Chapter 591

“Whew! This is nice.”

Levin muttered as he took a deep breath.

The place he was now was high up in the sky.

To strengthen his abilities, he would often come up this high in a ghostified state like this.

For humanity, the sky was an unknown domain that was not permitted. But that did not apply to Levin.

He could turn into a ghost and fly freely through the sky whenever he wanted.

Even flying-type monsters, which were dangerous to Awakeners, had little effect on him.

Because physical attacks hardly worked on him.

No matter how fast a blade warship bird-like monster flew in and crashed into him, it did no damage at all.

Thanks to that, he could fly without worrying about attacks from monsters.

Even while walking with Zeon, he would come up into the sky to scout.

Naturally, the higher the altitude, the farther one could see.

From the altitude Levin was at now, he could clearly see dozens of kilometers away.

“No large monsters in sight.”

Small or medium-sized monsters were not a threat to Zeon’s group anyway.

There was no need for Zeon or Tesserina to bother moving.

Levin alone was enough to sweep away most monsters.

Because of that, Levin only focused on searching for large monsters.

Fortunately, it seemed there were no large monsters in this area that posed a threat.

Thinking it was fortunate, Levin descended to where Zeon and Tesserina were.

“There aren’t any big monsters nearby. I think we can just keep going.”

“Really? Good work.”

“Hehe! It was nothing.”

Levin laughed awkwardly and walked beside Zeon.

In truth, there was no one here who lacked the ability to fly.

Zeon could ride sand upward, and Tesserina could simply use flight magic. But unless it was urgent, they did not bother going up into the sky.

The three walked across the sand while chatting idly.

When you walk like this while talking, you naturally come to understand each other better, and your bond deepens.

Not only Zeon, but Tesserina, true to being a dragon, knew an immense amount.

Thanks to that, Levin was able to learn a great deal of knowledge he had never known before from her.

As they talked and walked, they lost track of time, and before they knew it, they found themselves near the World Tree Village.

Kwaaa!

At that moment, a tremendous wave of mana was felt.

Startled by the tide of mana surging like a tidal wave, Zeon and his group raised their heads and looked up at the sky.

High above, something massive was writhing as it approached their location.

“Hyung, that is…?”

“It’s Lord Arisedon.”

The enormous monster, with a gigantic body covered in red scales, a pair of long whiskers on its face, and saw-like protrusions running along its back, was none other than Arisedon, the guardian of the World Tree Village.

In the time they hadn’t seen him, Arisedon had grown even larger.

Now he possessed such an overwhelming size and presence that one could believe he was a dragon rather than an imugi.

The only disappointing thing was that his body was still sleek.

The four legs that a dragon must have were nowhere to be seen.

It was proof that although he had become the guardian of the World Tree, he had not evolved into a dragon. Then, from atop Arisedon’s head, an unexpected voice was heard.

“Zeon! Levin! Tesserina unni!”

Looking closely, the three saw a small girl standing on Arisedon’s head.

It was Brielle.

“Whoa! Riding on Lord Arisedon’s head? That’s insane!”

Levin gaped in shock.

Brielle, fearlessly standing atop the head of a terrifying monster that made one’s heart drop just by facing it, waved her hand.

Beside her, a translucent spirit circled and played.

It was her spirit, Liri.

Arisedon approached quickly and descended in front of Zeon.

The sight of such a massive body, seemingly endless, landing silently on the sand was utterly unreal.

Arisedon conveyed his thoughts to Zeon.

—You have come?

“How did you know?”

—Brielle told me.

“Brielle?”

—She kept urging me to come out and meet you.

“So you brought her along?”

—She rides me and wanders around this area often.

“Wow. Using an imugi as a mount. Are you okay with that?”

—I am fine. Brielle is a chosen child.

“Chosen?”

—She is a child chosen by the World Tree. Communing with her is also beneficial to me.

“Well, if you say so…”

Zeon nodded and looked at Brielle.

Brielle was busy chatting away with Levin. With Liri constantly fluttering around her, it felt even more chaotic.

Even Tesserina seemed dazed, shaking her head.

After chatting with Levin for a long time, Brielle finally came to her senses and looked at Zeon and Tesserina.

“Hehe! It’s nice to see you again like this.”

“Have you been well?”

“Yeah! As you can see.”

“Nothing happened?”

“Nope! Everyone’s doing well.”

“That’s good.”

“Let’s go. Everyone will be happy to see you.”

Brielle grabbed Zeon and Tesserina’s hands and pulled them along.

At that moment, Arisedon spoke.

—Get on my back. I will carry you.

“Hehe! You’ve become kind. Thank you!”

Tesserina smiled and climbed onto Arisedon’s back.

Arisedon showed no resistance to carrying her and the others.

Thanks to that, Brielle and the three were able to comfortably enter the World Tree Village riding Arisedon.

—We have arrived.

“Thank you!”

—It was nothing. Then I will return to my place.

After letting the four down, Arisedon immediately soared back into the sky.

Watching him grow distant, Tesserina muttered,

“It seems like he’s absorbed enough spiritual energy now…”

“What do you mean?”

“It feels like his body is saturated with spiritual energy.”

“Really?”

Zeon’s eyes gleamed.

