Ch.1000Arson Plan

We headed toward The World Tree, believing that Persiella would take care of the monster guarding that enormous tree.

“Kyahaaaak!”

The monster of The World Tree roared fiercely as it shook off Persiella, then turned sharply toward us as we tried to pass by it toward The World Tree.

Eyes burning with flames, a maw gaping like a pit at the bottom of the abyss. From within, a crimson light flickered like the sunset.

How dare you approach.

With such an audible hallucination of its will, the beast exhaled a reddish-gold breath toward us.

– Kuooooooooo!

It was molten lava from an erupting volcano, a storm of lightning, the very light of destruction that pulverizes everything.

Dodge it…!

No, the range is too wide. Ophelia and Perneisia can’t avoid it.

In that case.

“Block it!”

I pulled my left hand back behind my shoulder, clenching my fist, while simultaneously turning to Demian and Ophelia and shouting.

“Using people so roughly…!”

“I’ll deploy the barrier of holy light at the end! It will repel the mana!”

While Ophelia grumbled, she gathered her mana that had fallen to less than half, and Demian held out his holy sword like a shield, infusing it with the power of Karma.

And I.

“Ha-galaz-!”

Activating the rune of collapse, I thrust my left arm forward, shooting a vacuum fist wrapped in destructive mana.

Heaven-Piercing Collapse Fist.

The formless vortex wrapped in runic mana collided with the breath of light. Like thrusting an awl into lava.

– Kwajijijijijik!

Crimson and blue lights tore into shreds, scattering countless fragments of light. Scattered light streams tore through the earth, and shock waves raged like gales.

The collapsing fist that cut through the monster’s bombardment was spinning like a vortex, crushing and scattering the monster’s mana.

Two seconds like that.

– Kwaoooooo!

The collapsing fist, neutralized and spent, vanished as if swallowed, and the light beam, its force reduced by half, surged toward us again.

“I can’t hold it for long!”

Following that, Ophelia stretched her right hand toward the beam of light.

Dozens of meters ahead of her, a rainbow-colored magic circle adorned the air, unfolding a barrier of mana.

A mana field imbued with spatial distortion techniques.

The high-level defensive magic stolen from the dragon lord blocked the torrent of light and twisted the space itself to disperse it in all directions.

Thunderous sound and flashes of light. Like waves hitting a cliff, the spray of light spread widely, causing extensive destruction.

Of course, this didn’t last long.

Spatial distortion was a technique that consumed enormous mana proportional to its performance. Even Ophelia, who had obtained the dragon’s inner core, couldn’t maintain it for long.

It wasn’t a matter of total mana, but the limit of instantaneous output that couldn’t be overcome as a human.

If she maintained such massive mana output for too long, even if the dragon’s inner core could endure, her physical body itself couldn’t withstand it.

Her body would burst.

Like a balloon going “pop.”

– Kwachachang!

Therefore, the spatial distortion field Ophelia deployed soon reached its limit and shattered into pieces.

And then.

“Now, Demian!”

“I know!”

Pure white holy light unfurled the moment this was confirmed. The divine miracle of Elpinel dwelling in Gram became a barrier of light that destroyed all evil things.

By limiting the direction to the front, the barrier of holy light achieved several times the intensity of a normal defensive miracle.

It intercepted the monster’s breath, which had lost momentum due to my and Ophelia’s defense, and scattered it like black ashes.

– Gooooo….

The torrent of light completely dissipated, leaving only heat and haze.

The monster of The World Tree let out a fierce, vehement roar in frustration at its ultimate attack being rendered futile, and it inhaled massive amounts of mana and air through its wide-open mouth, seemingly preparing to shoot another breath.

However.

“Where are you looking!”

Dozens of ice spears, rising like icebergs, pierced the monster’s lower jaw like wedges. They were the cold pillars created by Persiella.

“To prioritize other enemies while I stand before you. Do you dare have such leisure? You overestimate yourself too much!”

Star Splitting.

Persiella, who leaped up crushing an iceberg underfoot, unleashed the technique of spatial collapse once more.

One of the monster’s horns, which had been crackling with lightning, shattered into pieces, and with the following “Destruction,” the monster’s cheek was completely torn off.

“Leuaaaaah! Kyhaaaaak!”

The monster writhed, letting out a shrill scream. It swung its regenerated forelimbs of fire and lava in all directions, repeatedly striking the ground with its tail.

“Yes, that’s right! You shall die here as my plaything!”

With a cry of ecstasy, Persiella charged toward the beast.

Though not done out of goodwill, thanks to her thoroughly marking the monster, we were able to advance toward The World Tree without any interference.

—-

On the straight path toward The World Tree.

“Wait, how did they fight to turn the middle of a great forest into a desert…?”

Ophelia let out a hollow laugh, seemingly dumbfounded by the surrounding landscape.

The capital of the fairies, once full of lush forests and marble buildings, was now nothing but broken ruins and dried sand.

Due to Varnir, who had desperately drained all the life force from the surrounding vegetation, the center of Alvheim had completely transformed into a desert.

“I heard long ago that the great forest was originally a desert… I didn’t know it was true.”

Perneisia murmured with something like admiration as she looked around at the sand dunes everywhere.

“The great forest was originally a desert?”

“Yes. It’s a legend passed down in Alvheim. When the fairy god took root in the barren desert without a single blade of grass, the entire surroundings were covered with the greenery of forests, creating today’s great forest.”

The young fairy grandmother, hundreds of years old, told an old story known only to her kind. A story about the origin of the great forest.

“Until now, I thought it was just a simple legend….”

“It’s probably true. Varnir used a similar power. You saw it too, right?”

The power of creation that made all kinds of grass and weeds bloom just by walking, and when properly manifested, could instantly create a forest of giant trees.

