Chapter 33: The Leaf of the World Tree

The moon shone alone, bright in a night sky empty of stars.

Like a drooping mouth, the crescent moon lay on its side, then slowly rose higher.

But that wasn’t the moon.

It was the World Tree Slash, unleashed to clear away the collapsing building’s debris.

Soaring into the sky in a sideways crescent, it looked just like the moon.

“…Hiccup!”

Yu Jae-yi, standing beside me, hiccupped as she watched it.

Woo Yeon-hu, mouth agape, lifted his head as if moon-gazing.

The hideout had vanished without a trace, and the blue mana soared like the moon, lighting up the surroundings before slowly dispersing. No wonder they were stunned.

Who would have guessed that trying to clear away debris would cause such a spectacle?

It wasn’t just us who were dumbfounded.

Leader Mask, who had finished transforming at some point, stared up at the sky, eyes wide.

He looked like he couldn’t believe what I’d done.

Sensing our gazes, he stepped back several paces.

He probably wanted to get out of Arca’s attack range.

Considering the power I’d shown, it was only natural.

I’d have stepped back too.

“You really are the kin of demons, aren’t you?”

“Is that so? Looks like a bug to me, hiccup.”

Just as she said, Leader Mask looked like a bug transforming into a human.

When his mask fell off during his transformation, antennae and fangs grew from his face, making it a grotesque mix of human and insect.

He had wings on his back like Kim Jeong-cheol, but their shape was a bit different.

Kim Jeong-cheol’s wings resembled those of a bat, but Leader Mask’s wings were transparent, like those of an insect.

“Baek Do-un… what on earth are you?”

There was fear in Leader Mask’s voice as he asked.

He’d gone on about overwhelming power, but now he seemed to have lost all will to fight.

If I hadn’t used World Tree Slash, Yu Jae-yi and Woo Yeon-hu would have felt the same fear as he did.

Anyone is bound to feel fear in the face of unknown power.

“Just an ordinary D-rank Hunter.”

“I’m not asking about your rank! That disgustingly pure mana! How did you obtain such mana?!”

Disgusting?

From the way he talked, he must have sensed the World Tree’s power in me.

But it was funny how he was disgusted by pure mana.

The Seedling despised him, and he found the Seedling revolting.

I suppose the World Tree and the demons are mortal enemies.

“How did I get it?”

“Yes! There’s no way you just have that kind of mana! How—”

“From a game?”

“What?”

“You asked how I got it. I got it from playing a game.”

I shrugged as I watched his flustered reaction.

Yu Jae-yi and Woo Yeon-hu stared at me with baffled expressions.

I was telling the truth, but everyone who heard it looked at me as if I were spouting nonsense.

Of course they didn’t believe me.

Even Do-hee and Tae-cheon, who trusted me implicitly, had considered looking up a mental hospital for me until I showed them the Seedling on my smartphone.

“Why don’t you try playing steadily for a year? It’s quite fun. Very satisfying.”

“You damned brat! Are you mocking me?!”

“You asked, so I answered. Why are you getting mad? I’m not mocking you. It’s true.”

“Enjoy it while you can! That won’t last long!”

“Come on, if you’re not going to believe me, why ask?”

“Eek!”

Leader Mask began emitting black smoke from his whole body.

The black smoke spread out from him, dissolving the corpses of his dead subordinates.

That wasn’t all.

Even the hideout’s concrete and steel beams began to melt.

Definitely poison.

Thanks to my skill, poison couldn’t harm me, but Yu Jae-yi was another matter.

“Get to higher ground!”

“Ah, got it!”

“Please take care of Yu Jae-yi!”

“Yes!”

Shouting, I dashed toward Leader Mask.

I figured the best thing was to get rid of him, the one releasing the poison, right away.

The problem was, he’d anticipated that.

Just before Arca reached him, he used his transparent wings to lift off and flee into the sky.

Buzzing through the air, he looked just like a giant mosquito.

I was reminded of those sleepless summer nights, and a rush of heat went through me.

“Get down here, you mosquito bastard!”

“I’m a centipede, not a mosquito!”

“As if. What about you looks like a centipede?”

“Look at these red antennae!”

“So just because your antennae are red, you’re a centipede? If you really want to call yourself that, come down here and rip off those wings!”

Centipede, my foot.

The way he dodged Arca’s blue blades was exactly like a mosquito.

A mosquito, annoyingly avoiding a fly swatter many times its size.

“Hahaha! Can you really afford to be so relaxed, Baek Do-un?”

“What, you? All you do is run away up there, but you sure talk big.”

“Do you really think so? Then look at that!”

He pointed, and I turned to see Yu Jae-yi suffering.

Woo Yeon-hu looked at her in confusion.

The black poison smoke only filled the basement.

On the surface, they shouldn’t have been affected by it, yet she was in pain.

Which meant…

“Invisible poison, huh.”

“That’s right! When I release visible poison, people tend to ignore the invisible kind!”

Not bad.

I, too, had thought I only needed to avoid the black smoke.

I hadn’t considered invisible poison.

“And also—!”

“Ugh…!”

Beside me, Woo Yeon-hu twisted in agony as he worried about Yu Jae-yi.

I hadn’t expected him to be affected by the poison, though.

He’d come through even the Hong Yuryung Gate, rated A+ for its toxins and frost, unscathed.

Did that mean this guy’s poison was stronger than Hong Yuryung’s?

“My poison only gets worse the more it accumulates in your body. Even A-rank Hunters can’t withstand it! Soon, you’ll be on your knees just like them!”

