Omniscient First-Person’s Viewpoint - Chapter 603
Even a Wildfire Starts from a Small Spark – 1
For the past two thousand years, Nevada has made every attempt to awaken the king of humans. And that continues to this day. Nevada looked at the lotus leaf where the king of humans slept, hoping this would be the last attempt.
Too many failures over too many years. Now her heart had hardened like the bark of an old tree, feeling no pain even when cut by a sharp blade. She just indifferently extends new branches, withers, and extends again.
However. Just before new buds sprout. Only when the hope that maybe this time it will work tickles up, Nevada could desperately realize why she is alive, what she is living for.
Nevada was born to serve him.
The traitors who stabbed him and fled from the cursed mountain, Yulim. El, who shamelessly waited after betraying him.
And the warriors of the king who stepped forward to bury the still-living him in their territory. Those who plotted assassination, saying he must be surely dead for the next him to appear. Those who expanded their territories in his absence, daring to usurp the king and deceive the people.
Those who chased, pursued, and attempted to assassinate Nevada, who left with him at the brink of death. Those who sought to secure their position by obtaining him. Those who preached El’s teachings, saying a savior would come to the world someday.
He is the king of all humans, but humans were his enemies. No one respected and served him as a king. Nevada ran, hid by turning into a tree, and wandered for a long time, sleeping with him. She touched all kinds of knowledge to revive him, endured endless time, and eventually even bloomed the tree of betrayal.
And now, she is challenging the most promising method.
Sweat flowed from my hands due to the tension. Although my body had transformed into a tree countless times, and I had become one with the tree of betrayal itself, Nevda’s flesh had transcended the human category. The thought of reuniting with my beloved made me as excited as a tree that had endured winter, like a new bud just before welcoming spring.
“….”
But I couldn’t just wait for the fruit to ripen.
Because insects were being attracted to the scent of the flowers.
“I have come to see the King of Humans! Open the gate!”
The tree of betrayal was bustling with visitors for the first time in a long while.
The Anub tribe, composed entirely of dog beastmen. The loyal hounds of Agartha, and a prestigious family of the old kingdom still holding high renown in this jungle.
Unlike the beastmen born from the fruit, the king of dogs and the child of Agartha, born from some ancient indiscretion of a certain marquis. A ‘true’ one who strongly inherited the king’s blood.
“Woof. It seems the rumors have spread. Other dogs have caught the scent and gathered.”
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Blanca Baskerville barked softly, looking at the entrance of the tree of betrayal, where millions of roots extended, forming a steep slope.
“Isn’t it because of your rampage?”
Behind her, a small butterfly’s illusion flickered. Walpurgis. The witch of the night. A legendary witch who had submerged this jungle in cold and quiet nights until she was recruited by the great witch and Nevda. Unlike the great witch who received the blood of the progenitor, she had ruled the jungle for over 200 years with pure black magic.
The very concept of a ‘witch’ who gave much, took much, killed, and saved countless lives. Although she had become relatively kind after receiving the great witch’s blood, she was quite sharp today.
“Fighting the King of Humans? What kind of reckless behavior is that for a temporary guest?”
“Blood. How would I know if that’s the King of Humans or not? You didn’t provide me with any information.”
“Don’t you think the fight itself is the problem?”
“No. Not at all.”
Blanca Baskerville answered, stroking her perky ears.
“I was born to fight in the first place. I just did my job, like them.”
At the end of Blanca’s gaze stood a hundred members of the Anub tribe.
“Come to think of it, you guys and they look quite alike! Do you have any connection?”
The one-eyed man, who had been watching the two, asked with a creaking sound. It was a harmonious yet creepy sound that could not be heard from a living creature.
The alchemist and magician who was the sixth general of the military nation and almost became the head of the association in the allied nations. The architect of the military nation, Maximilien. A magician and an alien existence whose physical strength was comparable to that of a martial artist.
Blanca slightly folded her ears at the unpleasant sound and spoke.
