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Chapter 220
Sensing danger, the demonic tree unleashed new branches to attack Leon—but Leon's strike came first.
As Leon’s eyes gleamed ominously, a massive scythe swept across the field, spreading death in its wake.
Crackkk! Craaack!!
With a sound like space itself freezing, the area began to wither in an instant, turning black.
Even the tree that had withstood flames could not ignore the divine power of Thanatos.
As its body began to dry rapidly, the massive creature twisted in agony.
At the same time, the surrounding scenery started to change randomly, every second.
A snowfield so cold it felt like flesh would freeze.
A barren wasteland.
The terrifying, pitch-black depths of the ocean where nothing could be seen.
Extreme environments unfolded, each more unbearable than the last.
What was astonishing was that these weren’t illusions.
Though space shifted like madness, none of the changes had yet managed to truly endanger Leon.
In fact, they couldn’t.
The demonic tree couldn’t manifest environments it itself couldn’t survive.
It didn’t have the power to create anything beyond what it could endure or resist.
Moreover, many of the tentacles connected to the demonic tree were being severed and disappearing.
As if only now realizing it, the monster’s grotesque face twisted into an even more horrifying expression.
Of course, the demonic tree hadn’t remained idle.
Colorful flowers bloomed on its outstretched branches, unleashing mysterious powers.
Eventually, when a blue flower bloomed—
A wall of frigid cold had already formed around Leon.
Paaahhhh!!!! Craaackkk!!
The surrounding molten landscape instantly froze over, releasing a tremendous burst of steam.
Massive pressure and clouds of vapor slowly dispersed.
What lay before Leon now was a sea of fully solidified lava.
All triggered the moment the blue flower bloomed.
As the wall of ice around Leon gradually faded, the demonic tree shrieked and began forcefully blooming the rest of the flowers.
Red, yellow, sky blue, pink.
Almost like following a pattern, the changes unfolded in sequence.
Each flower, upon blooming, forcibly triggered a powerful phenomenon.
Each one contained immense energy—lethal if not dealt with swiftly.
…But ultimately, the demonic tree’s devastating attacks barely harmed Leon.
—Krr… Kreeeek…
The blooming flowers emitted massive power, but they also placed a tremendous burden on the demonic tree.
Unfortunately for it, unlike Leon, it lacked the versatility to neutralize such effects completely, leaving it vulnerable to the recoil.
“I don’t know if you’re the same one, but… I was annoyed I didn’t finish you off last time.”
Though it was slowly recovering, the demonic tree couldn’t fully block Leon’s approach.
“Why?”
At Leon’s cold smile, the faces growing from the tree’s trunk were simultaneously colored with confusion.
It hurriedly extended its branches, but the ice spears forming around Leon instantly froze them solid.
“You’re in a weakened state—especially to cold. That’s rough, huh?”
—Kreeeaaahhh!!
“You guys always have that kind of habit.”
[Freeze.]
This wasn’t mere ice—it was cold enhanced by Words of Power, piercing straight into the monster.
The grotesque faces on the demon tree’s blackened surface showed panic, but it was already too late.
[Thanatos]
Then, from behind Leon, the silhouette of a massive, black Grim Reaper appeared, swinging its scythe and cleaving the tree’s body in two.
A jet-black current, laced with frost, spread death across the creature’s form.
The Power of Death, Thanatos, had never been fully used inside the Labyrinthos.
Leon had only ever used it to force the growth of his Circle.
It could be used in transactions, perhaps, but nothing beyond that.
So he was a bit surprised when it worked even on the demonic tree.
Had he known it was this powerful, his struggles in the Labyrinthos might’ve been much shorter.
The demonic tree desperately resisted death, but as Leon silently watched it decay, the twisted faces on its surface kept disappearing and reappearing, letting out agonized screams.
Just splitting the tree in half wasn’t enough to kill it.
To truly destroy it, one had to find and crush the core hidden among the roots buried deep in the earth.
But the Thanatos power had seeped through its body, down to its roots, consuming it from the source.
Soon, the force sustaining this space would vanish, and things would return to their original state.
That’s the optimistic view—but an eerie feeling tugged at Leon.
“This is too easy. It shouldn't be like this.”
Granted, the World Tree was currently locked in a power struggle with the demonic tree, which had prevented it from even blocking the Eye-Mucus Beast’s beam breath.
So this monster probably couldn’t fight at full strength either.
Still—
Even so, this was far too easy.
No, from the beginning—
“…It’s not even fully severed yet.”
The purple tentacles still connected to the creature's body hadn’t been destroyed.
And they were resisting the Thanatos power—as if it was only natural to do so.