“……”

“Now, fall into despair! Ha ha, ahaha!”

He burst into wild laughter.

He laughed so hard I thought his red antennae might fall off.

Good grief, how could this guy be even more annoying than a summer mosquito?

For the sake of those suffering from the poison, I needed to finish him quickly.

I looked up at Leader Mask, preparing World Tree Slash.

He was still laughing like a fool.

Fine, just keep letting your guard down like that—die before you know it.

“World Tree Slash…!”

“Ahaha—AAGH!”

A blue crescent soared into the sky, but unfortunately, it failed to cut Leader Mask’s body.

Laughing carelessly, he saw me swing Arca and dodged to the side.

The massive blade was powerful enough to obliterate the entire hideout, but being so big, it wasn’t that hard to avoid.

Still, at least I wiped the grin off that detestable face.

“How? Baek Do-un, how are you unharmed?!”

“I’m immune to poison?”

“What?”

“No matter how strong your poison is, it’s useless. Poison just doesn’t work on me.”

“……”

“World Tree Slash!”

“Eeek…!”

I used World Tree Slash again, aiming at the shocked face peering down at me.

I thought it’d work, given how stunned he looked.

Unfortunately, he dodged easily.

From his panicked reaction, I could tell that taking a hit would mean instant death.

He dodged like a mosquito, so it was almost impossible to land a blow.

“Guh…!”

Behind me, Woo Yeon-hu collapsed to his knees in pain.

Seeing that, Leader Mask regained his confidence and started jeering again.

“So what if you’re immune? What about him? At this rate, he’ll be dead soon.”

“Him? Not them, but him?”

He didn’t include Yu Jae-yi in his ‘about to die’ statement.

Even now, he intended to keep her alive and take her.

Just as I thought, Kraud really needed her.

I didn’t know the reason, but it had to be her.

Why couldn’t it be another blacksmith?

“I’ll let Woo Yeon-hu live.”

He suddenly said something unexpected.

He swept his arm, gathering the poison smoke that covered the ground.

The poison smoke soon coiled into the shape of a giant serpent.

Guess he won’t give up his centipede act to the very end.

“In exchange, hand over that woman.”

“Crazy bastard.”

“…You’d better think carefully.”

With that, he swung his arm.

The giant snake-shaped poison smoke writhed and crept toward Woo Yeon-hu.

He made it clear that, if I didn’t watch my mouth, he’d have it pounce and kill him at any moment.

“We can’t kill each other, after all.”

He had a point.

His attacks didn’t affect me at all, and he could dodge everything I threw at him.

World Tree Slash was powerful, but useless if I couldn’t hit a flying enemy.

It was my physical limitations.

No matter how good the weapon or how powerful the skill, my body itself was only at C-rank Hunter level.

That, too, was thanks to eating the Fruit.

Originally, I’d been just D-rank.

This was what they called ‘pearls before swine.’

“So, if you hand over Yu Jae-yi, I’ll withdraw.”

“Do-un! Are you going to keep listening to that?”

I turned and saw Woo Yeon-hu smiling faintly.

He spoke clearly, despite the poison.

“I’m fine. Save her instead.”

“Don’t… be ridiculous… ahk!”

“…Will you be all right?”

“Of course.”

Without the slightest hesitation, he chose to die so she could live.

He placed her life above his own.

I shifted my gaze to Yu Jae-yi.

She bit her trembling lips and shook her head fiercely.

Both of them were begging me to save the other, not themselves.

What a pair of fools who don’t know the value of their own lives.

“Ugh, I’m really bad at this sort of thing.”

I slung Arca over my shoulder and stopped channeling mana.

I turned off Barkskin, too.

“…?”

The two of them, and the mosquito, watched me in silence.

They must not have understood why I suddenly put away my weapon.

Under their watchful gaze, I spoke quietly.

“World Tree Summon.”

Just like at the hospital, all my mana vanished at once.

Dizzy from the depletion, I staggered.

Fortunately, I’d been through this before, so I didn’t collapse.

“Ki-kiyaaagh!”

Even through the vertigo, I heard a shrill scream and looked up.

He buzzed around, disoriented, just like a mosquito hit by household insecticide.

Now, I could have cut him with Arca, but I’d used up all my mana.

I couldn’t form a giant mana blade or use any skills.

I doubted I could even hit him by throwing Arca.

“Oh, my body feels better?”

“This skill… it’s the one you used at the hospital…”

They checked that the poison smoke was gone, then looked at me in amazement.

More precisely, at the Seedling sprouting above my head.

Their eyes demanded an explanation, but I had no intention of giving one.

I just did what I had to do.

I pulled my smartphone from my armor and launched the game.

Perhaps because the Seedling was above my head, it didn’t appear on the screen.

I tapped the mailbox right away.

Inside was “Previous World Tree’s Leaf.”

The earth imbued with the World Tree’s energy had purified Skeletons simply by existing.

If it was a World Tree leaf, it could serve as a talisman to purify that guy’s poison.

I pressed the receive button.

A World Tree leaf popped out of my smartphone screen.

“A leaf…?”

What appeared was not what I’d expected.

After all, last time it was supposed to be a branch, but a whole log had come out.

This time, I wondered if the “leaf” would be as big as a parasol.

Just as I’d suspected, the leaf that appeared was massive.

However, it wasn’t a broadleaf…

[Previous World Tree’s Leaf (Ver. Conifer)]

…It was a conifer leaf.