§ 186. Penitence (3)
Although Seongjin managed to persuade the group to move, he couldn’t hide his embarrassment as he walked.
Thinking about it again, it wasn’t a very smooth incitement, and the statement that he wouldn’t do anything dangerous was also a lie that would soon be discovered.
The reason he decided to follow the Wolf Knights in the first place was because he judged that it would be most efficient for him, who was fine even after being exposed to demonic energy, to step forward.
It was probably the same for the demon lord, who scolded Seongjin in various ways throughout the trip.
[Who do you mean you don’t depend on? When your subordinate went over earlier, you were shocked and looked for your father.]
Uh, okay. There was that too.
‘… No, but at the time, I really thought I had killed Sir Calmen!’
Seongjin scratched his cheek, recalling the strange sensation he felt earlier. Strangely, at that time, I had a strong feeling that Lord Calmen was going to die at any moment.
I was clearly thinking that the amount of impact had been carefully controlled, but it was a bit scary to suddenly roll my eyes and move on from an insignificant blow.
‘Still, it doesn’t change the fact that we do what we can on our own.’
Seongjin thought as he habitually stroked the characteristic metal grooves on the nutcracker.
Although we cannot save people who are dying like Seonghwang did.
At least Seongjin was confident that he could fight the enemy in front of him until he died. Just doing it on his own would save his father a little bit of work.
And that guy is now in the [gap]? Then, even if you come out, you will still get severe motion sickness, so I tell you not to worry about this place and just get some rest.
Then the demon king sighed as if the earth was falling apart.
[Ugh. Doesn’t that attitude make your father more anxious every time? What do you mean, fighting until death?]
‘Oh, it’s noisy!’
Seongjin and his group quickly arrived at their destination.
There wasn’t much to look for. No matter how small it was, the huge tree was at least 15 meters tall and had already covered the entire campsite where the upper part was, spreading its thick roots in all directions.
Kyaaa!
Caw!
The screaming sound that I thought was the scream of something was actually the noise made by living, wriggling tree branches rubbing against each other.
Above all, that strong magic energy.
The black magical energy emitted from the tree was so thick that the pitch-black haze was clearly visible even under the dark night sky.
“Where are all the people at the top…” … .”
The group first looked to see if there were any survivors, but were soon horrified to realize that the things hanging and shaking from the tree were not fruits but shriveled corpses.
“Wow!”
Several young knights are disgusted.
It has to be that way. At that grotesque scene, even Lord Ilma, who was quite experienced in subjugating demonic beasts, felt completely appalled for a moment.
It was ironic that Prince Mores, the youngest of the group, was the one who maintained the calmest attitude.
‘How can someone who grew up in the imperial palace be so calm?’
Even Sir Martha has a grumpy look on his face.
Looking at the gray eyes that showed no signs of agitation, Sir Ilma was quite impressed.
‘Are you really trying to avoid showing that you have lost your composure as a superior? As expected, he is very different from the rumors!’
Of course, contrary to her illusion, Seongjin was actually busy looking for Dasha among the corpses.
‘… First of all, I don’t think there are any of these.’
Seongjin quickly scanned the area around the tree and was relieved to see that there was no body that looked like Dasha among them.
and.
‘There is another survivor.’
It seems like everyone was so caught up in that strange tree that they didn’t notice it. Far away on a hill, an ordinary person who had no Auror training was hiding and watching.
Seongjin strengthened his eyesight with aura and confirmed his appearance with his own eyes.
‘Giacomo Milo.’
Did he survive alone? In this situation, you didn’t manage to summon the devil you had contracted with.
Should I call this cautious or timid?
In order to find out what happened, we’ll have to catch that guy and kill him, but the priority will be to do something about the tree that’s growing so well in front of us.
“Does anyone know anything about that demon species?”
In response to Seongjin’s question, everyone in the group focuses their attention on Sir Sharon and Sir Valerie.
“To be honest, I’ve never seen anything like that, not even in ‘Apocalypse Now.’ “It looks exactly like a plant, but I doubt it’s a devil species.”
Sir Valerie answered with a perplexed expression.
“Of course, there is no doubt that that terrible energy is the devil’s energy.”
At that time, Sir Sharon looked into space with blank eyes and began to mutter.
“… Tree of the Demon World… . A weapon hidden by the remnants of Penance… . The essence of penance… … .”
At first glance, rather than explaining the tree, it looks closer to being driven out of one’s mind by a terrible sight.
