65
065 ― Return
Jin-woo frowned. He sensed subtle hostility from Bertus. It was slightly different from enmity, but not that different either.
Bertus wanted to fight him. Or at least watch him fight.
"Whether the God of Light and Dawn, or rather the Lord of Light, gathers soldiers or not, what does that have to do with me? Are they planning to invade here with those soldiers?"
"I don't know about that. However, it's certain there's some scheme behind it. Gathering military forces means preparing for war."
"That doesn't answer my first question."
"I just wanted to let you know. I hoped you would be aware of it."
Bertus was an Orc who, unusually, wore the smile of a good person, and he was doing so even now. But to Jin-woo's eyes, it only looked like a mask. Hiding his rough fighting spirit beneath it.
"It's time to go back."
He made the decision lightly. Whatever Bertus said, whatever scheme the Lord of Lingering Light had, it had nothing to do with him. But since the atmosphere of his return felt strange, he thought he'd just go home.
Anyway, he had already achieved his original purpose long ago. The task of determining whether the God of Moonlit Forest was truly the World Tree.
And though unintended, he had also succeeded in obtaining one divine artifact that had been in collusion with Kalesian. In fact, there was no reason to stay here any longer.
"Are you leaving already? Usually people stay quite persistently in the 3rd floor."
"That's because of contribution points. Do you think I need more contribution points?"
"That's... True."
Bertus answered while blinking. Jin-woo's contribution points were already in first place in Pandemonium, with an overwhelming score of nearly 200 million.
Though he was fiercely pursuing thanks to the arena, it was still a gap that wouldn't be overtaken for several months.
Moreover, Jin-woo originally had no reason to accumulate contribution points in the 3rd floor. The current Jin-woo was at a level where he could sufficiently operate even if he crossed over to the 4th floor, or even the 5th floor.
"This is quite something. I wanted to build a friendship with you, but it's not working out well. Being an Orc, I lack eloquence."
Though he spoke modestly, honestly for an Orc, he was quite good at speaking. Rather, he knew how to unfold stories more systematically than mediocre people.
But that was a separate matter from friendship. What would be good about becoming friendly with a lord's lackey?
Whether that intention showed outwardly, Bertus's eyes flashed. The killing intent flowing from Jin-woo made his skin crawl.
'Something's there. There's definitely something.'
That wasn't all. From Jin-woo, he felt something beyond simply being a strong person.
Something very dangerous and lethal to himself, who was a lord's lackey.
Though he didn't know what it was, Bertus instinctively judged—not with Orc instinct but with Erosion instinct—that Jin-woo was an extremely dangerous individual.
As a result, even the slightest movement of his finger felt threatening. It wouldn't be strange if he drew his sword with that hand right now and struck his neck.
The tension made his spine tingle and cold sweat flow down.
How long had it been since he felt this sensation after coming to serve the lord's will? Bertus was thoroughly enjoying the sticky sense of crisis that had come after such a long time.
But that was that, and this was this.
He was a talent that his lord was paying very close attention to.
"Kang Jin-woo. I think you're probably misunderstanding something."
"Misunderstanding?"
"The power of Erosion is sweet, but not all lords welcome it gladly."
Jin-woo's eyes stirred. What nonsense was this Orc spouting? Such menacing eyes.
Bertus swallowed silently so no sound would be heard and spoke.
"In the distant past, there was the Lord of Beginning and Primordial, who was the beginning of all Erosion, and he was separated into twelve seeds. Those separated seeds spread throughout the universe and dwelt in special divine spirits, and thus the twelve lords were born."
"I know that."
"Ah, you already know?"
Bertus thought Jin-woo would show tremendous interest in this story. But to think he already knew the story—it was somewhat deflating. It was a story not passed down to humans, so how did he know it?
'Come to think of it, he had a friendship with a dragon.'
The fact that Jin-woo was colleagues with Mahiri was famous in Pandemonium. And that Mahiri was a tamer who had tamed a dragon hatchling.
To Bertus's eyes, it looked like the opposite—that the human woman wasn't the one who tamed the dragon hatchling—but anyway, there was a dragon by Jin-woo's side.
Then it wouldn't be strange if he knew about the lords' origins. Those were stories passed down to dragons as well.
"What I want to talk about is the story that comes after this. The lords' seeds were planted in twelve divine spirits, but not all of them willingly accepted the seeds."
"......"
"Some consider it a disease and try to cure it. There are those who call it a curse. Some think it's incurable and have torn it from their bodies to seal it away."
That was... Certainly, a story he was hearing for the first time.
When he thought of Erosion lords, he thought of them as kings who ruled Erosion. Beings who would wield the mighty power of Erosion as they pleased and commit tyranny.
Bertus said that wasn't the case. He said that was all a misunderstanding, and that among the lords, there were those who tried to remove or seal Erosion.
"So, are you trying to say there are good lords?"
"If we start from defining good and evil, it would be very difficult to answer, but simply speaking, yes."
"What would you do if I said it's hard to believe?"
"I'd have no choice but to appeal to your emotions that it's the truth. Proving their nature is impossible for a lowly being like me."
Jin-woo hadn't really asked for proof either. There was no way to verify the truth in this place anyway.
Even if Jin-woo had a way to read the other person's mind or had excellent torture methods, it would be the same.
Bertus himself believed that to be the truth, so even if he verified it 100 or 1,000 times, he couldn't discover the real truth.
However, if he were to guess from past experience.
'The World Tree too... Was gentler than expected for something that craved Erosion.'
The blackened roots of the World Tree he had seen in Belen Village.
At first, it appeared wildly, trying to push Jin-woo aside and devour the Black Knight. When that was taken away, it became angry, but upon seeing Jin-woo, it calmed down and allowed him to meet Fermue.
