Chapter 11 - Episode 2. Witch of Massacre (1)
Chapter 11: Episode 2. Witch of Massacre (1)
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“If you wish to become stronger, climb the Tree of Illusion. But only if you are certain you will not go mad.”
Lord of Steel, Huh Yu
* * *
It was a rainforest with no end in sight.
Broadleaf trees densely filled his vision. The blazing heat of the sun clung to his body, drying into white grains of salt.
How long had he been wandering?
Jaehwan wiped the sweat running down his face and looked around.
He had finally found them.
Someone's footprints ran along a ridge in the undergrowth. They resembled Jaehwan's own. Even if they had not been human, they had certainly been left by a group that walked on two legs.
A month had already passed since he broke out of the 《Tower of Nightmares》.
Throughout that time, Jaehwan had traveled through this endless rainforest.
He did not know exactly where he was.
He suspected it was somewhere in the 《Great Realm》 that the demon had rambled about, but he had no way to identify the place.
At first, because of the forest's heat, he wondered if this was the Flame Zone, said to be the hottest of the 《Great Realm》' twelve zones according to the information Beastrein had given him. But after walking for a while, he no longer thought so. There were no burning trees, the Flame Zone's famous feature, in sight.
He would find out once he encountered something.
With that in mind, Jaehwan kept walking.
At times, he encountered the monsters of this world. They had one trait that distinguished them from the monsters in the Tower.
Every single one had horns.
Some had only one. Others had as many as five.
The strongest monster Jaehwan had encountered so far was a wolf with five horns protruding from its head. It had not died from a single Stab. The wolf clutched its stomach and whined for a long time before finally dying after several more Stabs.
Were all the monsters here weak...?
Perhaps because it had taken him decades just to kill the Ice Dragon, Jaehwan could not tell whether he had grown stronger or whether the monsters here were weak.
Of course, monsters were not the only things Jaehwan had encountered.
Not long ago, he had run into an unidentified group that appeared to be intelligent life.
They were a group of humanoids dressed in something like the white ceremonial robes of ancient monks. Their skin was green, and each had a pair of insect-like antennae growing from their heads. They had a bizarre appearance.
“Pathetic human■■■■ like you ■■■.”
“Why are you ■■■ so unpleasant ■■.”
It was hard to understand what they were saying. More precisely, it sounded as though they were saying things he did not want to understand.
Still, they were fully dressed, and he had finally encountered intelligent life. Jaehwan made a serious effort to communicate with them.
Even after activating Doubt, though, he could not properly grasp the structure of their language. The humanoids at the front of the group attacked first.
“■■■ horn! ■■.”
Judging by the way they pointed, they seemed to be referring to the monster horn hanging from his waist. He had obtained it after killing the five-horned wolf a few days earlier.
“This?”
“■■ Human like you ■■■ horn of a five-horned beast■■■.”
“That’s right. I’m human, and this is a horn.”
It almost seemed like they were communicating.
“■■■ horn!”
Several of the humanoids approached Jaehwan.
Their slick antennae swayed as they came closer, making him wary.
“Wait. Don’t come any closer.”
“■■■.”
He had no idea what they were saying.
They seemed to be talking about the horn.
After a moment’s thought, Jaehwan waved it and said, “Fine. I’ll give you this, so tell me where this place is...”
The humanoids suddenly drew their swords and rushed him.
They were not simply trying to intimidate him. Their blades moved with obvious killing intent.
Jaehwan watched for a moment, then blankly looked up at the sky. Something like a sun hung overhead.
It was a very hot day.
“Hey.”
He dodged once.
“Antennae.”
He dodged twice.
“If you do that one more time, I’ll kill you.”
He dodged three times.
“Die.”
A short while later, every humanoid lay sprawled in the undergrowth. Their bodies, bleeding blue blood, turned to powder and vanished.
Jaehwan tugged on the last humanoid’s antenna and asked, “Where is this?”
“How dare ■■■ a human like you■■■.”
Riiip!
“I asked where this is.”
“Tree of Illusion ■■■ Chaos...■■■ Gek, gek, gek!”
Riiip!
“Speak clearly. Who are you? Demons?”
“■■■ We are of the great verdant ■■■...”
Riiip!
“Speak clearly.”
“Uuugh, uuugh.”
Riiip!
Riiip!
Riiip!
He pulled for who knew how long. At last, the humanoid’s eyes rolled back, and Jaehwan was finally able to understand its words clearly.
“Human. I will kill you. Without fail.”
Those were its final words.
The humanoid bit off its own tongue and swallowed it. Soon after, it scattered into white powder.
They had some backbone.
They had killed themselves decisively, as though they could come back to life. Somewhat impressed by their resolve, Jaehwan planted fragments of the dead humanoid’s antennae in a mound in the forest.
Unfortunately, he had gained no useful information from them.
Still, there had been a small reward.
The spoils in the humanoids’ bundles.