“They say he’s the loyal dog of Wu Hu. Not a metaphor, he actually has ears and a tail. He also has the loyalty of a dog. Wouldn’t the emperor of an empire who has seized all the wealth and glory of the world want to have at least one?”
“Do they have the same ancestors! I see! In just a few generations, their ears and tails have shortened.”
“…Are you picking a fight?”
Baskerville’s ears and tail were cut off by those called ‘barbers’ when he was young. Short ears and tails symbolize human arrogance.
Blanca lowered her voice slightly and growled. However, Maximilien, who had a heart of gears, responded in a steady rhythm without any agitation.
“Hmm? Was there anything in my words that could be considered a quarrel?”
“You…”
At that moment, Nevda, who had escaped from her reverie, spoke heavily.
“That’s not true. The tree of origin does not extend its branches in just a few generations. That is something humans have tampered with.”
“To the ears and tail? Interesting. How did they do it?”
“They cut off the ears and tail when they were young. They kept the ears and tail, but wanted to erase such characteristics. It’s a completely useless act.”
Rather than wanting to stop the fight, she probably just wanted to correct the wrong facts. The tree of origin was Nevda’s domain.
Nevda stood up and spoke.
“Nenyaf is the concubine’s spy. She will definitely come to hinder us. We cannot let outsiders in at this moment. Valpurgis, convey this.”
“…With all due respect, the great witch has already gone to meet them.”
In the illusion drawn by Valpurgis, the great witch was seen flying down on a large hawk. Nevda murmured as she stared intently at the illusion created by Valpurgis.
“Hexia?”
“Yes. The Grand Witch finds the beastmen cute… and pitiful. What should we do?”
Nevada shook her head and said,
“Let Hexia do as she wishes. I will not interfere.”
Despite the cold tone, her attitude towards the Grand Witch was nothing but soft. Maximilien asked curiously,
“Strange? I thought the captain was a fruit similar to me.”
“Of course. You and I are fruits from the same branch.”
“No, I wasn’t talking about the captain’s tree. I was talking about disposition. I like things to fit together like clockwork, and I thought the captain was also bloodless and tearless like a tree. But you’re unusually soft towards the Grand Witch?”
“Even trees have blood and tears. They just take different forms.”
Nevada answered briefly and continued,
“She is my teacher.”
“Teacher? Did such a supreme being, who has been imparting teachings since ancient times, also have a teacher?”
“Many. As many as her age.”
Nevada recalled her teachers one by one.
The first teacher was a bad-tempered druid. All he did was drink and cause trouble, making her run errands. She learned nothing from him, but since he was the first she saw, Nevada became a druid.
The second teacher was a human king. She taught her everything but gave Nevada no orders or instructions. Nevada decided to use all her abilities for her.
…Unfortunately, the next teacher was El. El did not teach Nevada, but the world she showed her broadened Nevada’s horizons. Especially, the four taboos El showed her… became the soil for planting the tree of origin.
Did El know that Nevada would become a demon god? Probably not. The Holy Office cannot predict demon gods. Demon gods are beyond the frame.
But the rising discomfort remained. Nevada decided to ignore him. Thinking about it was useless.
“Hexia’s idea led me to become a demon god. Before she existed, I was just an old druid, but now I am a demon god spreading across the world.”
“Was the Great Witch really that amazing? What did she do?”
“The idea of meat growing on trees.”
“She did that, but how did the captain become a demon god?”
A tree that grows beasts at the ends of its branches, stemming from the origin of species. That idea is an intuition that penetrates the world.
But Nevada couldn’t explain it. Instead, she pinpointed why Maximilian was so interested.
“If you become a demon god, you will understand.”
“Hahaha. Cowardly! If you’re not qualified, you can’t even understand it!”
Maximilian laughed it off, then asked with a slightly self-deprecating smile.
“In the military state, the human king told me. My unique magic is not a part of the world, but a way to interpret the world for my convenience. He said I could never become a demon god.”
“Did His Majesty say that?”
“What do you think? I want to ask the demon god. Does the captain think the same as the human king?”
That was something she could answer clearly. Nevada spoke with certainty.