While the group was paying attention to her with worried eyes, Director Bruno secretly pursed his lips at Seongjin.
‘I’m channeling Arenja.’
aha. You are requesting data from the server.
And after a while, Sir Sharon regained focus in her eyes and opened her mouth.
“… after. Since history, there have been two sighting reports of that tree. It is said that of these, only one subjugation record remains.”
Sir Sharon quickly poured out an explanation in her characteristic thin voice.
The official name of the tree is [Demon Tree].
However, because both times the trees were released into Delcross were the actions of the Church of Penitence, it is said that the name [Penitence Tree] is included in the records.
According to the classification standards of the Orthodox Church, in principle, it corresponds to type 4 of other devil species, but the rules of engagement are said to be similar to type 1 devil species. This is because although it is slow, it moves similar to type 1.
“It is said that at that time, His Majesty the 5th Holy Emperor, 18 Holy Knights, 20 Knights of the Royal Guard, and 16 Battle Priests participated and fought in a Granius type 1 defensive formation. They react sensitively even to weak divine power, so if they receive the blessing properly, even ordinary knights… … .”
It was then.
The tree, which was just writhing in place, suddenly started moving towards Seongjin and his group.
Even though the distance was quite wide, the tree, which gradually grew in size, had already reached a distance where it could detect the group.
Squirt!
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Seongjin raised his hand to the nutcracker as he saw the thick tree branch flying from the front. The intention was to wait for it to reach the front and cut it down at once.
Hiss!
The golden sword that was pulled out from the side first swung wide, shooting out a long trail of moonlight. It was Lord Masain.
‘… ‘Auror explosion?’
The faint lingering moon violently split the flying branches and reached the tree trunk.
and.
Kuaaang!
It causes a very strong explosion, shaking the entire tree trunk strongly. A strong wind blew around the campsite.
Hwii-
The impact was so strong that the part of the corpse that was hanging fell helplessly to the floor and broke apart with a crunching sound.
The tree suddenly stopped moving, as if it had been electrocuted, and made an unpleasant grinding noise.
“… … !”
The entire group looks at him with wide eyes, and Masain, who has suppressed the initiative with a strong preemptive attack, asks with a determined look on his face, as if he has decided on something.
“… “Are you going to hold it like this, sir?”
“… … .”
Seongjin blinked his eyes.
Since it was impossible to control this gentleman, probably Seongjin, he seemed to have decided to take the initiative himself.
Seongjin nodded, thinking that this was truly his attitude.
“okay. Lord Masaine.”
Compared to the previous record that Sir Sharon had mentioned, the current power seemed to be completely insufficient.
Seongjin and Masain. 15 members of the Wolf Knights including Orden, leader Bruno and 3 resident knights. And two holy knights from the monster task force.
But still.
‘… Somehow I feel like I can do it.’
Seongjin looked around at the group with such a strong premonition.
Even when I was on Earth, in the early days of the Gate incident, it was common to encounter monsters I had never seen before. And every time, Seongjin’s intuition was always accurate.
When they felt like they had to retreat, they suffered damage that was close to annihilation, and when they decided that something would work out, many of them survived even after the struggle.
And in this guy’s case.
‘Perhaps without much damage… … !’
Has Seongjin’s confidence been conveyed?
Orden, who stared at him for a moment, soon turned his head and gave instructions to Sir Ilma.
“leader. We cannot carry out the divine design with our full power now. But the fact that there are no other records means that there may be numerous separate solutions.”
“Yes, Grand Duke. “First, let’s search for him by hitting and running.”
Lord Ilma responded like that and shouted to all of the Wolf Knights.
“Everyone spread out and surround him! Everyone, think about dealing with the Glatzer Troll! “This demon may be huge, but it’s definitely not faster than that damn ice monster!”
As soon as familiar instructions are given, anxiety disappears in an instant.
Even so, the eyes of the knights, highly exalted by Masaine’s aura explosion, sparkled with faint excitement.
“The trick to blocking demonic energy is also the same as its coldness! “It’s not harmful as long as it doesn’t touch the body, so hold on and block it with your aura as much as possible!”
Then Sir Valerie waved from behind.
“Now, if you’re feeling anxious, I’ll give you another blessing, so come over here!”
Then the knights scattered in all directions, laughing loudly.
“The Inquisitor is also very talkative.”
“… yes? What?”
“So, who are you telling me to scare?”
“Huh?”
