The Extra is a Hero?-Chapter 321: VOICE OF TREASON
Chapter 317: The Voice of Treason
"Okay! Okay!" The Commander shrieked. "I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything! Just make them stop!"
I stepped forward, putting a hand on Maria’s shoulder. She lifted her hand, and the frost stopped spreading immediately.
"The Benefactor," I said, leaning in. "Who is he? Valen is just a politician. Who is really running this farm?"
The Commander gasped, clutching his frozen arm. "Valen... Valen thinks he is in control. He thinks he summoned a demon to power the city. But he was wrong." 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖
He looked up at me, his eyes wide with genuine terror.
"He didn’t summon a servant. He summoned a King."
"A Demon King?" Leon asked.
"The Parasite King," the Commander whispered. "He is inside the Spirit Gate. He isn’t just feeding on the Tree... he’s wearing it. He’s merging the Abyss with the Worldroot. If the harvest is completed during the eclipse... he won’t just destroy Sylvaren."
"He will become the new World God," I finished, the pieces clicking into place.
The "Rot" wasn’t a disease. It was a hostile takeover of the planet’s server.
The Villain Team
We left the Commander bound and unconscious.
As we walked back into the main tunnel, heading toward the coordinates for the Spirit Gate, Leon lagged behind.
"Michael," Leon whispered, pulling me aside.
"Yeah?"
"Did you see them?" Leon gestured to the girls walking ahead. Maria was wiping the frost from her hands with a handkerchief. Selena was checking the sharpness of her scythe. "Maria tortured that man without blinking. Selena wanted to eat him. This... this isn’t right."
I looked at my team.
Maria, the girl who had been too afraid to cast a spell in Arc 1, was now a ruthless interrogator.
Selena, the gentle princess, was a biological weapon.
"I know, Leon," I said quietly. "I created a villain team."
"Why?" Leon asked.
"Because heroes follow rules," I said, looking at the dark tunnel ahead. "And rules don’t kill Demon Kings."
I clapped him on the shoulder.
"Don’t worry, Hero. You keep your hands clean. Let us handle the dirt."
I walked ahead to join the girls.
"Status," I asked.
"Path to Sub-Level 4 is clear," Selena reported. "However, structural integrity is failing. The roots are collapsing."
"The Voice," Maria added, looking at the ceiling. "Can you hear it, Michael? The Tree is screaming."
RUMBLE.
The ground lurched. The amber walls turned a violent, blood-red.
[System Warning: Environmental Collapse Imminent.]
[The Parasite King has sensed your presence.]
"Run," I ordered.
________
The deeper we went into the World Tree, the less it felt like a plant and the more it felt like a cancerous organ.
The amber glow of the walls had completely shifted to a throbbing, arterial red. The heat was suffocating, humid with the scent of dark nectar and rot.
"Warning: Ambient Mana Density at Critical Levels." My [Nova AI] whispered. "Exposure time limit: 14 minutes before mana-poisoning."
"We’re close," Selena stated, her breathing perfectly rhythmic despite the toxic air. She pointed to a massive archway formed by two twisted, blackened roots. "The central processing hub lies beyond. Acoustic sensors detect conversation."
We hugged the walls, using the last remnants of the [Mantle of the False Root] to blend into the shadows. We crept toward the archway and looked down into a vast, spherical chamber.
It was the heart of the operation.
Massive pumps, larger than any we had seen before, were drilled into the main artery of the World Tree. They weren’t just extracting mana; they were injecting something. A thick, violet sludge was being pumped into the tree, pulsing with a heartbeat that shook the floor.
Standing on a suspended metal platform overlooking the machinery was Elder Valen.
He wasn’t alone.
Floating in front of him was a massive projection—a mirror made of swirling black shadows. Inside the mirror, a pair of burning purple eyes looked down at the High Elf.
"The harvest is accelerating," Elder Valen reported, bowing his head slightly. "The City’s mana grid has accepted the Dark Mana mixture. The illusions are holding. The people suspect nothing."
"Good," a voice boomed from the mirror. It didn’t sound like a voice; it sounded like stones grinding together deep underground. "But the hunger grows. The root is not satisfied with mere sap. It requires the Catalyst."
"The girl is secured," Valen assured the entity. "Selena Veylan is in custody. The trial of the scapegoat, Lysandra, will serve as the distraction. While the city watches the execution, I will bring the girl to the Spirit Gate."
Leon gripped the edge of the root wall, his knuckles white. "He’s selling her out," he whispered. "He’s trading his own people for... what?"
"Do not fail me, Valen," the entity hissed. "The Eclipse approaches. If the gate is not fully opened, the Pact is void. And your precious city will be the first course of my meal."
"I do this for Sylvaren!" Valen shouted, his voice cracking with desperation. "I do this to save the Tree! You promised me... if I feed the Abyss Root, the Rot will stop!"
"And I always keep my promises." The purple eyes narrowed, mocking him. "Bring me the Usurper’s blood."
The projection faded. Valen stood alone on the platform, trembling. He gripped his staff, muttering to himself. "It is necessary. It is the only way. History will judge me a monster, but I will be the monster who saved the world."
I pulled back into the shadows.
"He’s a useful idiot," I whispered. "Valen thinks he’s in a partnership. He thinks he’s feeding the tree medicine."
"Analysis," Selena said, her voice dropping to a whisper. "The substance being injected is Abyssal Mutagen. It is not curing the Rot. It is rewriting the biological code of the World Tree to be compatible with Demon physiology. He is terraforming the planet."
"The Council thinks they are using the Demons," Maria said, a cold smile touching her lips. "But the Demons are farming the Elves."
(To be Continued)
Thank you
Happy New Year
