113
113 ― Oath of Mana
When Jin-woo spread his palm, the form of a glass orb appeared above it. It gradually rose in altitude and orbited like a moon above the sapling.
The sapling bathed in the gentle moonlight began to grow noticeably fast. If you watched quietly, you could see it getting bigger.
"Hooo."
Kalesian watched with fascination, and Jin-woo also quietly observed the progress.
He had done it as his heart desired, but no one knew what results would come.
A small tree. Compared to Silvern's forest or Akram's fire, it seemed too small and insignificant.
Even so, the sapling embracing the moonlight was gradually, albeit very slowly, increasing its own presence.
"...What are you doing?"
Suddenly, a voice full of suspicion was heard. A voice from above that echoed through the cave like a cavern.
Even though it was called a boundary, it was a place closer to the land of fire. Seeing suspicious activities near his territory, Akram had immediately come to see.
"As you can see, we're merely planting a tree."
"A tree? A treeeeeee?"
A growling sound similar to that of a wild beast came from Akram's mouth.
He had been bound to Silvern's forest for hundreds of years, suffering. It wasn't strange that he would be disgusted by trees.
"I've been trying so hard to drive away Silvern's territory, and you're planting a tree here? Right now...!"
Akram threateningly raised his head and gathered flames. With one gesture of his head, a rain of fire would fall, turning not only the sapling but this entire area into scorched earth.
But just before giving that signal. Akram hesitated momentarily at a strange fragrance.
Something was different. The fragrance felt from the small sapling before his eyes was completely different from the monster trees of Silvern's forest, filled with hostility and malice.
"It's not Silvern's tree."
Jin-woo spoke to calm him.
"It's a sapling of the World Tree."
The God of Moonlit Forest, the World Tree sapling of the Spirit Realm's Soul Tree.
The terrifying flames that had been swirling around Akram gently disappeared and scattered. Akram's fierce expression also softened slightly.
Still, without completely lowering his guard, he asked.
"World Tree? This sapling?"
"Yes."
"......"
The World Tree is a tree that deals with souls. It's a giant tree that supports the Elf race, but at the same time, it's also a very familiar tree to spirits.
The World Tree, which acts like a bridge to the soul world, was an existence that allowed spirits to approach the world more intimately.
Therefore, it was normal for spirits to be drawn to the World Tree and feel comfort. The emotion currently moistening Akram's heart was exactly that.
"...It doesn't seem to be a lie. How did a human like you obtain a sapling of the Soul Tree?"
"I obtained it from the 3rd floor... The world below. From a temple that cares for Elves."
"So it's a sapling, not a branch. You didn't meet the Soul Tree directly."
"Do you know where it is?"
Jin-woo asked just in case, but Akram shook his head.
"I've only heard about it through word of mouth, I don't know the location. In the first place, I've never left this land since I was born in the torch."
Akram's previously prickly voice had calmed down considerably. Much more gentle than before, much more so than when they first met. Had the World Tree sapling calmed him down?
"Is it okay to plant it here?"
"That's fine, but... Can you protect it?"
The power of the World Tree was beneficial to Akram.
Right now it was just a sapling, so it only ended with stabilizing his mind and body, but if it eventually grew into a giant tree, the story would be different.
The power as a Soul Tree would bring greater strength and stability to Akram, the spirit, and Akram's fire territory would be more firmly established.
From the perspective of the Water Disaster Dragon that was trying to devour the fire and swallow Akram whole, it would be a hindrance. Naturally, it would rush to eliminate it while it was still a sapling.
"Let's try. We have no way to escape anyway."
If they could have escaped, they wouldn't have planted the precious World Tree's sacred object here. Right now, this was the only means they had.
"If that tree grows safely and protects our land, I will mobilize all my power to help you escape from this forest. I promise."
He received a firm covenant. Spirits are those who value contracts, so they don't take even small covenants lightly.
"I understand."
Stabilize Akram's land so that even a Dragon couldn't recklessly attack. Then a way to escape the forest would emerge.
***
A day passed.
The sapling seemed to have grown about 50cm.
He was consistently watering it, but actually water wasn't very important. Rather, the moon-like orb orbiting above the sapling's head had more influence.
'Is the God of Moonlit Forest sending power?'
Communication with her had been cut off, but the connection itself hadn't been severed. Her power transmitted through the glass orb was shining down on the sapling, making it grow.
A day passed.
It seemed the creatures had also noticed the gradually increasing presence of the sapling. Tree roots overturned the ground and Dragon Tooth Soldiers began charging.
"Hmph."
However, the scale was still small. Small enough that they all got swept away and fell just from Akram snorting once.
Akram drew power to protect the sapling, even giving up part of his territory in the opposite direction. Those flames easily blocked such crude invasions.
Another day passed.
The Dragon Tooth Soldiers' invasions gradually became larger in scale.
A number resembling war rushed here to break a single sapling.
Most of them were swept away by Akram's flames, but some broke through the flames and managed to approach the sapling.
