Chapter 89 – Skull (５)

[What the hell is going on?]

[Yeah, someone catch us up!]

The viewers watching the stream had no real idea what was happening.

The burning forest had been swallowed by darkness.

Then, with a sudden burst of light, the forest had returned to its original state.

That was all they saw.

And just like that, the Mage had vanished.

The ViewTubers rushed into the forest frantically, but they couldn’t enter.

All that appeared was a message saying they didn’t meet the requirements.

For them, it was nothing but frustration.

[Do something.]

[Can’t even donate if I wanted to.]

Despite the viewers’ complaints, there was nothing the ViewTubers could do now.

Then—

[Head straight for the Cheontae Mangsang channel, now.]

[Found something insane on the Cheontae Mangsang channel.]

[Cheontae Mangsang? On my way.]

The chat began flooding with the same messages.

Viewers were typing that the Cheontae Mangsang channel had discovered something incredible.

And like migrating birds, the audience started shifting channels en masse.

“Whoa, can you see this? This is insane! The ground suddenly started shaking, and then this giant tree burst out of nowhere!”

Right now, a ViewTuber streaming near the Forest of Prostra was practically vibrating with excitement.

It had only been a moment since Jun vanished.

Because finally, something had appeared that could actually grab the interest of viewers who’d been clamoring, ‘Is that it?’

‘Jackpot.’

A little while ago, he’d realized he couldn’t enter the Forest of Prostra and started scouring its perimeter.

And now, having moved north of the forest, he’d discovered a colossal tree that had punched through the ground and revealed itself at some point.

“Welcome, everyone! I found it! Remember me, Cheontae Mangsang! Please hit that subscribe button!”

Just the discovery alone sent his viewer count skyrocketing in an instant.

He seized the moment to promote himself, not wanting to miss this opportunity.

But what the viewers actually cared about wasn’t some channel name.

[So where the hell is that mage?]

[Just show us the mage already!]

Of course, the most important thing hadn’t revealed itself yet.

The tree appearing was undeniably amazing, but the viewers weren’t curious about a tree.

They wanted to see the mage—the one actually carrying out this Quest.

All they wanted was to watch his flashy battle scenes.

[Hiding again?]

[No way, he’s running this time?]

[Nah, once is enough—but twice?]

And of course, some people jumped in to tear him down, not missing a beat.

[He’s shown us this much, what more do you want?]

[Yeah. He clearly showed us the fight, didn’t he?]

There were defenders, too.

He had shown the battle scene, that was true.

The problem was just that you couldn’t see it properly.

He’d kept his promise, revealed the location, and shown the fight clearly enough, hadn’t he?

That was when it happened.

“Uh, uh!”

The Cheontae Mangsang channel operator’s eyes went wide, and a gasp escaped him.

“This is huge!”

Right now, the tree was bursting into flames.

“The tree is burning!”

Which meant, without a doubt, that the mage was inside there.

The viewer count started climbing fast.

At an absolutely insane rate.

[That’s right.]

[I never doubted lmao.]

[No way it was over that quick.]

[Alright, let’s gooo~~~~]

Once again, the chat exploded.

*

[Save… me.]

The tree spoke to Jun.

Jun flinched at those words.

‘…Save you?’

It was a desperate voice.

A voice that sounded like it was in agony.

The tree spoke again.

[Hurry…]

It was still saying that, even now.

But in that same moment, the roots kept pouring toward Jun endlessly, still trying to attack him.

“So it’s not acting of its own will.”

There was no other way to read it.

In that instant—

“…Ah.”

The tree’s eyes went black.

Blood streamed down from the corners of its eyes.

Tears of blood.

[Please….]

With those words, the tree’s voice fell silent.

But one thing was certain.

The tree was now infected by evil.

“The corruption of the Forest of Prostra must have seeped this far.”

It was a guess, but an accurate one.

At the same time, another thought crossed his mind.

“Maybe this is for the better.”

Perhaps this turn of events was actually fortunate.

The infected tree was a pity, but for Jun, facing the evil directly was actually easier.

Especially now that he had the new [Light Attribute] option.

“Its value isn’t that large yet, though.”

Still, having the Light Attribute meant he possessed the effect of reducing the opponent’s abilities by a percentage.

“Alright, then….”

Jun looked up.

Escape wasn’t far now.

The tree was moving, surging upward toward the sky.

And along with it, Jun was rapidly ascending toward the ceiling.

“Straight in, then.”

After confirming that escaping the cave was imminent, Jun began casting his skills.

“First, I burn the tree.”

He’d worried for a moment when he thought he’d be fighting underwater.

But a tree? That was actually welcome news for Jun.

The elemental advantage was squarely in his favor.

So incinerating the tree in one go was far more convenient for him.

“Combine it with Strong Wind.”

He cast Strong Wind first.

The wind climbed the tree, whipping up a tornado.

Wrapping around the trunk, the tornado shot upward, mercilessly tearing strips of bark from the tree.

Then he poured Fireballs on top of it.

Fireballs.

But this time, he didn’t bother altering their shape.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Ka-BOOM!

The moment several Fireballs struck the tree—

They merged with the tornado already coiling around it, triggering an explosion and unleashing a furious blaze.

WHOOSH—rumble!

The moment Jun confirmed the tree was catching fire, he moved his feet again.

In an instant, he scaled the tree and finally burst completely out of the cave.

Below him, fierce flames surged upward.

Sssssssh!

Branches hurtled toward Jun.

But his movements were far freer now.

He’d escaped the cramped cave and reached open ground.

Dodging the tree’s attacks with ease, Jun finally noticed the players gathered nearby.