That was originally the power of The World Tree, so it wouldn’t have been difficult for The World Tree, the owner of that power, to transform a desert into a lush forest.

“Then… if we really burn down The World Tree, will this great forest return to being a desert?”

Demian asked curiously.

The desertification of the great forest. From the perspective of the humans of this era—that is, the imperials or the holy state people—it was no exaggeration to say that this would be the realization of a dream come true.

“Well… I’m not sure. I don’t think it would be entirely a good thing.”

Of course, from my perspective as a civilized person from modern Earth, it wasn’t something I could simply be happy about.

Originally, forests in the world are generally beneficial, and the more they decrease and disappear, the more they cause global problems.

You know, issues like increased carbon dioxide, global warming, and such.

The most lush rainforest, the Amazon, was even called the lungs of the Earth… the disappearance of such a vast forest seemed like a loss rather than a gain, even from people’s perspective.

Of course, it was an enormously long-term and gradual loss—in other words, something for distant future descendants to worry about.

It’s not like the whole world would suddenly get hotter if the great forest disappeared. Though it might eventually happen.

“What are you talking about?”

“Well, that is… umm….”

But there’s no natural way to explain this.

The humans of this world probably don’t have concepts of oxygen, carbon dioxide, or photosynthesis, and even if they did, it would be strange for me, a half-barbarian by bloodline, to know about them.

“Anyone would find it easier to live in a forest than a desert, right? Even if territory expands, it’s meaningless if it’s all desert. That’s what I mean.”

Therefore, instead of going on about carbon capture and global warming, I gave an answer that even a medieval person could understand.

“Ah…. Certainly, if you think of it as occupied territory, that’s true.”

Indeed, when I put it that way, he understood well. It was a very appropriate example.

—-

“Since we’re almost there… can I ask you something?”

As we approached The World Tree, Ophelia, who was flying while carrying Perneisia, spoke to me.

“So, how exactly do you plan to destroy that thing? Are you going to set fire to the base or something?”

A question about what we’re going to do next, now that we’ve fortunately succeeded in this reckless plan and made it this far.

“Honestly, I don’t think that kind of method would work at all. We may have mocked it as a big tree or whatever, but it’s still a god. The god of fairies.”

The look in her eyes contained disbelief, as if asking whether such a thing could really be killed by fire.

Yes. I could understand.

The World Tree seen up close was so thick, so tall, and so massive that its presence alone was overwhelming enough to dominate everything in the world.

Calling it a big tree was just a gross understatement. The World Tree before us looked less like a tree and more like a cliff filling the entire horizon and soaring high into the sky.

Even if I were to unleash the sun of karmic fire that I demonstrated when fighting the revived ghost knights by Feyus, compared to its massive body, it would be nothing more than a wound from a match burn.

“No matter how big it is, a tree is still a tree. It must be burnable. Yes, we need to burn it. That person—no, that cursed tree. We can do it. We can.”

Perneisia answered, almost rambling.

“Won’t it work…? No, that can’t be. Trees naturally burn, right? The World Tree must be the same. It’s impossible. Fire. Yes, we need fire. A very big fire. A flame big enough to satisfy The World Tree.”

A tone mixing hatred and awe, ecstasy and desperation in a complete mess.

Was it because her blood alcohol level had hit rock bottom? Or because she was facing the god of her race? She looked completely out of her mind.

They say there’s always a bottom below the bottom, but she truly keeps setting new lows with each encounter.

“Demian, please cast a mental defense on Perneisia.”

“I’m not sure if it will work on a fairy… but alright.”

Demian cast the miracle of mental defense. A pure white radiance circled above Perneisia’s head before disappearing as if seeping into her.

“Ah.”

Uttering a single groan, Perneisia slowly blinked her eyes a couple of times, and then, as if her senses had returned, she let out a curse mixed with a sigh.

Words full of blasphemy that would rival Mein.

“Motherless fatherless parasitic firewood bastard. Where does this public property of the elders get off acting so high and mighty? Must be soaked to the brain in their fluids.”

…Well, she’s definitely back to normal. This is our Perneisia.

I was reassured by her outburst and turned my head to glare at the giant tree before us.

And I thought about how to kill it.

The method Astraea told me was to combine the power of the two runes, the Karma of Murder and the Karma of Defying Fate, and wield them as one.

However, that alone was insufficient. I could instinctively sense it. To destroy The World Tree, something more was needed.

Something.

The answer was provided by the power of the star dwelling within me. The star spoke to me. Taught me.

No, that star was me from the beginning.

From the start, I knew the answer. I just couldn’t recall it immediately because I had suppressed my demigod status again.

“We need to destroy the core. The divine core of The World Tree. The central organ where its divinity is concentrated. The heart of the god.”

Burning the divine core with flames created by the twilight rune. That was the way to kill a god.

Or cutting that divine core with Demian’s sword.

The holy sword Gram was a god-slaying sword that Elpinel had reforged to kill gods. Gram, with its true power unleashed, could destroy The World Tree’s divine core.

…Good, I remember the method.

So we need to destroy the divine core.

Then, the remaining problem is….

“Divine core…? What’s that? The heart of The World Tree, where exactly is it attached?”

Confirming the location of the divine core. That was the only thing left.

“That’s for you to find out.”

“What nonsense?”

I entrusted that role to Ophelia. Though she looked at me as if I was talking gibberish.

“You can see mana, right? Use that to examine that tree. Things like the flow of power dwelling within it, or the location where that power is concentrated into one.”

“I don’t think I can tell just by looking at that….”

Although Ophelia showed a skeptical reaction, she opened her rainbow-colored mana eyes as I instructed and gazed at The World Tree.

And after a while.

“Huh, why can I see this…?”

Ophelia murmured quietly with a perplexed face.