117
117 — Northern Forest
Silvern, having lost his head, collapsed while bleeding. His massive body resonated against the earth, spreading deep vibrations.
The power of Erosion spread indiscriminately. Black shadows flowing like waves lost control and flowed away.
It was ruining the forest like the Erosion he had seen on Earth. It turned everything it touched black and robbed it of its source, making it unable to function properly.
What was surging was truly a wave of death. No, it was a wave of pain worse than death.
'No way.'
In front of the ominous energy that made his spine tingle just by looking at it, Jin-woo was also anxious. The power that had lost control and was overflowing might turn the spirit realm into something like Earth.
Thinking so, he tried to pull back his power.
Seureureu—
More than he thought, no, the power was retrieved more smoothly than expected. There was no disobedience or loss of control at all. The shadows gathered and were collected by Jin-woo even faster than they had flowed out.
What remained was only the vast forest and spirits that had lost their heat.
Jin-woo looked down at the spirit's corpse that was growing dim.
"Akram."
"......"
At Jin-woo's words, Akram slightly opened his eyes. As if he didn't even have the strength to lift his eyelids, he only managed to open them slightly.
"This is the end."
Kalesian spoke. Without needing to borrow his words, Akram was on the verge of disappearance.
His mind, which had been solidified like bedrock over long years, was already in a precarious state like a candle in the wind. When that mind unraveled like thread, his soul would also enter rest.
The spirits gathered around him in sorrow. There was Rachel's form, and there were forms of other animals too. Even firefly-like spirits that didn't yet have clear selves were all drawn together.
"—."
In the end, he closed his eyes without being able to leave any words. As the powerful spirit disappeared, the flames that made up his body spread around and melted away.
Even when spirits die, they melt into the world and contribute. It wasn't much different from ordinary creatures that are buried in the ground as corpses and become nutrients for plants. Even if spirits seem special as beings, they are ultimately beings that belong to the world's circulation.
However, it was true that his self had disappeared. Just as creatures that die and become nutrients cannot come back to life, spirits that die and melt into the world cannot return either.
Indeed, he was dead. So the sorrow of those left behind was no different from that of other creatures. There was nothing special just because they were spirits.
So as not to disturb them in their grief, Jin-woo and Kalesian kept some distance. The two turned their heads to look at the forest.
"Silvern is dead, but the forest remains."
"To say it's been liberated... Is a bit strange. After all, it's a forest that grew with Silvern's power from the beginning."
It wasn't as if there was a forest in the beginning, and Silvern forcibly made his nest there. From the beginning, this forest was born from Silvern's power.
The forest would grieve for losing its master, but it wouldn't disappear because of that. An already grown forest couldn't suddenly disappear with a poof.
Although it wouldn't be maintained as lushly as before, it would remain for some time.
As much as Silvern's magic power had disappeared, they would compete with each other over limited nutrients, but that was unavoidable.
'......'
That aside, the forest's reaction was strange. When Jin-woo took one step forward, the forest quietly parted.
Of course, they are plants rather than animals. Since they were trees with roots, it wasn't a dramatically visible movement. In some ways, it was such a subtle reaction that it could be called an optical illusion.
But it definitely parted to open a path. As if it had no intention of blocking Jin-woo's way anymore.
That wasn't reverence. The will remaining in the forest. What it directed toward Jin-woo was fear.
***
A fairly large flame rose in front of the cave. Though it was large, it was only an extremely small part compared to the fire that had originally covered the entire area.
A gentle breeze blew, carrying faint sparks far into the distance. The fire spirits watched it while praying, chanting, or simply observing.
"Since he's someone who couldn't leave this land his entire life... He would want to go and see now."
Rachel spoke. This was a kind of funeral.
Including Akram, everyone here was a spirit born on this land and raised only on this land. Therefore, they didn't have any special culture, but it seemed they still had their own way of seeing off those who had departed.
Small clusters of light settled on the flames they had lit. Parts of the power that had separated when Akram died were being born as new spirits.
Having almost no self-awareness, they acted on instinct. Some of the light clusters flew somewhere on the wind, while others settled directly on the flames.
Some even sat in the cave where Akram had been staying. There was a small torch inside the cave, and they circled above it.
Though they wouldn't have inherited Akram's memories, perhaps some instinct remained.
'Was it called a torch spirit?'
Jin-woo also entered the cave and rested comfortably in front of the torch. He hadn't noticed while moving busily, but his body and mind were full of accumulated fatigue.
Now that the battle was over and it was peaceful, the fatigue that had been hidden by adrenaline finally came flooding in. Since it was just fatigue, it would disappear with a good rest.
'The sword from that time.'
The sword that had cut off Silvern's neck. The black energy that had overflowed without him knowing and the blade that had fallen like a guillotine.
He recalled that moment. At that time, Jin-woo felt an unknown sense of omnipotence. Not that he was truly omnipotent, but that's how it felt, though for that moment it really seemed like he could do anything.
It was strange. A sword is fundamentally something for cutting. There should be nothing it can do other than cut.
'It was more than when I usually swung a sword.'