What Jin-woo was thinking about here wasn't what happened after it saw him. It was what happened before and after.
'What the World Tree did then was try to devour the Black Knight, and after everything ended, it disappeared without leaving a trace.'
If you looked only at the results before and after, excluding the process where the World Tree desired Erosion, it was like this:
The World Tree tried to swallow and take away the lackey that was threatening Belen Village, and when the knight disappeared, it cleanly withdrew from the village.
It was a scene that could also be seen as trying to protect the village.
'If Bertus's words are really true.'
How many would there be? Lords who weren't intoxicated by the power of Erosion and tried to remove it.
On one hand, he also had this thought. The lords who were famous enough that even Goblins in remote areas of the 6th floor knew their names. What kind of existence was Erosion, which never disappeared despite their spending countless years trying to eliminate it?
"Then are you saying the War Lord you serve is one who rejects Erosion?"
"It's a bit different, exactly. Unlike those who try to cure, remove, or seal it indiscriminately, our lord acknowledges that power. However."
"However?"
"He's trying to overcome it. Our lord always pursues power, but doesn't desire power he cannot control. He wants to overcome Erosion, bend it to his will, and make it his own. How about it? Isn't that amazing?"
If those words were true, the nature itself couldn't be considered bad. At least it was much more wholesome than the God of Sky, who freely wielded Erosion and spread it.
But suddenly another thought occurred to him. Wanting to overcome Erosion, bend it to one's will, and make it one's own power.
Hearing those words reminded him of his own ability to gain power by cutting down black flames.
"He is my pride. When I first saw him and knelt before his power, I thought I would dedicate everything of mine to him. Someday, he will surely achieve his long-cherished wish and become a being who reigns over the entire universe. No matter how great Erosion is, it's nothing before his will."
Bertus's words praising his lord were no longer even audible. Jin-woo was only repeatedly thinking about the topic that had occurred to him.
***
After sending away Bertus, who was sneakily trying to stick close, Jin-woo packed his luggage. He folded the tent and extinguished the campfire, scattering the traces by rubbing them with his foot.
Before leaving, he looked for the other party members to tell them he was going back.
"Leaving already? I'm thinking of doing a bit more research before returning. I haven't even finished interpreting all the data I extracted yet."
Kalesian said he had no intention of returning yet. He said his research on the God of Sky's scabbard, measured with Jin-woo's help, wasn't finished.
It was merely basic data, so interpreting it wouldn't lead to understanding the divine artifact completely, but conversely, he couldn't proceed with the next research because he hadn't even interpreted such basic data yet.
"You haven't forgotten the promise of the three treasures, right? You're not staying because you don't want to give them, are you?"
"Oh my! Wasn't it two and one small elixir, not three! Where are you trying to sneakily raise it?"
He seemed not to have forgotten the promise. If he knew, he could receive them anytime.
After parting with Kalesian, the next person he found was April. She was still offering prayers in the Moonlit Forest Temple.
'She probably doesn't know that the God of Moonlit Forest is the World Tree.'
Even so, April and the other Elves naturally gathered in Moonlit Forest. The fact that it was a forest and thus a familiar environment to them, or that it gave contribution points particularly generously to Elves, all of that was merely superficial reasoning.
They were being drawn to Moonlit Forest at the soul level. To the World Tree that collected all Elves' souls and also gave birth to all Elves' souls.
"You're going back already? If you could stay just a little longer..."
"I'll come again later anyway."
"I see, understood. I'll embody Master's teachings by the time we meet next."
April clenched her fist and made a resolution. Jin-woo, who had never taught her anything, could only tilt his head in confusion.
[ The God of Moonlit Forest is sad. ]
Since it was a Temple, the World Tree's emotions also flowed in. Hearing that Jin-woo was going back, it was very sad, and wanted to hold him back. It was an emotion that reminded him of Fermue, whom he had parted with at the white tower.
'I'll buy more toys and dolls. This time I'll really bring all kinds, so look forward to it.'
[ ! ]
Emotions of joy so intense that proper words couldn't come out were transmitted. Jin-woo chuckled and left the temple behind.
There was a place he had spotted in advance for the blue portal. It wasn't too far from the city.
Running toward that place, Jin-woo recalled the harvest from this Gate expedition.
The information that the God of Moonlit Forest was the World Tree, the golden apple he ate in the ruins, the divine artifact stolen from the Sky Temple, and the God Greeting Sorcery he learned from Kanok. And though not yet, there were still treasures and elixirs to be received from Kalesian.
'There's not much that can be converted to money.'
Looking back, there wasn't much that could become money. Anyway, he had plenty of reward money from saving New York, so money wasn't urgent.
Rather than money, he had obtained many precious things that money couldn't buy, so this Gate expedition had a better harvest than any other time.
Above all.
'...I even went to the Spirit Realm.'
The 6th floor is beyond the 5th floor. Though briefly, there was nothing more valuable than the experience of having been there.
***
Returning to New York again, Jin-woo reunited with Shartia. It seemed she hadn't left New York yet, saying she was waiting for Jin-woo.
"Jin-woo! I heard the story. You accomplished many things in the 3rd floor?"
Even Shartia, who had been on Earth, had heard everything Jin-woo had done. Originally, the reason Hunters flocked to the 3rd floor was Jin-woo, so there was no way she couldn't have heard.
She had many curious things, asking if he couldn't tell her the story quickly—at Shartia's earnest gaze, Jin-woo chuckled.
But before telling the story.
"Was there nothing happening on this side? Like another being like Ireland appearing..."
When he asked that, Shartia's expression stiffened for a moment.