Chapter 403: Spirit King (1)
“A higher being that has the power to change fate…”
Hiyan muttered in a heavy voice. There were quite a few transcendents in this world.
Even in the Demon King’s camp in the North, there were a lot of them there.
Recently, beings who had the power of the Nature Gods in the past also appeared.
What was the Sun God?
This time, the 12 new Gods were made.
It wasn’t known if they would exert much influence as the 12 Gods of the past but they all had the same amount of power or were close to their level.
But when it came to getting involved with the fate of others, they didn’t have the power.
‘I don’t know if it’s the Sun God.’
Among all the beings on this land, there was an existence that had a unique position.
The Sun God.
He might be able to directly or indirectly interfere with the fate of others. But that was just speculation.
Fate was determined by the universe and the law of things. No matter how strong the Sun God was, it wouldn’t be an easy task even for him.
“I could be mistaken. You don’t have to take it so seriously.”
“No. It is a story that makes sense. The fate of a human being—no, she is not a normal human, but she has the same blood as the Demon King. I will not be dismissing this as a coincidence.”
“Then is my guess correct?”
“I am not saying it is correct. It just makes more sense.”
It wasn’t immediately clear whether a transcendent being of that level had actually intervened. If a being of that level had intervened, finding out about it would be as difficult as picking the right star in the night sky.
“But one thing I am sure of… is that Sarah Welton is involved in this case.”
“By this case, are you referring to the World Tree drying up?”
“Yes. I was thinking of calling everyone to talk about it.”
“The situation seems to be serious.”
“Perhaps it’s the end of the world.”
Hiyan smiled as she spoke. The depth of her voice showed how serious the situation was.
The end of the world.
To prevent that from happening, they made contact with a girl who had a contract with the Water Spirit King.
Even so, that meant that there was still the possibility that the Spirit King might not be able to solve the problem.
“The chance of success?”
“Well, around 10%…”
“Is that all?”
“I don’t even know if that will happen.”
Hasyath’s face contorted.
Even with the power of the Spirit King, if the chances were that low, then it was close to failing. In the first place, this just meant that reviving the World Tree was impossible.
“I am asking just for confirmation. Was there a reason why you asked us to be their escorts?”
Hasyath hadn’t asked until now, but he couldn’t understand why the Rans were asked to save World Tree.
He accepted the request, thinking that since it was a case that involved the World Tree, there might be something that the Valle sisters couldn’t do.
Listening to Hiyan’s words, he had an intuition that there might be some other reason. And then she answered,
“Yes. We judged that we could not solve this by ourselves, so I thought it would be nice if Isis came, but then it seemed like it would be difficult for her.”
She thought that if it was Isis, she would be able to handle the risks that might arise because she had the power of a God. But Isis wasn’t fated to come.
If she had the ability to see the future, she would have taken it into consideration and tried out something better.
“What is it?”
“I’ll tell you when everyone has gathered.”
“I get it. I will call all of them.”
The two quickly summoned everyone.
The Ran warriors, Sarah and Ash, and even the High Elves all gathered.
Rebecca stood with Hiyan. And the two looked at each other as Hiyan began to brief them on the current situation.
“Before we begin, I would like to inform everyone about the situation we are in right now.”
To sum it up, it was like this: The World Tree is currently drying up. If left unattended, the World Tree would dry up in a month’s time, and if that happened, all the plants on the continent would lose their lives and die.
It was because the World Tree spread its roots all around the Loen Continent, and they all played a vital role in supplying life to all living things.
If all the plants started to die, then the herbivores would slowly go down in number, and then the carnivores would die as well. All the species, including humans, would have a shortage of food, and the population would decline.
The civilization would falter, and it would be like the World Reset caused by the Gods.
Or maybe even more brutal.
It was because the continent would turn into a barren land where it would be difficult to live, and humanity couldn’t recover from it.
“All animals and plants will become extinct within ten years at the most. Knowledgeable beings like us will survive, but the next human generation and the ones after them would perish for sure.”
The death of the World Tree would not result in the world’s immediate demise, but it would perish very slowly.
When one comes to their senses, those living in small villages with less than 100 people would have the highest population.
Not everyone was able to open their mouths easily since it was too much to understand.
They only heard about the possibility of the world ending, but the way it was explained made them feel anxious.
One of the Ran warriors raised his hand.
“I heard that if we borrow the power of the Water Spirit King, it can be solved.”
“It is possible, but I’m not sure. The chances are 10%.”
“10%…?”
The Ran warriors looked to one side. They also couldn’t believe what they were hearing.
Another warrior asked,
“If it is difficult to solve even with the help of the Spirit King, can this be solved with the Black Tower’s help?”
There were many powerful people in the Black Tower. In particular, the owner of that place, the Demon King, was powerful enough to keep the Sun God in check.
“All their powers are for destroying, so making use of them is not possible. If it was possible, I would have gone there right away.”
Becoming a being that was like a God didn’t mean they were omnipotent.
There were beings in this world who were close to becoming omnipotent, but no one was fully like that.
“That means that there are no other answers if even the Spirit King cannot do it.”
“You mean to say that woman holds the fate of the world?”
“We haven’t made the decision with the Sun God yet, so I thought that the world would be in danger.”
The warriors mumbled with grim expressions, and Sarah also looked like she just realized how serious the situation was.