Dragon Tooth Soldiers made by mixing dragon teeth and tree bark. Their rough grip reached out to grab and break the sapling, but.
Seo-geok—
Jin-woo's sword, standing guard beside it like a bodyguard, cut the creature down with a single stroke.
'They're starting to come in.'
It meant the other side was also starting to get serious.
From that day on, Dragon Tooth Soldiers began swarming in droves. Many turned to ash in Akram's flames, but many also came in unharmed.
Stopping them was Jin-woo and Kalesian's role.
Kwaang! Kwa-ang!
The two wielded swords and magic without rest, and the roar and commotion around the sapling never ceased.
"Huuu... If they're made of teeth, what's with so much swarming? All the teeth must have been pulled out."
"Keu-ha-hat!"
Even while out of breath, they threw around trivial jokes and fought hard. Meanwhile, changes gradually began to occur.
The sapling had now grown sufficiently. Having become a proper tree, the tree itself began driving away the Dragon Tooth Soldiers.
Roots rose up and it spat seeds that sprouted vines to bind the Dragon Tooth Soldiers. The bound Dragon Tooth Soldiers were either finished off by Jin-woo or Kalesian, or completely absorbed into the soil for the tree to make into nutrients itself.
Moreover, the seeds it gradually spat out sprouted and formed a single colony.
Though still too small in scale to be called a forest, there had already begun to emerge a single community centered around the World Tree.
Neither Silvern's Forest Territory nor Akram's Fire Territory, but an independent third party's territory.
It began to expand, embracing Akram's fire and pushing back Silvern's forest.
It had reached the point where mere Dragon Tooth Soldiers couldn't even scratch the colony formed by the World Tree.
"It seems to be on track."
"So it appears."
Now the stage of just defending had passed. It was time to go on the offensive based on well-prepared ground.
Jin-woo looked up at the grown tree. There, the glass orb still casting gentle light was positioned.
Then.
Ku-woong—!
The surrounding air suddenly pressed down heavily. It was a phenomenon that neither Jin-woo nor Kalesian, nor even Akram had anticipated.
Looking up in confusion, there was a shadow gathering in the sky. Small shadows that had existed on the ground, on stones, between leaves and branches gathered to form a massive shape.
The thing that formed a dragon-like figure opened its mouth wide and swallowed the glass orb that had been orbiting in the World Tree's sky.
Jjaeng-geu-rang—!
It chewed and shattered it.
Jal-geun-jal-geun. It chewed the fragments hatefully as if they were a parent's enemy, then spat them out with a ptoo.
Soon the creature's voice echoed through the heavily settled air.
—Insolent ones... How dare you bring such troublemakers into my forest.
Just by its appearance, the surroundings became distorted and the circulating environment began to go awry. A race that twisted and dominated a place with their very existence, eventually devouring it—Dragons.
The reason the 5th floor where Dragons live is called the Dragon Star Realm was because each of them had star-like gravitational force and formed their own ecosystems.
Moreover.
"That one is a Fragment."
"Fragment? You mean it's not the main body but a clone?"
"It wants to examine this place directly, but its pride is hurt to wake up the main body. So it seems to have sent a Fragment."
Even while exerting this much influence, it wasn't even the main body. To think it could do this much just by creating and sending a clone.
"Are all Dragons in the Dragon Star Realm like this?"
"No way. Even there, there aren't many like this one."
"...There are some though."
Then Silvern's Fragment looked this way. Particularly at Jin-woo among them.
—You're the one who planted that tree?
"Are you Silvern, the master of this forest?"
—Watch your words, human. I forbid questions before answering mine.
Who cares.
Not only Akram, but he and Kalesian were also victims trapped in this forest. And that creature was the perpetrator.
There was absolutely no reason to listen to the perpetrator's words.
"I say, Silvern. Let's have a talk for a moment."
—You are?
"Kalesian of the Red Horn bloodline. Though I look like this, I'm an adult Dragon."
—An incomplete one.
At Silvern's blunt words, Kalesian briefly flared up, but he remained calm.
"We want to leave this forest, but could you let us go? If you just promise to send us away, we could even uproot this tree that bothers you and leave."
If it could be resolved through dialogue, nothing would be better. Therefore, he attempted dialogue before fighting.
—If I promise, can you trust it?
"Make an Oath of Mana. Right now, at this moment, that you won't touch us until we leave the forest. We'll also swear in the same way that we'll take the tree and leave."
What supports a Dragon's massive body is a powerful heart and the enormous amount of mana that heart pumps.
Without mana, a Dragon's body would necrotize and crumble, and simultaneously lose the balance of the trinity reaching body, mind, and soul, causing the very existence to perish.
In other words, an Oath of Mana meant an oath staking existence for Dragons.
—Fine, I'll swear.
An unexpectedly cheerful answer came back. When Kalesian made a displeased expression at the refreshingly willing acceptance.
—I swear on the mana that forms my existence. You, you, and you too. I will devour every single prey that entered my hunting ground without missing one.
Silvern answered with a giggle.