73
073 ― The Soul Tree ―
"Uh, should I speak into this?"
It seems Ma Du-sik held the smartphone to Grisella's ear. Her voice could be heard with a slight sense of distance.
"Can you hear me?"
―Oh, I can hear you well. How fascinating, this must be a magical tool of this world?
"Similar."
A smartphone is indeed a magical tool.
―By the way, I heard! You've already dealt with Elbanoff?
"Is he some big shot?"
―Of course! Someone at the bottom, like me, couldn't even dare to look at such a management position. He was one of the few who could wield the whip, you could say...
Just from the story, he doesn't seem to have that great a position. At most, he's middle management, isn't he?
"He wasn't a direct subordinate of the Lord or anything like that, was he?"
―Ahaha, people like that can't easily cross over to other worlds. Unless it's through a Gate.
Grisella laughed as if she'd heard an amusing joke. From her reaction, several facts could be gleaned. All minions crossing over to Earth were weak minions of middle management level or below. Well, if they could freely send strong ones, they would have done so long ago.
'If that were possible, the Lord himself could descend.'
It seemed that overly strong beings couldn't easily cross between worlds. Come to think of it, the Lords themselves were beings who couldn't leave the Spirit Realm. That's why they sent divine artifacts down to the 3rd floor and built altars in the 2nd floor to interfere with the lower realm.
Conversely, this meant that the God of Sky, having lost his divine artifacts, was now isolated in the Spirit Realm with even that interference severed.
"Right, let's hear about this Elbanoff or whatever his name is later in detail. Do you also know where other minions have crossed over?"
―The next closest place is... Well, you'd have to cross the sea.
"Cross the sea?"
The archipelago beyond the East Sea or the continental side toward the West Sea?
―Here, around this area.
―Hunter Kang Jin-woo, this is Ma Du-sik. I'm currently showing her a map.
"Where is it?"
―Jeju Island.
...It wasn't in the direction of Tokyo or Hong Kong, but it was still quite far. At least not a place you could reach with the SUV or motorcycle he'd acquired this time.
"She says the next target is Jeju Island."
"Jeju Island?"
Shartia looked slightly surprised and fell into thought. In her mind, a scale appeared, weighing both sides. The mind that thought such a long schedule would be troublesome because of her next appointments. Conversely, the mind was rather pleased that the schedule had grown longer.
...No matter what, canceling all those many schedules would be a bit much, wouldn't it? They were already scheduled, pushed back to free up these two weeks or so.
"Shartia. Jeju Island seems too far after all. Let's report to the Management Bureau and leave the reconnaissance to them, while we return to the city for now."
Then Jin-woo was the first to suggest ending the trip. Though it had been about a week, there had been sufficient gains. He was saying they needed to go back and reorganize once.
"Alright."
Shartia nodded with a slightly regretful expression. She had been thinking of saying the same thing, but now that the decision was made, she felt somewhat disappointed.
It would be nice if we could wander around for just about one more week.
However, Jin-woo seemed full of thoughts about returning to the city. A week would likely be too short to handle Jeju Island's affairs and return, and he had no intention of stirring up the Gangwon Province area any further.
'It would be a waste to wander around empty land without minions.'
There were Erosion cores, but it would be wasteful to wander aimlessly looking only for those. Especially now that Grisella, who claimed to have been a subordinate of the God of Sky before escaping, had appeared. Rather than just cutting down simple cores that weren't even minions, it would be more useful to extract one more piece of information from Grisella's mouth.
"Let's go back."
"I'll drive on the way back."
Jin-woo had driven when coming up to Gangwon Province. It was his car, and Shartia's plants were more efficient than Jin-woo's sword for dealing with monsters chasing the car. On the return trip, there were no monsters to attack now, so it didn't matter if Shartia took the wheel.
As he fastened his seatbelt in the passenger seat, the car started smoothly. Even though it was clearly the same car, it seemed to start more smoothly than when he drove it. Was it the difference in driving experience?
'There are exactly two minions on the Korean Peninsula... No, three, including Grisella.'
The Korean Peninsula is a very small place. On a world map, it's no bigger than a fingernail. Three minions had appeared on that small land. How many minions must be roaming the larger continents of Asia, America, or Africa?
'Or maybe they mainly appear near cities.'
That was also a possibility. Considering the Lich Elbanoff's final actions, their immediate objective was clear. Recovering the divine artifacts they possessed. If they were sending minions according to that purpose, it would make sense to mainly send them near cities with as many people as possible.
'...Maybe it would be better to go to the 3rd floor entirely.'
If the God of Sky was aiming to recover the divine artifacts, it would be best to be in a place where his reach couldn't extend. The only place that came to mind as somewhere he could stay long-term, while being such a location, was the 3rd floor. Minions of his came to Earth, and the Elf world wasn't safe either. The Spirit Realm was needlessly dangerous.
"If it weren't for that Elf's information, we'd still be wandering aimlessly."
Shartia, holding the steering wheel, spoke while staring straight ahead. Jin-woo also nodded in agreement with her words.
"We were heading downward, toward Chungcheong or Jeolla Province, so we would have had a hard time noticing the Lich in Gangwon Province. Even if we went down, we wouldn't have gone all the way to Jeju Island, so we wouldn't have known about the Erosion on Jeju Island either."
Without Grisella, they really would have had to return after cutting down just a bunch of cores. It couldn't be called a wasted trip... But it would have been clearly disappointing. In that sense, it was true that she had provided helpful information.
"We can't let our guard down. I was told never to trust her."
"Of course. I naturally... Huh? You were told not to trust her?"
By whom? Shartia asked with a puzzled expression. Jin-woo just smiled bitterly without saying anything. What kind of reaction would she show if he told her, the reincarnation of an Elf, that the World Tree had said such a thing?