Most were objects whose use he could not determine, but one was quite useful. It was the small pouch currently hanging from Jaehwan’s back. After analyzing it through Doubt, he found the following item information.
+
[Item Information]
Name: Small Dimensional Backpack
Description: Uses a pocket dimension to carry a large amount of baggage. Provides up to 2 cubic meters of space.
+
For some reason, after escaping the 《Tower of Nightmares》, Jaehwan had become unable to use almost all the convenient functions provided by the Interface System, including his inventory.
It was strange.
According to Beastrein, the Interface System could be used throughout the dimensional realm, including the 《Great Realm》.
Perhaps it was because of the strange experience he had undergone just before leaving the Tower.
The sensation of every part of his body being dismantled and filled anew.
That was also why he had to use Doubt to view item information. With the Interface gone, he had even lost access to [Item Appraisal], a basic skill.
For Jaehwan, the Small Dimensional Backpack had appeared at exactly the right time.
He put all the unknown objects left behind by the humanoids into the backpack.
What was this? A gem?
Perhaps they had been jewel cutters. Each humanoid had carried something resembling a finely cut crystal. Blue crystals were the most common, followed by red ones. There were also two black crystals, which had come from the bundle of the humanoid whose antenna Jaehwan had pulled until the end.
They might be valuable.
Jaehwan put them all into the backpack.
Should he throw away the rest?
The equipment worn by the humanoids was too bulky to fit inside the backpack. Just as Jaehwan was considering what to do with it, the Ice Dragon Sword hanging from his waist suddenly began to hum.
“Again?”
Hummm.
“Fine.”
He did not know why, but the Ice Dragon Sword had been strange ever since he escaped the 《Tower of Nightmares》. A dim black sheen had begun flowing through its transparent blade, and at some point, it seemed to have developed a will of its own. It would hum at the slightest thing.
Especially when it was hungry, like now.
Jaehwan drew the Ice Dragon Sword and drove it into the pile of equipment. The blade split apart like a mouth and began devouring the humanoids’ equipment.
It was as if some ravenous monster of fable had taken possession of it.
Jaehwan watched in fascination. With every piece of equipment it consumed, the sword’s color deepened into a more brilliant black.
“Hm...”
It was not as though he had no idea what might be happening to the Ice Dragon Sword. Still, he had only a suspicion for now, so he decided to leave it alone.
He had something more important to deal with.
The final thing he had gained after killing the humanoids.
A map of this Forest Zone.
Its method of map reading differed from Earth’s, and it had been crudely made, making it difficult to decipher. Yet that was no problem with Doubt.
He read the map’s title.
Tree of Illusion... Chaos? Was that how it was read?
The map’s upper section bore only the words 《Tree of Illusion-Chaos》.
Come to think of it, the word Tree of Illusion had also appeared in the graffiti left by Mulack, the Tower’s Creator.
“The Towers I created are nothing more than Roots meant to sustain the First Nightmare at the top of the 《Tree of Illusion》...”
If that was the case, the Tower of Nightmares he had broken out of was likely connected to a tree called the 《Tree of Illusion》.
In other words, this place he had reached after breaking through the Tower of Nightmares was likely either very close to the 《Tree of Illusion》 or deeply connected to it.
One thing was certain. This place was a region not included in the information Beastrein had given him.
This was troublesome.
The humanoid group had apparently been heading toward a location marked with an X on the map. Jaehwan guessed it was likely a settlement or village. Only after staring at the map for a long time was he finally able to roughly identify his own location.
First, he needed information about this place.
He had been lucky enough to meet only weak enemies so far, but there was no guarantee that would continue. Not everyone would be as weak as those horned beasts or green humanoids.
His first priority was to meet the inhabitants here and obtain as much information as possible.
Since this was a new world, he had to think of himself as a beginner. That would help him survive from now on.
Of course, that did not mean he intended to compromise with this world.
Learn about the world, but never compromise with it.
That was the fundamental principle he had established when he broke out of the Tower of Nightmares.
Perhaps there were others who had also broken out of a Tower like him.
Jaehwan wanted to see living humans if possible. There had to be humans here who had endured long nightmares like he had and finally escaped being Products.
Beastrein had said it once.
“The species known as humanity is scattered throughout the 《Peripheral Worlds》 in considerable numbers. The humans of World 294 are only one such group.”
If the demon’s words were true, there would already be many humans in this world where he had set foot.
Humans who had cleared their Towers.
Jaehwan wondered about them.
What did humans who had escaped the Tower look like? What did they think as they lived? What did humans live for after leaving the Tower?
How long had he wandered like that?
Jaehwan, who had been pushing aside broad leaves, stopped.
He had found them.
The sound of weapons clashing came from the direction of the footprints.
They had to belong to the people who had left the footprints he found earlier.
Through the undergrowth, he saw four or five people in formation hunting familiar horned monsters.
They were humans.
Footnotes:
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