“You can’t come any closer!”

There, he saw players from Horpa and the Saint Guild urgently blocking the others.

Had they dispatched more reinforcements? The number of Saint Guild members had already swelled to several dozen.

“I was prepared for this anyway.”

Gijun decided to pay no mind to the gathering Players.

What mattered now was that tree.

The ground shuddered andsplit as roots burst upward from the earth, tearing the floor apart.

Roots that had crept unseen along the ground suddenly launched toward the sky, collapsing the floor beneath them.

The ground had crumbled enough now to reveal the tree’s entire body.

And already, the tree’s bark was starting to bleed black.

Completely eaten by malice.

Gijun cast again.

Strong Wind — and then Fireball.

The air ruptured as flames erupted in a chain of deafening blasts.

A fresh storm of fire roared up from the explosion.

Gijun kept pouring out Fireballs.

And from that moment, the indiscriminate bombardment began.

“Slowing down.”

With each added blow, the tree’s attacks grew slower.

The change wasn’t drastic, but it carved out a clear breathing room.

Flames erupted across the tree’s entire form in an instant.

But it wasn’t going down that easily.

If anything, it seemed like it had only become trickier.

The assault of trunks and roots pressed on—but now it was burning branches and roots that hurled themselves at Jun.

And the tree itself had gone completely black.

Its eyes were shut tight.

Meaning its will was gone—nothing left but raw malice.

Even so, it couldn’t strike Gijun directly while he was still linked to Libre.

And even if it tried, the Strong Wind barrier would block or heavily mitigate the Damage.

He was already shielded by resistance to Dark attributes.

Then the tendrils coiled together.

Twisting into a braid.

The fused trunk lashed out toward Gijun.

Crack-crack-crack-crash!

The creature’s bundled trunk slammed into the ground.

The earth gave way again.

But Gijun was already on top of it.

He started to run.

Sssssssssh!

With every step Gijun took, Orca’s Footsteps tore fresh gashes across the trunk, and blood sprayed from the wounds without end.

Moving like that, Gijun cast Strong Wind.

Form-variant Strong Wind.

This time, Gijun had twisted the spell’s shape.

The howling gale coalesced into a single form.

A colossal spear.

And now—

Shrieeeeek!

That massive spear of wind drove straight down into the tree’s torso.

CRAAAASH!

A thunderous roar erupted.

The tree shuddered violently.

Then the condensed Strong Wind unfurled, spreading across the whole trunk.

WRRRRRIP!

Crimson blood erupted from every inch of the great tree’s body.

The tree swayed hard.

Gijun cast again.

This time—Form-variant Fireball.

Ten blade-shaped Fireballs materialized in the air.

He cast Strong Wind at once.

The Strong Wind spun again, whipping up a tornado.

The transformed Fireballs, which had been circling Gijun, merged with the tornado—spinning at blistering speed.

Then, as one, they slammed into the tree’s trunk.

Crack! Crack-crack-crack-BOOM!

A massive explosion erupted.

The trunk was torn apart mercilessly, and fierce flames surged up along the whole length of the tree.

Rumble rumble RUMBLE!

The entire trunk began to heave violently.

Roots and branches alike.

Gijun sensed it.

Any moment now.

Soon, the bastard’s core would reveal itself.

And his guess hit the mark.

Flash!

Light began to burst from the center of the trunk.

The core.

That had to be the thing’s core.

Then—

FWACK!

“…?!”

The core tore through the trunk on its own and shot out.

He’d never seen that before.

But—

What the hell is this.

The core was stained entirely black.

No way the core’s infected too?

There was no other explanation.

The core itself had clearly been fully consumed by evil.

Now that the core had burst through the trunk—

The tree began to wither in an instant.

That colossal tree shrank to a fraction of its volume in mere seconds.

It was no longer a giant—just a pitiful thing that looked like it’d fall over in a light breeze.

But even then, the core floated in the air.

Still stained black.

Then, black evil tendrils stretched out from the core.

Spreading in all directions, they lashed out into dozens of tentacles.

And all at once, they rained down on Gijun.

Un-fucking-believable.

Gijun let out a dry laugh.

He’d thought he could just collect the core and finish the Sain-geom—simple as that.

But now the Quest kept getting trickier.

Still, it didn’t matter.

A faint smile tugged at the corner of Gijun’s mouth.

After all, there’s only one answer.

It was a phenomenon he’d never seen before.

But Gijun knew exactly how to break through this obstacle.

Ssring—

Gijun drew the Sain-geom.

And already, a pure white light was flowing from the blade.

Here I go.

Gijun cast Strong Wind and launched himself into the air at the same time.

CHWAAAAAK!

He spread the Strong Wind in every direction midair, shredding the tendrils erupting from the evil into dozens of pieces.

And now, using the recoil of Strong Wind, he’d arrived right in front of the black-stained core.

It’s over.

He murmured that and swung the Sain-geom without hesitation.

Sswuck!

The Sain-geom sliced clean through the heart of the black-tainted core.

But what it cut was not the core itself.

It severed the very ‘evil’ that had infected the core.

And in that instant—

Kyaaaaah—!

A scream that felt like it would split eardrums poured out from the core.

With it, the black evil vanished in an instant, leaving no trace behind.

At the same time, the Sain-geom’s brilliant light enveloped the core, and a message appeared.

[Quest completed!]

[The Primordial Branch fragment has been absorbed by the Sain-geom!]

In that moment, a brown orb was added to the Sain-geom.

Of course, that wasn’t the only reward.

[You have defeated the Primordial Ancient Tree!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

.

.

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[You have obtained the Ring of the Primordial Branch!]