Jin-woo opened the passenger side window and got some outside air. The car wasn't going that fast, so the wind on his face wasn't unpleasant but rather refreshing. One vehicle running through a world collapsed and was covered in black earth. The one consolation was that even the air hadn't been dyed black.
***
There was a closed factory outside the city. An empty place where broken rebar, cement fragments, or dust are scattered about. That place, which should have been empty, was now guarded by military police. Not just one or two, but surrounding the entire site while watching the surroundings. Military vehicles and temporary barbed wire were also visible, making it resemble not a factory but some kind of prison.
Grisella had been transported there.
"Ugh... I escaped because I hated living like this, but in the end it's come to this..."
Grisella understood her treatment but couldn't hide her dissatisfaction. She had said she ran away because she didn't want to live as a slave, but here she was again, confined in such a ruined building, wondering if this was right. Still, she knew this response was rational and was accepting it to some degree.
"When you lived under the God of Sky, no, the Lord of Oppression and Ceiling, did you stay in rooms like this, too?"
Jin-woo had asked Ma Du-sik for permission and was having a private meeting with her. There were many things he wanted to hear and ask about.
"It wasn't greatly different, but this place is much more spacious. The regrettable thing is that there are no plants anywhere to put my mind at ease..."
"Speaking of which, Shartia told me to take this to you."
Jin-woo handed Grisella a flower pot. It was a stem plant with small flowers blooming, which Shartia had said would be needed and given to him.
"Wow! Thank you!"
Sure enough, Grisella smiled brightly as she received the flower pot. Then she placed it on her lap like some teddy bear and wouldn't let it go.
"That person named Shartia seems to know a lot about Elves?"
"She's an expert."
She herself was the reincarnation of an Elf. Thanks to the single flower pot, the atmosphere became much more relaxed. In a more comfortable environment for conversation, Jin-woo leaned his back against the wall and asked. Of course, his hand was fiddling with the handle of the white gem sword.
"You said you escaped from the Lord. Does that mean you're now completely free of the Lord's shackles?"
"...The Lord uses chains called Erosion to control his subordinates. He leaves some degree of self to subordinates he cherishes and trusts, but bottom-feeders like me have ourselves and all freedom stolen by Erosion."
"But how did you escape?"
"It seems I became accustomed to it after being like that for so long."
"Accustomed?"
Grisella smiled bitterly and spread her hand. From that hand, Erosion energy rose and drew some unknown pattern. Jin-woo couldn't recognize it, but it seemed to have some meaning to her. She looked at it sadly before scattering the Erosion energy.
"You mean you became accustomed to Erosion?"
"Yes."
Grisella could use the erosion dwelling within her to some extent. Now he understood how she had been unharmed after receiving attacks from the Cheonok Guild Hunters. Since she could use the power of Erosion like this, blocking that level of attack wouldn't have been difficult.
However.
'I can't trust her.'
Even without the story he'd heard from the God of Moonlit Forest, the World Tree, Jin-woo couldn't trust her either. Had she really escaped? Was she only saying so while actually still being the Lord's minion?
The reason he didn't swing his sword immediately despite his distrust was one thing. He wanted to hear something, anything, about the Lord from her mouth. Whether false or true, information about the Lord itself was precious.
'Preferably on the side of truth, though.'
Of course, if he was going to get information, the truth would be better than lies. The problem was not knowing where to believe her words from and to what extent. It was a situation where he had to solve things with only intuition and improvisation without a correct answer, so even Jin-woo found it quite troublesome.
Then.
[ The God of Moonlit Forest asks you to entrust it to her. ]
'Huh? Entrust it to her?'
The God of Moonlit Forest said so, wondering what she was planning to do. She had only shown childlike aspects recently, but she was still a god. Moreover, the only god that the Elves served by staking the fate of their race. She must have some idea.
Thinking so, he entrusted it to her.
The glass orb inside Jin-woo began to emit light. Unlike the light that had only been felt by Jin-woo until now, this one was revealed even to the outside. Grisella also saw that light, and her eyes gradually grew larger.
The light enveloped Jin-woo's body, forming a shape like an upright tree, which illuminated Jin-woo and created a halo. Countless souls circled around. The soul tree that embraced all those souls and gave birth to new life.
Grisella, unlike her usual boisterous self, wore an extremely reverent expression. At the same time, she wore an expression as if holding back tears.
"Mother World Tree. Your child has been defiled with impure things due to my inadequacy. I have even cut down countless compatriots, other children, with my own hands."
[ It's okay... It's not your fault either. ]
Unlike the light, those words were heard only by Jin-woo. Jin-woo pondered how to convey these words before speaking.
"She says it's okay. That it's not due to your moral failing but due to the evil one."
"Ahh!"
It was a somewhat mystical atmosphere. It felt like they should be playing hymns in this abandoned factory. In that atmosphere, only Jin-woo stood one step removed, watching the scene. A unique feeling of being detached despite being the person involved.
Jin-woo borrowed this atmosphere to ask what he really wanted to know.
"Mother World Tree tells me to convey these words. Have you truly escaped completely from the evil one's clutches?"
Actually, the World Tree hadn't said anything. Jin-woo was just arbitrarily using her name to ask. But the fact that she had created this situation itself meant she was allowing him to borrow her name, so he had no reservations. As proof, the World Tree wasn't stopping him either and was quietly watching.
Grisella answered in a tone 100 times more sincere than before.
"It's true. Having long been involved with impure power, though I didn't wish it, I awakened part of this power and was able to break the evil one's shackles and escape."
Jin-woo was surprised. Though he didn't show it outwardly, he truly was inside.
'She's not a spy?'
He had naturally thought she was trying to infiltrate human cities to find the whereabouts of the divine artifacts, but it turned out everything she said about escaping was all true.