“They must have made fun of me because I was a coward who couldn’t take a single step without a blessing! “I guess this should be seen as a challenge to the Wolf Knights, right?”
“… no?”
As they gradually recovered from the shock and dodged and cut down the tree trunk that began to squirm, the knights even showed the leisure to make lame jokes.
Among all of this, the one that stood out was definitely Sir Ilma.
Unlike the knights who retreated far away and cut down branches step by step to avoid the magic energy from reaching them, she fearlessly ran close to the tree trunk, creating a sword screen wide enough to cover half of her body.
Of course, there was nothing to lightly trim the tree trunks that flew in from time to time. and.
Whick!
She easily rode over the huge root flying in front of her on her back as if performing a trick, and used the momentum to cut into the exact center of the tree trunk.
Pow!
From the deep wound, black magic energy pours out like blood.
Sir Ilma, who quickly backed away from the explosive eruption of demonic energy, kicked a knight who had lost his balance on the violently shaking ground and sent him flying far away. At the same time, he cuts off the tree branch chasing him.
Wow.
Seongjin was impressed as he brandished the nutcracker.
‘Lord Ilma. ‘Somehow, you’ve gone too far in fighting while taking care of your junior knights?’
Orden Sigismund’s performance also stood out.
The beautiful movement of a sword that swings, bends at a strange angle, and extends forward. Seongjin recognized that movement right away.
A variation of the Banajas 3 formula that Sisley once admired and imitated. And the power was just as the little boy said.
Boom!
A thick tree root, almost as thick as the pillars of the Bastian Church, exploded at once, scattering hundreds or thousands of pieces of wood.
Seongjin suddenly thought that one day he would like to see with his own eyes the scene where the Wolf Knights take on the Glacher Troll.
“You must not look away, sir! “The demon energy is getting stronger.”
Sigh!
Masaan warned, cutting down two flying branches at once.
As the saying goes, just cutting down trees wasn’t the end. The tree, which had wounds here and there, began to wriggle and ooze even stronger magical energy than before.
Kiyi!
Meanwhile, new branches growing from below were filling up the wounds more tightly, making an unpleasant friction sound.
‘… ‘There’s no end to this, right?’
Seongjin thought as he took a step back with Masain.
The tree seemed to have stopped rapidly expanding its territory, but it was still growing little by little by adding new branches.
On the other hand, the movement of the knights was increasingly restricted. The more trees were cut down, the more polluted the air became with the released demonic energy.
‘Besides, this place will become more and more tiring. If we don’t think of another way before that… … .’
At that time, the Demon King called Seongjin.
[Lee Seong-jin.]
‘huh?’
[I remember once hearing that in order to eliminate the constantly growing Demon Tree, the growth core, which is its source, must be completely separated.]
… what?
Seongjin asked, rolling to the side to avoid a branch falling from above.
‘Is that a similar concept to the monster’s core?’
[Well, it might be similar in function.]
Quaaaang! The tree branch that barely grazed Seongjin returned to its trunk, clawing deeply on the dirt floor.
Seongjin asked, getting up and running backwards.
‘But why are you telling me that important thing now?’
[I wasn’t sure either because I only heard about it through hearsay! I’ve never actually seen the Demon Tree!]
The Demon King protested as if it were unfair.
[So, just in case, I have carefully looked at the entire Demon Tree. I was wondering if growth nuclei could be seen.]
So, what I mean is that we’re talking about that now.
‘So you found that core?’
[Yes, probably. Inside the tree, there is a part where the demon energy is particularly pulsating and shining brightly.]
‘So where is it?’
Then the Demon King hesitated for a moment and answered.
[At the very top of the Demon Tree… … .]
‘uh… … .’
Seongjin looked blank for a moment, looking up at the distant Demon World tree, which was now well over 20 meters away.
No, how on earth do you get up there?
‘… Are you sure?’
[I’m not sure. But no matter how much I look, there’s nothing special about other places, so it’s probably right.]
Okay.
Seongjin let out a low groan, but there was no time to think about it any more. Meanwhile, the height of the tree was soaring upward in real time!
‘Let’s try something first!’
Nettle –
Just then, a branch as thick as a log flew in front of him, and Seongjin concentrated his concentration as he gathered auras on his legs.
And before Sir Masaine could even cut it down.
Paang!
He kicked off the ground and jumped up as high up the branch as possible.
“… Lowering!”
Leaving behind Masain’s cry of astonishment.
Crash!
Seongjin began to run without hesitation over the branches full of black magic energy.
fantasy,