“I don’t know. Other demon gods also don’t understand me. It’s the same with what a demon god is.”
“Tsk! Not helpful at all!”
“No one will be helpful.”
Because that’s what it means to be a demon god.
Was he feeling intimidated? Maximilian turned his gaze silently. Outside the large knot instead of a window, a strong wind was blowing. The tree that never has a calm day, both meteorologically and figuratively, the tree of origin that brings storms, had its leaves falling in the strong wind.
The sight of the World Tree shedding its leaves was truly a spectacular wonder….
Suddenly, the people there felt a sense of alienation.
“Huh? Did the leaves always fall?”
The changes in nature are continuous. They do not happen suddenly in a single moment. Nature has its rightful order, follows a reasonable logic, and shows such foreshadowing in advance.
However, the leaves falling from the tree of betrayal were alien to all of that.
“Mmm. Come to think of it, your lips are slightly chapped. The humidity is low.”
Blanca muttered as she licked her lips. Her slightly chapped lips seemed to thirstily accept the saliva.
“It shouldn’t be that season yet.”
Nevada murmured as she made a flower bloom at her fingertips. The petals, which should have been in full bloom with dew, for some reason, dried up and fell off after blooming halfway.
The days are dry. Moisture is lacking. Even the leaves of the tree of origin are drying up.
But, that is strange.
“Impossible. This land is where dozens of waterways intersect. The World Tree absorbs so much water that it can create clouds on its own, so how can the days be dry?”
Valpurgis raised a valid question. Trees absorb water from the ground and send it to the leaves, and the World Tree is like the king of such trees. This land should always be full of life thanks to the grace of the World Tree. And life is like moisture.
So how can moisture be lacking?
Everyone was puzzled, but Nevada knew the reason.
“A temptress?”
Nevada spread her roots. Different from human senses, much less sensitive. Nevada felt the moisture with the tips of her roots. And she realized.
The waterways.
The atmosphere.
They are waging a scorched earth tactic against the tree of origin.
The waterways that should flow are decreasing, and there is not a single cloud in the dry sky. It seems that moisture is being deprived from this land, where the tree of origin stands.
“It is the power of the gods. They are taking ‘water’ from the tree of origin.”
“Since when?”
“You can’t block the waterway overnight. Judging by the scale, probably….”
Since Navida felt the presence of Gongyangshin and Ankera from beyond the forest.
The attack was so unexpected that it was too late to notice. Trees are passive. Even if they lack moisture, they can’t go looking for water, so they calmly accept their fate and drop their leaves. That’s how trees survive.
Normally, it might have been noticed, but there was no time to pay attention because of the blooming of the lotus where the human king slept.
“From the beginning, then.”
“If it’s the beginning?”
“It must have started before I went to find him. Slowly, tightening the noose so subtly that no one noticed.”
For trees, water is akin to a combination of food, clothing, and shelter. Even if the Tree of Origin were the real World Tree, it would have suffered significant damage. Perhaps like back then, when the World Tree was set ablaze.
But.
Maximilien asked again, puzzled.
“What’s the problem? This is a demon in the form of a tree, isn’t it?”
Demons don’t wither. Even if all the water dries up, the Tree of Origin remains the same. Knowledge exists in that land regardless of water or seasons.
Those leaves are just decorations. The true essence of the Tree of Origin is the seeds that grow from its countless branches. The origin of those seeds is the Tree of Origin.
“Even if some leaves fall, there’s no problem here. At most, the people living below might be a little confused. There’s no problem at all.”
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Branches where rice grows, branches where wheat grows, branches where beans grow, and so on. The fruits growing on those branches will all fall without ripening. But what does it matter? Apart from the residents under the shade of the World Tree, neither Navida nor the master of all things would be affected.
“…That can’t be.”
Walpurgis dismissed Maximilien’s words.
“In the past, the ruler of all nations passed away amidst such chaos. After that, the World Tree burned, and night came to all nations. What they desire is chaos itself. It will be the spark to burn this tree entirely!”
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