episode_0051

“In truth, about 3 months ago, a dungeon appeared at the roots of the World Tree.”

“Miss Shin, that story…”

“It doesn’t matter. After all, everyone here has witnessed the disgrace of Elvengard. There’s nothing more to be ashamed of.”

Despite the elders’ objections, Mia continues to speak, stepping forward.

Seeing this, the elders give up trying to stop her and fall silent.

It seems that the power of the priestess is stronger than expected.

“Please explain in more detail.”

“3 months ago, as I was communing with the World Tree as usual, I sensed magic. Feeling a sense of foreboding, I dug into the ground to investigate. And there, I found a huge stone gate had appeared at the roots of the World Tree.”

“A dungeon.”

“Exactly. Since it appeared at the roots of the Divine Tree, it was natural for us to try to resolve it. Brave elves volunteered to form a task force and entered the dungeon. The result was defeat. No one was able to pass the third room of the dungeon. Many casualties occurred, and attempts to conquer the dungeon gradually decreased until they eventually ceased. And that brings us to the present.”

A dungeon that was abandoned.

But since it’s not the Black Star Dungeon mentioned in the mercenaries’ map, it’s something else.

“How many people know about this?”

“Other than the high-ranking members of Elvengard and all of you, no one else knows.”

She crosses her arms and falls into thought for a moment.

A dungeon appearing at the roots of the World Tree.

It’s a story that hasn’t been heard even once in the past 12 cycles, not even in the game’s story.

In other words, it seems like a setting added by the system to maintain consistency.

So what was the flawed setting this time?

It’s obvious.

“The fact that the World Tree fell into Kali’s hands overnight was a bit strange.”

Even though it’s a tree revered as divine, being corrupted and controlled by one of the Four Kings?

No matter how powerful Kali is as a former druid, it’s too much to believe.

But what if Kali didn’t come and take over the World Tree out of the blue in 6 months?

What if, starting from 3 months ago, over a span of 9 months, she slowly infiltrated the World Tree through the dungeon?

Then it makes sense.

Furthermore, magic was said to flow out of the dungeon.

In a normal dungeon, magic isn’t detected.

It means there are Four Kings inside.

“We’ve been keeping this a secret even from the Great Spirits… For some reason, the Spirit of Fire found out. The Spirit of Fire, knowing that the World Tree will endlessly revive, suggested burning it down completely. But since we kept refusing, they seemed to try to force it with their power…”

Mia says, shaking her head as if embarrassed.

Now the situation is starting to make sense.

From Ifrit’s perspective, the dungeon that appeared at the World Tree must have been very irritating.

Considering what impact it might have on the World Tree later on, their stance was to burn it all down.

If you think about the World Tree’s corruption later on, Ifrit’s intuition was correct.

On the other hand, if the World Tree disappears, the elves will become nomads from that day on.

They would have to embark on an endless journey until they find the resurrected World Tree, so they couldn’t agree to burning it down.

It’s understandable why Ifrit was frustrated and wanted to burn it down.

“If you won’t entrust this to me, I will remove the dungeon.”

“What…?”

There’s no time to waste.

It may be easy to think there’s a 6-month buffer before the World Tree’s corruption, but in reality, that’s not the case.

In fact, corruption may have ended long ago, but it could be transformed into the Tree of Death six months later.

There is no way to know exactly how much time we have left.

We just need to prepare as quickly as possible and go in to eliminate Cali.

That’s the best course of action.

“Please provide information about the dungeon. Testimonials from experienced individuals are also welcome.”

“Wait a moment…”

At that moment, Alicia grabbed my sleeve and pulled me back.

Her expression was quite desperate.

After asking for a moment of understanding, I leaned in to listen to what Alicia whispered softly.

“Do you really want to do this? Do you know how important the World Tree is to the elves? If a dungeon appears in such a World Tree, it means they tried to eliminate it by any means necessary. But even then, they failed, which means the difficulty level is beyond imagination.”

“Why. Scared? You can back out if you’re scared.”

“Yes. I am scared. So, I think you should handle this on your own.”

“But if we solve a problem that the elves couldn’t even mention to the outside world, how much reward could we possibly receive? Combining that with stopping the Great Spirit, we might receive an enormous reward. If you don’t want it, well, there’s nothing we can do. I’ll just go solo…”

“My, my thoughts have changed. I want to join as well.”

Alicia hurriedly changed her mind, looking surprised.

Well, that’s right.

She exchanged the reward for saving Elvengard with information about the dungeon.

It would be a shame to give up without conquering the dungeon.

A wizard joined the raid party.

“What about Mia…”

“Um?”

Mia looked at me with something on the corner of her mouth.

There was nothing to ask.

If the owner goes, we go.

After wiping her mouth with a napkin, I faced Mia again.

“So, will you take on the request?”

“How will you receive your reward?”

I had just finished considering that as well.

I could easily get it from Elvengard, but the reward was definitely not insignificant.

“I will receive a portion of the rights of the World Tree. How about receiving compensation by receiving all future prophecies that come down?”