Did this count as dead?
That would be naive.
Almost as if to confirm Leon's suspicion, the demonic tree’s supposedly dead body began to twitch.
At the same time, eerie letters from the Librarian floated into view, glowing with a disturbing hue.
[It’s already too late.]
That voice.
That grotesque dread.
He’d heard it before.
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[Everything is ready. I shall root myself here, using the Divine Spirit as payment.]
Bzzzzt… crackle!!
The letters, as if corrupted, repeatedly shifted between their original and monstrous forms.
[Excha…!@#%@!#$ World Tree as a sacri @#%@$ escape@@#$ block…… @#$%@%]
It was incomprehensible—but one thing was clear.
As before, the red moon was a being with enough power to suppress the Librarian itself.
In hindsight, it made sense.
The Labyrinthos had always been a desolate ruin, and above it, the red moon constantly hovered.
While it had always been eerie there, it had never felt as vividly alive as now.
Perhaps…
The Labyrinthos was never meant to be a prison.
It was a place to cultivate the power to fight against that being.
The twisted letters continued to float in a frenzy, like corrupted computer code.
Then, bright red fluid—like blood—began to drip from them.
[Struggling is meaningless.]
"Now it's even taking over the Librarian?"
[By your choice, everything will fall. It has before, and it will again.]
The letters don’t disappear even when I try to brush them away with my hand.
But I plunged my hand deep into the remains of the destroyed Demon Tree.
"That's not for you to decide, you fucker."*
CRACK!!!
The Life Force Vessel that made killing the Demon Tree so difficult.
Its core shattered, and I could clearly feel the repulsive energy surrounding us begin to weaken.
But the entity itself hadn’t disappeared.
The power that had been strong enough to even corrupt the Librarian had only diminished. Outside the cage of branches trapping me, pulsating tendrils—like beating hearts—still throbbed with the entity's presence.
Romilla’s lord, who had entered the fight against the Demon Tree before me, had already cut down many of these tendrils.
But their number and resistance had clearly taken a toll—his body was covered in wounds.
I couldn’t be sure of everything, but one thing was clear:
This wasn’t over yet—and the real scheme was only just beginning.
I struck at the branches enclosing me.
But the attack didn’t even leave a scratch, blocked by some kind of invisible barrier.
Really?
I put in enough strength for a Mindmaster-level strike, and not even a dent?
It felt more like a prison than a cage.
That realization made me shudder.
From the beginning, this was about corrupting the World Tree.
But… was that truly the sole purpose of the Demon Tree?
Of course not.
"It's a trap."
From the start, this place was designed to imprison me.
To the Red Moon, the Demon Tree was nothing more than a pawn—used and discarded.
Soon, the Librarian returned to normal and began rapidly spewing out messages, as if catching up on everything it had been trying to say.
[The Red Moon is corrupting.]
[The Red Moon is corrupting.]
[The Red Moon is corrupting.]
[The Red Moon is corrupting.]
[If this state continues, @#$@# may fully absorb the World Tree and summon its Manifested Form.]
"Manifested Form?"
[A loyal servant of @#$!#@ and part of its being. Its mere existence would bring continent-level catastrophe. We recommend you break free from your prison and save the World Tree immediately.]
As if to confirm that, signals from undead forces were continuing to surge in from the direction of the elves’ city outside the cave.
Something massive was clearly approaching—something wholly different from anything before.
Thanks to the undead, we might hold on a little longer, but now it was truly a race against time.
I still don’t fully understand the Red Moon.
But I’m certain of a few things.
This thing is connected to me, and it seems to know me for some reason.
And—
Just like the Demon Tree, its goal is to completely consume the World Tree.
If all it needed was to infect the World Tree, it wouldn't have gone out of its way to trap me here.
That must mean… it believes I can still interfere with its plan.
By trying to hide its weakness, it ended up exposing it instead.
"You! Did you defeat that monster?!"
"I dealt with the Demon Tree for now."
"Then… is the World Tree safe—?"
"No. Getting rid of the Demon Tree just revealed something worse."
"What?! What is it?!"
"I don’t know. But what I do know is that the World Tree is still in danger."
"Then we must hurry back—"
I cut him off with a shake of my head.
"I can’t leave right now. This seal is stronger than I thought. Seems like the whole point of this was to trap me in here."
Even spatial teleportation doesn’t work inside this cage of branches.
Trying to break through by force doesn’t work either—the same grotesque energy from the Red Moon is resisting, like it's engaged in a power struggle with me.
"But… why?"
His eyes trembled.
"Who knows. Maybe because with me around, it couldn’t guarantee its victory."
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[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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