Chapter 377

Chapter 377

Eat The World Tree.

Episode 377: Cornus Subjugation (5)

A body, transformed into a corpse, twitched.

Through the experience of dying multiple times, my senses faded and returned repeatedly.

Having overcome the pain after a long night, I heard an old man’s voice.

“You probably can’t understand.”

An old man was suspended by a rope at the summit of a peach tree mountain, where not a single star shone.

“Do you know how many years I’ve dedicated to climbing this far?”

The river of blood swayed and surged.

The lake split with each step, and the falling blossoms avoided him.

“At the summit, overcoming the constant state, transcending death, hanging the seething intestines by the stem, and crossing the invisible pass after being dismembered—only then can one reach the Wall.”

Cross that wall.

-Twitch.

A bloody mass of flesh, unrecognizable as human.

Slowly, I lifted my eyelids.

The blurred clear smoke formed a thick, circular wall, creating a tall tower, and at the top of the tower of mist, the dark dawn sky was visible.

It was far.

The place I needed to reach and the future I desired.

I didn’t know how much stronger I had to become.

“The road is long.”

The old man said.

I looked around the dark space once more with dead eyes.

Peach blossoms were falling along the waves of the massive mountain range.

“…Today is the day of falling blossoms.”

The old man lifted a wine glass with his wrinkled hand.

He took a sip of the blood-filled wine.

“Yes, do you think you understand now?”

I didn’t.

I could not count the fading flowers.

No matter how many times I recovered from death.

I, who could not even cross the wall of a century, was not even a vessel to receive power.

“It’s been quite a while since you came to Dowon and received my power. I don’t know what kind of place you’ll return to.”

The old man muttered.

“There will come a time when you can’t handle the increased power.”

My crushed eyeballs began to take shape due to the divine power, and my sight gradually returned.

The old man was laughing wildly at me.

As soon as the sensation in my hands returned, I took a martial arts stance.

My weak punch was blocked by the old man.

-Thump!

Next to his lightly extended hand, the face of Cheonma was torn long.

“Indeed… I like that eye.”

Next to my face, half crushed and with bones sticking out, a well-crafted fist, like a blade, flew in.

“You are my masterpiece.”

S-Class Hunters.

Ranked 65th and 104th among hunters excluding the highest realm.

Allen Twins.

In the corridor where light returned, leisurely footsteps were heard.

A man with color-lost eyes, surrounded by something black.

“I heard there were multiple intruders. Is it just one?”

The two nameless brothers scanned his figure in an instant.

-Thump, thump.

He approached very slowly, as if he couldn’t even see the enemy in front of him.

Belatedly, he raised both hands and took a martial arts stance.

Long, torn black pupils, and a kind of power that was hard to call magic.

Each of them drew up their magic power due to the opponent’s pressure, which savagely stabbed their spine.

‘…What is that power?’

There were quite a few people with black magic power.

But they had never heard of such a sticky black color.

“Pull yourself together. Do as you’ve been doing. We won’t lose.”

“…I know.”

The brothers took a stance.

-Snap!

The two moved.

Two arms of the tree sprouted like wings from the brothers’ backs and shot towards the man.

‘I don’t know what kind of monster he is, but I won’t lose in speed.’

Even a skilled person could be penetrated if there was a brief gap.

The moment a conviction settled on the faces of the two Allens.

-Crunch!

The two brothers’ vision was split in half in an instant.

Two pairs of torn wings fell to the floor.

As the sound of something shattering rang in their ears, black magic concealed their surroundings.

‘…White magic?’

The thread-like white magic, surging white, cut through their bodies.

“Kwak!”

Unknown power, speed, and skill.

“Keuk, keuk!”

Before they could even stab the place they were aiming for, the man’s figure disappeared, and their whole body was torn to pieces.

In their fading life, the man brushed past the pupils of the two Allens.

Just a lone human without any weapons.

He used his own power in reverse in a very short time.

It was said that those who had achieved the ultimate in martial arts, body training, and practice reached that point.

But they had never seen anyone with such a natural transition in combat posture.

The man was steadily moving his steps forward.

Gray Winter Magic Tower Owner Nia N Carmen.

“You’re a face I haven’t seen before. Seeing you come this far, you don’t seem like a loafer.”

“A wizard?”

“Why, don’t you understand? There are many wizards who excel in close combat these days. Well, even if I tell you, you’ll die here.”

I felt an unpleasant sensation like pulling muscles in my arm with magic power.

“You’re overdoing it, aren’t you? I can tell by looking at you. I don’t know how long you’ll maintain that power, but meeting me means your luck has run out.”

-Thump!

The surrounding magic power began to expand in an instant, and a polygonal space was created.

The space that contained my body like a coffin was more difficult to move than I imagined.

“I’ll crush you as you are? You should have at least thought about running away.”

“……”

My arms and legs were twisted as if they were about to break.

I couldn’t even move a finger.

“It’s great that you came this far, but this is the end, friend. I’m bored to death. Before Mugung and Baekdo come, I’ll block you appropriately… and take the money and leave.”

Such was magic.

It could not function properly without three well-crafted formulas.

“Don’t move. I’ve seen enough of your fighting style. You’re a martial artist, right? Killing an S-class ranker is surprising, even for me. But this is the end.”

The first was the phenomenon that controlled the effect of the magic itself.

