Chapter 594

Needless to say, the authority to pass from the Primordial Forest to the World Tree village was granted only to Go Du-won, Floa, and Har.

It was to protect the secret of the World Tree village.

Conversely, the authority to pass from the World Tree village to the Primordial Forest was granted only to Latricia and Briel.

Only they could freely travel between the two forests; no one else was given the right to use the portal.

Someday, when the time came, the portal would be opened to everyone, and at that time many would be able to come and go between the two forests as they pleased.

Sitting on a large root of the World Tree, Zeon muttered,

“Everything urgent has been resolved.”

Although it had not been fully opened, as long as the portal was connected to the key locations, Zeon and Levin could go back and forth whenever they wished.

At least for the places Zeon considered important, the constraints of distance and space had completely disappeared.

That alone was an enormous advantage.

Even though the portal stood prominently before the World Tree, the High Elves of the World Tree village paid it little mind.

Even when told that only Latricia and Briel could travel to the Primordial Forest, not a single one showed envy.

It wasn’t because they looked down on the Primordial Forest, but because simply tending to the World Tree village was already more than enough for them.

The daily routine of the High Elves was very simple.

When they woke up in the morning, they communed with spirits, and then spent the day so immersed in their respective duties that they didn’t even notice time passing.

Some High Elves cultivated trees, while others grew crops. As they cared for the forest and played with the spirits, before they knew it, the sun would set.

But the day did not end when the sun went down.

From then on, they spent time sharing the events of the day with family and friends, deepening their bonds.

It was truly a continuous flow of connection.

Even though they did the same things every day, they never ran out of things to talk about.

To the High Elves, even a repetitive and seemingly dull routine was no different from days full of adventure.

Thanks to that, although they were interested in the portal connected to the Primordial Forest, they were not greatly disappointed by the fact that they could not use it.

They simply believed that one day, when the time came, they too would be able to use it.

Zeon did not dislike this relaxed nature of the High Elves.

Of course, not all High Elves had such a disposition.

“Zeon! Zeon!”

Briel, who was running toward him and calling out urgently, was one such exception.

Having lived long in the human world, Briel had a much more impatient temperament compared to other High Elves.

If there was something she wanted, she had to have it, and if something piqued her curiosity, she had to resolve it.

That was the case now as well.

The moment the portal opened, Briel had thrown herself into uncovering its principles. But it wasn’t easy to learn anything from an already installed portal. So she came running to Zeon.

“Zeon! You said you had one teleport gem left, right?”

“Yeah!”

“Can you give it to me?”

“To analyze it?”

“Yeah! If I figure out the principle, we can make the same thing, right? Then we could travel freely to even more places. Wouldn’t that be great?”

“It would.”

“So give it to me. I’ll study it carefully so it doesn’t break.”

Briel’s face was full of excitement.

The item called the teleport gem was igniting her spirit of challenge.

With a smile, Zeon handed the last teleport gem to Briel.

“Here it is.”

“Thanks! I’ll use it well.”

“Alright.”

“Hehe!”

Briel burst into laughter and ran toward her house.

At that moment, Levin approached Zeon, shaking his head.

“Man… is she really that happy?”

“I suppose so.”

“She’s such a weirdo.”

“That’s part of Briel’s charm.”

“I’ll give you that.”

“You should get some rest too.”

“Yeah! I’m pretty tired as it is.”

While Zeon had been going back and forth to the Primordial Forest, Levin had been worn out by the children of the World Tree village.

Levin, who had the ability to become a ghost, was especially popular with the children.

Once they saw his ability, they clung to him asking to see it again. Soft-hearted Levin ended up playing with them until the children themselves were exhausted.

As a result, his mana was completely depleted, and he was on the verge of collapse.

“The kids here have incredible stamina. They just don’t get tired.”

“They’re growing under the blessing of the World Tree.”

“That makes sense.”

Levin nodded and looked up at the World Tree.

As if to comfort him, the World Tree rustled its leaves. Then the energy he had lost to the children quickly returned.

“It’s basically a cheat item. Ah—would it be rude to call it an item? Anyway, it’s an incredible existence.”

“Yeah. It really is. They say once it’s fully grown, it can support an entire world.”

“When will it fully grow?”

“Who knows? They say when it’s fully grown, it’s large enough to cover the whole world. It’ll probably take a long time.”

“I wish it would grow as soon as possible. Then Earth would recover to some extent.”

“I hope so too.”

Zeon agreed with Levin.

If Earth fully recovered, the desert would shrink accordingly, and Zeon’s abilities would weaken. Even so, he sincerely wished for that outcome.

At that moment, Tesserina approached the two.

“What are you talking about?”

“Just this and that. Where have you been?”

“Over there!”

At Zeon’s question, Tesserina pointed toward the sky.

“Arisedon?”

“It seemed like he might be lonely. Thanks to that, we learned a lot about each other.”

“Well done.”

“Yeah!”

Tesserina smiled brightly.

Levin leaned his back against one of the massive roots of the World Tree exposed above ground and said,

“The elves of Elharun would be shocked if they saw the World Tree here, wouldn’t they?”