The name Arisedon itself meant guardian of the World Tree.

True to his name, Arisedon protected the World Tree, and the World Tree granted him its spiritual energy.

The more the World Tree grew, the more spiritual energy Arisedon absorbed.

Even after Zeon left, the World Tree had continued to grow daily, now more than twice its previous size.

Accordingly, the spiritual energy it contained was immense.

Because the spiritual energy was so abundant, spirits were constantly being born.

At this point, it almost felt as if the true masters of this forest were not the High Elves, but the spirits.

—Kyaaah!

—Zeon!

—Lady Tesserina!

So much so that the moment the three entered the forest, they were surrounded by spirits to the point they could not even see each other.

Having absorbed such abundant spiritual energy, Arisedon had reached a state of saturation.

With this much spiritual energy, it seemed possible that he could achieve his lifelong wish of becoming a dragon, yet there were no signs of it, which was strange.

“What could be the problem?”

“Probably because he hasn’t attained enlightenment.”

“Enlightenment?”

At Zeon’s words, Tesserina made a puzzled expression.

It was an unfamiliar concept to her as a dragon.

As a dragon by birth, Tesserina had no need to attain enlightenment.

With time, she naturally grew stronger.

The same was true for magic.

As she aged, she came to understand it naturally and used it as naturally as breathing—that was what a dragon was.

So she could not easily understand Zeon’s words.

Zeon understood that about her. And he also understood Arisedon.

After returning to Neo Seoul, Zeon had sought out elderly people and asked them about imugis.

Naturally, most did not know. But a few elders fortunately remembered the legends of imugis.

From them, Zeon heard about the characteristics of the imugi in those legends.

Thanks to that, Zeon was able to infer the process by which an imugi becomes a dragon.

“Originally, an imugi needs to obtain something called a Yeouiju to become a dragon.”

“Yeouiju?”

“You could think of it as a Dragon Heart for dragons. Uniquely, dragons use the Yeouiju to wield their power.”

“Really?”

“But to obtain that Yeouiju, enlightenment is necessary.”

“What kind of enlightenment?”

“Well, even I don’t know that much.”

Unless one was a dragon, it was impossible to know how to obtain the Yeouiju or how to wield that power.

Even a dragon could not give advice on that.

To begin with, dragons and imugi might seem similar, but they were completely different beings.

Tesserina shook her head and said,

“Sigh! I guess I shouldn’t give advice and just cheer him on. Better not confuse him for no reason.”

“Good thinking.”

Zeon smiled and continued walking.

“Lord Zeon!”

The first to greet Zeon was Latricia, the ruler of the World Tree Village and Brielle’s mother.

“Lady Latricia!”

“Welcome.”

“Sorry for coming and troubling you like this.”

“Please don’t say that. Lord Zeon is always welcome here. Not just me—everyone feels that way.”

“It seems there are more spirits than before.”

“It’s all thanks to the blessing of the World Tree.”

Latricia looked at the World Tree with a pleased expression.

The shade of the World Tree covered not only the village but the surrounding forest as well. Yet it did not feel dark or gloomy.

Rather, it filtered the harsh sunlight and delivered only a gentle warmth to the ground—and that was indeed the case.

Thanks to that, even under the World Tree’s shade, trees could grow well.

Whoooong!

At that moment, the World Tree made a strange sound, as if it were sobbing.

“Ah!”

Hearing the World Tree’s voice, Latricia let out a gasp.

“What is it?”

“The World Tree is grieving.”

“What?”

“It says that a sibling that had taken root in this world before it has returned to nature.”

“Does that mean another World Tree has died?”

“Yes.”

“….”

Zeon frowned.

As far as he knew, there were only two World Trees on Earth.

One was right in front of him, and the other was in El Harun.

Since the one here was fine, it was obvious that the one in El Harun had died.

“So it ended up like that.”

“Pardon? What do you mean?”

“Can you find out the situation where the other World Tree was?”

“Just a moment.”

Latricia closed her eyes and communed with the World Tree.

After a moment, she opened her eyes and relayed its words.

“It says a volcano erupted and everything was submerged.”

“The Pankrena Volcano. Then El Harun must have been submerged in lava.”

“Ah!”

Only then did Latricia understand the situation, her face turning pale.

Though she had never personally been to El Harun, she knew of its existence.

She also knew that a World Tree brought from Kurayan was there.

But because she had been focused on the World Tree in her own village, she had failed to recall it.

“Could it be that everyone in El Harun died?”

“I don’t think so. They were already preparing, so they must have fled somewhere. Even so, there would have been many casualties.”

“That’s unfortunate. Sigh…”

Latricia let out a sigh.

Though their races and circumstances were different, they had come from Kurayan together, so she was concerned for those who had lost El Harun and would now wander the world.

Meanwhile, Zeon was worrying about something else.

“We need to prepare for war.”

“War?”

Startled by the unexpected words, Latricia widened her eyes.

Zeon continued calmly,

“What choice do people who have lost their homes in an instant make? Is it easier to find a safe place and build a new settlement? Or to take one that already exists?”

Zeon believed it was obviously the latter.

There were only a few places in this desert that the survivors of El Harun could target.

Those who survived El Harun were no longer survivors—they were raiders.