The second was a trap that made reverse calculation impossible.

The third was a safety device in case the magic activation went awry.

I reached out and tore apart the magic formula by injecting magic power into it.

-Crunch!

The reason Maronnie and the Sage were recognized as the pinnacle of wizards from our time in the Cradle was that they left no room for even such small loopholes.

“What? You… are you a wizard?”

I moved forward, entering the opponent’s space.

I didn’t give them a chance to react.

“…Wait!”

The sensation of flesh being cut lightly spread like slicing tofu along the edge of my hand.

The disheveled hair that fell from the body flew through the air and crashed to the floor.

-Thwack!

Directly into the next corridor.

There, a woman with black, rotten skin was smiling strangely.

“Hello~”

“Where are Sansuyu and San Hyukwon?”

“How would I know? We’re just hired help, so we don’t know confidential information. Right?”

Then there was no reason to guard this path.

I looked down at her, and she smiled slyly.

“White Ant. You’re a new one from there, aren’t you?”

—

Underground.

The chemist of the rootlets. Marlene.

She scratched her large chest and smiled, holding up a finger.

“Isn’t your skin slowly melting?”

“……”

“I have a poison that works on everything from humans to tree spirits and trees. Personally, I’d like you to become an Ent since you’re a tree spirit.”

-Drip.

Something lumpy fell from her palm.

Apex of poison and biochemical substances.

Thanks to the development of new technology that reversed elements through magic power, there were over 300 chemical elements in this world.

That meant you could kill people more cruelly.

“I’ve spread all kinds of poisons I’ve made in this corridor. You seem to be holding out for a long time. But it won’t last long.”

Nevertheless, it was just poison.

In this world where you could kill your opponent without touching or being infected… poison that only works when you inhaled or touched it directly wasn’t really that threatening.

The World Tree’s mark or divine power, or the world you lived in being reversed.

Or being forced to die by a quest you didn’t even know how to solve. That was a more complex and frightening power.

“…Why do you keep moving?”

“Who knows.”

The power of healing repaired the rapidly collapsing cell walls.

“What are you… is that even possible? That poison can kill all living things in this world with just a pinch.”

Then the old man’s fist in Dowon must be stronger than that poison.

I quickly approached the woman, who had lost her composure, and reached out my hand.

“…!”

The magic power that erupted from my lightly spread palm created a rough air-splitting sound.

【 Illusion of Dragon Eye Peach · Piercing Flower 】

Without a drop of blood, a large hole was created in the woman’s upper body at the same time as a light shockwave.

She wasn’t a very strong opponent.

The last martial artist · Member of the Wudang Sect · Red Tiger.

“You’re a martial artist. That power… is it the energy of Cheonma?”

“Yeah.”

“The power of Dowon… Ah, that place was beautiful. Although it was destroyed by the hands of many, including mine.”

It was nice to see someone who remembered those days.

It was only briefly pleasant, but the fact that they were someone to kill didn’t change.

“Those who received that power were always strong. The current Baekdo, the old Cheonma… and the forgotten Young Demon in between.”

“I don’t have time.”

It was useless to listen to every conversation.

I was barely keeping my sanity because I was always going all out.

I observed the opponent’s magic power and the movement of their body muscles with my eyes.

“Tai Chi Divine Art. There was a man I wanted to fight at least once. I will give my all with the heart of facing that man.”

I didn’t know what dreams he had in the already declining martial arts world.

I know the power of Taoism well.

“Wudang… was a damn old man.”

“…What?”

“He said that Taoism exists in a place beyond human artifice and that we should follow it. He rambled on about things he didn’t even know, and didn’t care about anything around him.”

Thanks to that, it was difficult to reform.

“What’s there to show off by recalling a world where there are no records, talking about Taoists and returning to nature?”

He was one of the many elders who betrayed Dowon.

As I took a stance and moved, the opponent extended his sword.

-Flash!

Each of our martial arts unfolded in the air in an instant, stirring the surrounding order.

Only one person was standing on the floor.

Fragments of iron fell powerlessly.

“Keuheup, why, how… my martial arts…”

Could that even be called martial arts?

It was just a game of power by gathering remnants of the past.

I kept walking forward.

Amidst a bit of pain and discomfort, I spoke to him.

“I said something to your sect’s elders.”

“You… you’re… wait…”

The man’s voice cracked.

“-You. You should have been dead. Keup, keuhak!!!!”

Despair filled the face of Red Tiger, who died spitting blood.

Long ago, when I was handling practical matters in Dowon, I said something to that old man.

He only looked at the old and didn’t even think about building something new.

Even so, he only wanted power to roll in.

Eventually, in a place where I wasn’t, it accumulated and even led to betrayal.

Even if you revived Wudang, which had already lost its lineage, you could not master its mysteries.

There was no orthodoxy.

There were no talents either.

Denying that was just running away.

-Whoosh!

I moved my hand and shook off the blood.

Next.

This time, the number had definitely increased.

They held their respective weapons, glared at me with the intent to kill, and approached step by step.

There’s no need to recall anyone’s name or face.

【 Black Path 】

Petals poured out, filling the corridor.

Each petal bloomed vividly, piling up around and getting caught in my feet.

Forgetting my pounding heart, I simply extended my straight hand and determined fist forward.

“Ssssh…”

Faster. I had to break through ahead.