“…”

Even though her face was covered with a white veil, it seemed like Mia’s expression stiffened.

The elders couldn’t hide their confusion either.

The prophecies of the World Tree.

If you look at them one by one, they seem no better than tarot readings from a fortune teller.

But when dozens or hundreds of prophecies come together, the story changes.

Until the moment I go to defeat the final boss, I have to overcome at least 5 near-death experiences.

Four Heavenly Kings and one final boss.

Each time, I have to gamble with my life.

If I can at least know the future faintly and prepare for it, there is nothing better.

“Can you give me a moment… Can you give me some time to think? It seems difficult to give an immediate answer here.”

“Of course. Please take your time to answer. But if you take too long, who knows what might happen to the World Tree, so it’s better to hurry.”

“…”

With a slight warning, I stood up.

The elders with stern expressions and I shook hands before leaving the restaurant.

Alicia, who had attached herself to my side, asked with a worried expression.

“Have you… made some kind of connection with the dungeon? Why can’t you just ignore the dungeon like that?”

“I don’t know. Even if I tell you, you won’t understand.”

“…”

At this point, not even the existence of the final boss, let alone the Four Heavenly Kings, is known.

No matter how many times I shout that we need to destroy the dungeon to prevent the world from ending, I’ll just be treated as a lunatic.

“I said that because I think you can understand.”

“Sure.”

With a forced laugh, I turned my head, and Alicia puffed up her cheeks, showing her displeasure.

It’s not necessary to know right now.

“Get ready. As soon as we take on the request over there, we’ll enter the dungeon right away.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I made an offer that cannot be refused.

Although I did mention that I would need some time to consider, the answer is already obvious.

After all, the issue at hand is a matter of time when we take on the commission.

Therefore, we must quickly become stronger in a short period of time.

“Let’s rent a training ground. Teach magic as an attribute.”

It’s the perfect timing to learn magic.

***

“It’s absolutely not possible. Handing over all the prophecies of the World Tree is like selling the future of Elvengard.”

“There’s a risk of revealing all the national secrets. It could pose a significant threat to national security.”

“Still, the prophecies of the World Tree are not easily obtained. If it weren’t for that race, we would have been wandering around with a hundred thousand refugees by now.”

“It’s a cheap price to pay. It’s about removing the dangerous elements from the World Tree itself…”

Opinions were divided.

Mia sat in the midst of the heated debate in the conference room, quietly sighing deeply.

Although the prophecies of the World Tree may be somewhat ambiguous, their accuracy is certain.

That’s why Elvengard has a high reliance on the prophecies.

And thanks to that, they have gained considerable benefits.

Therefore, the decision to sell the prophecies of the World Tree permanently was not an easy one to make.

Both sides had their reasons.

But Mia already knew what conclusion would be reached.

“Ugh.”

“Are you okay, Priestess?”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll take a short break.”

A sudden headache struck Mia.

Since it seemed unlikely that the meeting would reach a conclusion anytime soon, Mia quietly got up from her seat, rubbed her throbbing head, and left the conference room.

“Priestess, should I check if that race is outside…”

“It’s fine. We’ve already encountered them face to face. They are not the kind of people who would do anything bad.”

Despite the excruciating headache, the guards blocked her way as she tried to leave.

Annoyed, Mia walked past the guards and stepped outside.

– A race of lowly birth will defile the Priestess.

It was a chilling prophecy.

To lose her chastity forcibly by a male of that race.

While caution was necessary, there was no need to be rude to every male of that race she met.

Although their faces briefly met, it was enough to roughly assess their character.

He was not a man who treated women like objects.

Mia came to that conclusion.

“Ugh…”

Before she knew it, she arrived at the base of the World Tree.

Entering the dark tunnel inside, Mia groaned continuously in unbearable pain.

“World Tree…”

As she passed through the tunnel, a huge chamber inside was revealed.

The roots of the World Tree entwined on the walls of the chamber.

The fireflies inside the chamber emitted light, dimly illuminating the dark room.

With each throb of Mia’s painful head, the fireflies flickered as well.

“Please calm down. It feels like my head is going to split…”

The minds of the World Tree and the Priestess are connected.

When one feels intense pain or strong emotions, it is transmitted to the other.

So the World Tree was experiencing pain that was tens of times worse than what Mia was feeling right now.

Mia staggered forward, placing her hand on the wall.

To resonate with the World Tree.

To have a conversation.

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The World Tree’s screams flowed into Mia’s mind.

Mia closed her eyes tightly, furrowing her brow.

She recalled the deal that Cheon Michael Jackson had proposed.

‘How much did he actually know?’

The right to hear all prophecies coming down from the World Tree in the future.

If you look at this alone, it was a deal condition that Elvengard could not refuse unless they were insane.

However, Elvengard couldn’t solve it on their own.

If they exchange the condition of handling a troublesome issue that they can’t solve on their own, even if it hurts their pride, for help from outside.

Then the story changes.

“Cheon Michael Jackson… What kind of person is he…”

It was absurd.

Now, there was no choice but to accept this ridiculous deal.