“They would. It contains spiritual power far stronger than the World Tree that was in Elharun.”

In size, the World Tree of Elharun had been much larger, but the energy it contained was far weaker compared to the real one.

Even so, it had been remarkable that such a weak power had managed to suppress the eruption of Pankrena Volcano.

Without Del Roa uniting and lending their strength, it would have been impossible.

Levin wanted to boast to the other races who had lived in Elharun that this was the true World Tree. But he knew very well that he must never do such a thing.

Tesserina suddenly asked, as if something had come to mind,

“Where’s Latricia?”

“She’s with Lady Floa.”

“That’s a historic moment.”

“What is?”

Levin looked at Tesserina with a puzzled expression.

“High Elves and Dark Elves. Two beings standing at opposite ends, gathered in one place and talking. In Kurayan, it would have been unthinkable.”

“Were they really on such bad terms?”

“They were practically sworn enemies.”

“Wow.”

“It couldn’t be helped. They shared the same roots, but their dispositions, skin, and way of life were completely opposite. If Kurayan had remained intact, they’d probably still be fighting each other as enemies.”

“So it was only after the world was destroyed that they reconciled.”

“You could say that.”

Tesserina nodded.

“I’m glad their grievances were resolved, even if it happened that way.”

“Having experienced the fall of Kurayan and suffering endlessly here on Earth, they share that understanding. For the time being, they’ll deeply understand each other.”

“That’s good. Briel could also come visit Neo Seoul easily by passing through the Primordial Forest.”

“Yeah.”

Just then—

Rustle!

Suddenly, the leaves of the World Tree shook all at once.

It looked as if they had been startled by something.

Boom!

At that moment, a thunderous explosion erupted high in the sky, and a shockwave swept over the World Tree village.

Fortunately, thanks to the massive barrier surrounding the village, there was no major damage, but it was enough to startle everyone inside.

“What was that?”

“Is someone attacking?”

The High Elves, who had been spending time with family and friends, rushed out with weapons in hand.

At that moment, flashes of light burst one after another high in the sky.

Boom! Boom!

Soon after, tremendous shockwaves struck the great barrier of the World Tree village.

Fortunately, the barrier held firm and did not break, but it swayed dangerously.

Tesserina said,

“Arisedon is fighting.”

“What? Does that make sense? What kind of monster would dare attack Lord Arisedon?”

Levin looked up at the sky in disbelief.

Although his ferocity had diminished after becoming the guardian of the World Tree, Arisedon was still overwhelmingly intimidating.

He was a being capable of devouring even S-rank monsters in an instant.

It was hard to believe that anything would dare challenge him.

Rumble! Boom!

Explosions rang out continuously, and shockwaves shook the great barrier.

It was proof that Arisedon’s battle was dragging on.

Zeon said,

“This doesn’t feel right. I’ll go take a look.”

“I’m coming too.”

Tesserina stood up as if it were only natural.

The two immediately soared into the sky.

“Tsk!”

Watching the two vanish into the sky in an instant, Levin smacked his lips.

He wanted to follow them as well, but he had enough sense to hold back.

Just by the atmosphere, he knew it wasn’t a place for him. The last thing he wanted was to interfere and become a hindrance, so he stayed behind.

Meanwhile, Zeon and Tesserina exited the barrier and reached high into the sky.

As they scanned their surroundings, another flash entered their view.

Flash!

An immense light struck down from the sky toward the ground.

Immediately after, a massive explosion erupted.

Rumble!

The air churned, and the clouds scattered wildly.

At the unprecedented sight, Zeon frowned deeply.

At that moment, he saw a massive object falling.

It didn’t take long for him to realize that it was Arisedon.

The first to react was Tesserina.

“Arisedon!”

She flew after the falling Arisedon.

If she had been in her dragon form, it would be different, but with her current strength, she couldn’t stop his fall. Still, she could catch up to him.

Arisedon was falling toward the ground powerlessly, his eyes closed.

His condition was utterly disastrous.

His glossy red scales were shattered in places, exposing flesh beneath, and he was bleeding profusely.

His teeth were broken, and his long whiskers were torn apart miserably.

The small horns that had sprouted from his head were also broken and scorched, leaving him in a pitiful state.

Tesserina cast magic to wake him, attempting to jolt his head to restore his consciousness. But despite her efforts, Arisedon did not come to his senses.

In the end, she gave up on waking him and instead tried to slow his fall with magic.

“Levitation!”

Tesserina cast the levitation spell not on herself, but on Arisedon.

It was a spell that could easily lift most things, but Arisedon was too large for it to work properly.

At best, it only slowed his descent slightly.

Boom!

In the end, Arisedon crashed into the ground with a thunderous impact.

He lay sprawled helplessly, having created a crater as large as a lake in the sand. At the sight, Tesserina bit her lip hard.

“Damn it!”

She hurriedly cast healing magic on Arisedon and looked up into the sky.

Far above, Zeon stood on the sand.

And in front of him stood someone.

It was clearly the one who had reduced Arisedon to this state.

“Just who is that…?”