“Is there any other option?”
Sarah asked Ash, but Ash didn’t seem to have an answer. If there was another way, they would have done it.
Then Hasyath asked,
“What is the cause?”
It was the question he had asked earlier, but Hiyan didn’t answer it then. She said she would answer it only in everyone’s presence.
“I don’t think such a huge tree will wither like this overnight.”
“Right. According to our findings…”
Hiyan began to explain why the World Tree had begun to dry up.
“Pest.”
“… pest? You are saying that such a huge tree is dying because of that?”
Hasyath doubted it. How many pests must there be to kill a tree as huge as the World Tree?
Even if they were monstrous pests, it would be impossible. Also, if a pest alone was enough to kill the World Tree, it would have happened a long time ago.
“It is because they have dug too deep into the tree.”
“… and the number of pests?”
If it was enough to destroy the tree and kill it, there couldn’t be just one or two of them.
And the words that came out of Hiyan’s mouth shocked Hasyath.
“Just one. A single pest is killing the World Tree.”
“What nonsense is…”
How could one single pest destroy a huge tree?
“There is only one, but it is not a normal pest. I just used that word to describe it because there is no better word for it than a pest.”
This made Hasyath go silent.
“The monster’s name is Nidhog. The one that gnawed on the World Tree and was sealed away by the first manager a long time ago has resurrected.”
A long time ago.
The World Tree existed alone, unprotected by anyone.
It focused on planting countless seeds to transform the world from a wasteland into a green one. Even the Nature Gods acknowledged the presence of the World Tree and called it an immovable God.
It was a tree that spread its benefits around the world. However, since it was such a perfect tree, pests were attracted to it.
The monster called ‘Nidhog.’
The monster that looked like a dragon escaped the eyes of the Gods and began to eat the World Tree. It was an insignificant monster, so the Gods didn’t notice it.
Nidhog continuously gnawed the tree, and the nutrients in the tree became Nidhog’s strength.
Then one day, an eagle living on top of the World Tree noticed something abnormal.
After learning that it was Nidhog, the eagle asked the Gods to punish the pest. And so the Gods descended to kill him, but the monster that sucked away the essence of the tree was not as weak as before.
Numerous Nature Gods fell before the power of Nidhog, and the World Tree began to die rapidly.
“And our ancestors came.”
The first elf and a newly born Nature God.
Odin.
Odin defeated Nidhog and sealed him into another dimension with the help of the World Tree. The dimension was sealed to make sure he wouldn’t come out.
He built a kingdom around the World Tree and gave birth to numerous nature Gods.
That place was Asgard.
However, Odin and Thor were defeated by Ra, and Asgard was wiped out.
“And the dimension that had imprisoned Nidhog must have weakened, and he reappeared in this world.”
More than 70,000 years have passed since Odin’s death.
The seal he created weakened, and the High Elves, who didn’t know about it, didn’t predict this would happen.
“How did you know?”
“The High Elves are a race that preserves everything. And we have always recorded history. It was difficult to find out about it, but we eventually did.”
“Right… but why did you say there is no solution? Isn’t it enough to kill the monster called Nidhog?”
As Hasyath asked, the reason why the World Tree was dying was because of Nidhog.
No matter how strong the monster was, if the Black Tower stepped in, it would die in an instant.
But Hiyan shook her head.
“As I said, it can be subdued, but killing it isn’t possible.”
“Is it already too late?”
“Whether we catch it early or late, the death of the World Tree is already unstoppable. Only the Water Spirit King has the potential.”
To be honest, the situation wouldn’t have gotten worse if they had responded sooner.
But Nidhog was smart, and even when the seal was lifted, it didn’t get excited and act out. It secretly dug into the World Tree.
By the time the elves figured it out, it was already too late.
“We need to kill it, one way or another.”
Anyway, Nidhog was still inside the World Tree. Regardless of whether they might perish or fail, any monster that would stand in their way should be dealt with before it becomes stronger.
“Call the Black Tower for help. Considering that the opponent is also a God, it will be difficult to defeat it with our own strength.”
“No. You don’t have to do that.”
Rebecca said.
She walked to the World Tree and gently spread her hands.
“Because I am here.”
Wooong!!
The air began to tremble, and a tremendous force swirled around her. Everyone had to cover their faces with their hands to protect themselves from the strong wind.
Rebecca’s hair transformed into water with blue light shining from her eyes.
[Come out now, Elquines!]
Hiyan shuddered.
‘This child…!’
She was a High Elf who has lived for more than 20,000 years and was a contract holder with the Spirit Kings of Fire and Earth.
But the power that Rebecca released far exceeded hers.
A human girl who was just 19 years old. Her power connected to the spirit world.
A huge amount of water gathered in the sky, and it swirled like it wanted to tear the world apart.
‘She is summoning the Water Spirit King from the spirit world in an almost perfect state?!’
[Elquines]
Rebecca’s voice which had calmed down said,
[Please kill that bug]
Easy.
The voice resounded everywhere, and the large amount of water that filled the sky was compressed to the size of a hand, and then shot straight toward the World Tree.
Pung!
The sound of arrows flying.
The streams of water penetrated the World Tree and disappeared.
And…
Kuaaaa!!!
A loud scream was heard from inside.