's old advice, I handed out dozens of flame bottles made from small Bacchus bottles. The party scattered and began throwing them.

[Boom! Bang! Bang! Boom!]

Flames erupted from every side. The once peaceful space turned into a battlefield in seconds. The slimes couldn't easily cross the wall of fire. They might not die from it, but it was more than enough for defense.

I threw even more bottles to burn the tree faster and used my mana to direct the wind, making the flames climb higher.

"Master, look over there!"

Arm-thick ants began descending the trunk. They sprayed stored formic acid from their abdomens to extinguish the flames and used their pincer jaws to slice away burning sections of bark. Even a fake World Tree was fighting with everything it had.

"Pyurie, can you tie these small flame bottles to your arrows and shoot them up high?"

"I can do that."

Pyutel and Pyurie tied the Bacchus-bottle Molotovs to arrows and launched them toward the upper branches. We used every last bottle we had, lighting and throwing them all.

[Kieeeeek—!]

Thanks to Pyurie's arrows, fire now raged among the upper limbs as well. The ants were forced to fight flames both above and below. Once every bottle was spent, more than half of the massive tree was engulfed in roaring flames. The heat grew so intense we had to retreat.

"Wait..."

"What?"

It happened in a single instant. The burning World Tree simply vanished. The fierce flames that had been ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠climbing its trunk poured down like a waterfall, and the ants desperately fighting the fire were hurled to the ground along with it.

"That tree that looked exactly like the World Tree was really just an illusion?"

Only then did Sezanne look truly shocked. The rest of the party stood frozen, bodies rigid with disbelief.

"Yeah. I didn't realize it at first either. But when I actually touched the tree, something felt off. Then I remembered the illusions on the third floor and decided to set it on fire."

"Amazing... I never would have guessed it was an illusion. Not even for a second."

"The monster that created this World Tree illusion is probably the same one that enchanted us on the third floor. Let's head to where the center of the tree was."

With the tree gone, the slimes and ants scattered. We moved toward the center together.

"A staff?"

Where the fake World Tree had stood, a wooden staff about the height of an adult man was planted in the ground. The red dot on the map pointed directly at it.

"It looks like a dungeon item," Sezanne said, stepping closer.

I grabbed her shoulder and stopped her.

"I don't think the creature that cast the illusion died just because the tree burned. Let's sprinkle some holy water first and see what happens."

I poured the holy water I'd brought in advance over the staff and, just to be safe, cast a healing buff on it as well.

[Hiiiiiss—!]

"It's smoking!"

A sound like water boiling then evaporating rose from the staff. I kept pouring holy water. Then, with a sharp crack, the wooden staff split apart and shattered. When I checked the map, the red dot had completely disappeared.

"Looks like that did it. Maybe this wooden staff was the dungeon boss all along."

Even though the red dot was gone, I sprinkled more holy water just to be sure, then picked up both broken pieces.

When I registered them in my status window, the information appeared.

The "(Purified)" tag put my mind at ease. The stats said it would raise the user's magic power and vitality. Those were clearly the effects of a World Tree stem.

"Sezanne, do you know about the god Clianen?"

"Clianen? That deity is the god of stepping stones and waterways. During the ancient war between gods and demons, Clianen sided with the evil gods. Why do you ask?"

"God Sadalla just told me this staff is a stem from the World Tree that Clianen corrupted."

"What? This is truly a World Tree stem? No, more importantly, God Sadalla spoke to you directly?"

"Yeah, apparently this really is a World Tree stem."

"That's important, but the fact that a god would speak to you directly means you have even greater divine favor than a high priest."

"Is that how it works? Anyway, since it raises magic power and vitality, you and Yanne should take it. It's been purified, so it should be safe to use."

I passed it off as information from the god since it had come from the status window. I gave the larger piece to Sezanne and the smaller one to Yanne.

"I can refine that. I'll turn them back into proper magic tools for you."

Meni, who carried dwarf blood, used a chisel and carving knife to shape the wood. She crafted a proper staff for Sezanne and a wand for Yanne.

"By the way, what happens to items we obtain during an exploration request?"

Since these were made from a World Tree stem, I asked Sezanne just to be sure.

"Some requests specifically claim ownership of certain items, but we only accepted an exploration request. So we can keep ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠these without any issues."

Tom and Danny confirmed they hadn't heard anything about item ownership either.

"Then since we've taken care of the dungeon boss too, let's head back up."

It took several more days to reach the surface again. The path from the second floor to the first had collapsed, forcing Pyurie to carve grooves into the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wall with two daggers so we could climb.

"Even after moving for so long, I still feel energetic. Even Sezanne can climb by grabbing these grooves."

"That's because we absorbed the demonic energy the dungeon boss possessed when we defeated it. It raises your stats related to the dungeon's magic."

"I learned about that too. They said that even without special training methods at the dungeon mercenary camp, killing dungeon monsters allows you to absorb their demonic energy and grow stronger."

When Pyutel said he'd been taught the same thing, I opened my status window to check.

It was true. My magic power had risen even further thanks to the continuous growth buffs, and every other stat had increased by two points across the board. When I checked Yanne and Sezanne, both of them had gained one point in every stat. The others had received the same boost. That was why Sezanne, who had been so dried out she could barely use her strength, could now climb by grabbing the grooves in the wall.

"Demonic energy seeps into us? Does that mean we'll become evil like monsters?"

Yanne looked worried at the mention of absorbing demonic energy.

"If you stay inside a dungeon for too long, that can happen. But once you leave and get sunlight, the evil influence gets purified and you won't turn evil."

"If defeating a dungeon boss lets you absorb demonic energy and grow stronger, what happens if you can't defeat the boss?"

"In that case you don't absorb any significant amount. Regular monsters possess almost no demonic energy compared to a boss, so you'd need to kill dozens or even hundreds before any real absorption occurs."

"Hmm. So if you could keep defeating dungeon bosses, you could become incredibly strong."

"In theory, yes. But dungeons aren't discovered that often, and even when they are, the boss might have already been subjugated. So getting stronger just by hunting bosses isn't easy. This Green Dungeon is a special case."

"True. Even though it was discovered decades ago, it's located in a border dispute zone between two countries, so it was never properly cleared. We got lucky."

"Not just that. Even if other mercenaries had entered, they would have seen the World Tree illusion and left thinking it was a worthless dungeon with no profit to be made."

"I suppose so."

We really had been lucky. Even if another party had reached the fourth floor before us, most would have fallen for the illusion and turned back.

"There's the light."

When we finally emerged from the first floor entrance, the Rangers greeted us warmly.

"Thank goodness. You made it back safely!"