From the time he gained the ability to cut flames, his senses changed whenever he held a sword. There was no hesitation in cutting through anything, so he could cut through hard rocks or steel bars without hesitation.
But that sword from earlier was different again. In that moment, something far more, immeasurably more than usual was dwelling within him. Probably something related to his previous life.
'I absorbed all of Silvern's flames too.'
Moreover, he gained great power from this battle. But he didn't really feel like he had gained great power.
In the past battle with Johan, when he cut the Mage, the dragon's soul, he definitely felt enormous power entering him. But when he cut Silvern this time, it was just so-so. There was only an empty sensation like pouring water into a bottomless jar.
It was strange. If judged by the same level of souls, Silvern's soul, which had ascended to the Spirit Realm, should be far superior to a soul that had been enslaved by someone like Johan.
Additionally, he had properly stored Silvern's dead body in his inventory. A dragon's corpse is a treasure with not a single part to throw away, so he couldn't just let it return to nature.
"So, what will you do from now on?"
"Kalesian."
Kalesian approached. He was chewing on meat, with the outside crisply cooked and the inside dripping with blood. It was a bit rarer than Jin-woo's preference, but it still looked delicious.
"Would you like some too?"
"Could I have a few pieces?"
When Kalesian waved one wing like a gesture, meat that had been cooking on one side flew over.
Naturally, it wasn't from the fire where the fire spirits were praying, but from another place where Kalesian had cooked it separately.
"Hmm, it's a bit bland."
"I don't really season it. Add salt and eat it as you like."
The meat was bland because it wasn't seasoned at all, but the meat's flavor was still excellent. With just a sprinkle of salt, it was perfectly edible.
It wasn't a well-prepared dish like from a restaurant, but cooking it moderately in the wild and eating it had its own rough taste.
"So where are you going?"
"Well......"
Jin-woo pondered the question that returned to the main topic.
If asked whether he had a destination, he definitely did. Finding the God of Moonlit Forest, the World Tree.
The problem lay in where that World Tree was located.
"Don't you have that tree branch you picked up? Isn't there any reaction or something?"
Jin-woo fumbled around and pulled out one of the tree branches he had kept.
The glass orb and the sapling he had planted were all destroyed by Silvern, leaving only this.
It was regrettable to lose the divine artifact, but having fought such a dragon, it was unavoidable. He should consider it fortunate that even this remained.
"There's no particular reaction."
"Then we'll have to set off on a journey to find a reaction."
Jin-woo chuckled. Setting off on a journey for a branch meant to find the World Tree to react. Later, wouldn't it be finding a reaction to the reaction... Wouldn't it continue in a chain like that?
Eventually, after sleeping well in front of the warm fire and waking up, they set off on their journey early in the morning.
"Be careful. And... Thank you."
"It's fine. Without Akram, it would have been hard to win."
Jin-woo asked Rachel, who was seeing them off.
"What will you all do?"
"We each have to go our separate ways. There are those who want to stay and those who want to leave."
"What about you?"
"Umm... I'm not sure. I want to think about it more."
So she's staying.
This cave and its surroundings were a place where they had been imprisoned by Silvern. Thinking of it that way, it was a terrible place, but conversely, it was also a place where they had fought desperately against Silvern's forest together with their companions.
He could understand both those who wanted to leave and those who wanted to stay. Either way, it was no longer Jin-woo's concern.
"Are you going to take the northern path, Jin-woo?"
"I haven't really decided, but it just turned out that way. This side seemed the most relaxed."
Jin-woo was walking through the forest that had lost its master. The forest still opened a path for Jin-woo.
Rachel marveled at seeing the forest that had been so ferocious now lying flat on its own. Well, since he was the man who had cut off that dragon's neck, it was natural for it to be afraid.
"I heard there are snowy mountains to the north. I've never seen them myself, though."
"Really?"
The reason the northern forest was particularly relaxed was simple. Because Silvern's power couldn't fully extend to the north.
He had strongly ruled the surroundings of his nest and the southern forests, but couldn't do so for the north. It was because of the snowy mountains that existed in the north.
Rachel explained such content, and Jin-woo wondered if he should turn direction even now.
"I deliberately chose the north because I thought dense forest would be difficult to walk through... Was the dense side actually the right answer?"
It meant he had made the opposite judgment. He had suffered so much even here, so he'd rather pass on entering another dangerous zone.
"......! Jin-woo. Look at this."
Then Kalesian pointed to something. It was the World Tree's branch that he had taken out so he could check it anytime it reacted.
A faint light had appeared there. It was a dim and faint light, but definitely.
'I can't speak to it, but does it know about this situation?'
That was the only way the reaction could be seen. If not, there would be no reason for it to shine at this time.
This dim light also felt like the faint voice of the God of Moonlit Forest that he had heard before.
"......Shall we go for now?"
Looking at this, it probably meant the World Tree was in the snowy mountains, or there was a clue there. He couldn't not check it out.
Since it was a region where even Silvern couldn't go strongly, it looked dangerous, but if he approached carefully, it wouldn't be impossible to go.
However.
"Just in case, let's also look for a blue portal."
Preparation for contingencies was necessary.