Chapter 151: Rotting Tree
Absorbing Belkarim's Seed didn't take that long. In terms of time, it was less than 30 minutes. If he had fully concentrated in a safe place, it would have been faster, but...
‘Just in case of an ambush.’
The Maid, Belkarim, could betray and stab him in the back. Or an external enemy might defeat her and attack him while he was meditating. To prevent such variables, he was directing a part of his consciousness outward.
So that he could move at any time if something happened outside. So that if Belkarim showed even a one-in-a-million sign of hostility, he could counterattack immediately.
As a result, there was no betrayal or ambush. Belkarim guarded the room he was in well, and no sign of enemies was felt yet.
Thanks to that, Jinwoo was able to fully absorb the Seed of the Monarch Belkarim.
‘It fits perfectly.’
Belkarim's Seed settled inside him as if it fit perfectly.
Jerakson and the other Seeds were the same, but these sources of Erosion had strong self-assertion. Each had different authorities and tried to show them off by eroding the outside, so they were difficult to calm down.
However, once they entered inside him, they became docile as if they had found their rightful place. Jerakson's Seed was like that, and Prycia's Seed was like that. Cain's Seed and Belkarim's Seed were the same.
They all found their places and were sleeping comfortably. So that they could rise and respond immediately when the master woke them. They looked like loyal knights, and also like deeply filial children.
If they hadn't been docile, absorbing Belkarim's Seed would have taken far more than 30 minutes. Months, no, maybe even years.
No, that wasn't the issue in the first place. Accepting two Seeds into one soul would have been impossible.
Didn't even Jerakson invade all sorts of stars including Earth to gather essence just to create a vessel to hold two Seeds?
‘Is this how it’s used?’
He unleashed the power of the Seed. A feeling like particles even smaller than spores were spreading into the surroundings. Of course, since they didn't have a physical form, they were invisible to the eye and couldn't be detected by anyone other than Jinwoo.
The particles spread like that stretched the flow of time like taffy. It wasn't stopping it, but stretching it extremely long so that it was practically the same as stopping.
An environment identical to Belkarim's snowy mountain was created. Inside this, one felt time flowing normally, but in reality, it wasn't flowing. A world of daytime where night never came for eternity, or rather, a time close to eternity, was created.
Jinwoo looked for Belkarim.
"I'm done with my business, so I should head out."
"......Are you okay?"
A worried voice came from inside the cloth covering her face. It was unexpected. He didn't recall sharing enough interaction to receive worry.
"Unless I'm going to live here forever, I have to go out. There are things I need to do out there."
He had to find the World Tree. At Jinwoo's words, Belkarim bowed her head slightly. He couldn't see her expression because of the cloth, but she seemed to be biting her lower lip and hesitating.
"May I accompany you? I promise not to be a burden."
"You?"
When he asked with the nuance of 'Why bother?', Belkarim answered.
"I can't hide forever either... and I need to find my dead half."
"You mean you need to recover the corpse."
"Even if it died and shattered, it is half of my vessel. If I don't find it and fix it, I have to live as a half forever."
Monarch Belkarim wasn't simply something like a clone. The vessel of the existence called Belkarim had been split exactly in half. She put the Seed in it and it acted as a Monarch, but now it had lost the Seed and the vessel was shattered.
She had to recover those fragments. It would be difficult to restore a once-divided vessel, especially with broken fragments, into a whole vessel, but she couldn't not try.
For Belkarim, this was the one and only chance to go out to the surface. Right now, while Jinwoo was by her side.
"Do as you please."
Jinwoo didn't say anything else. He didn't think she would betray him now.
If she wanted to, she would have done it when he was absorbing the Seed earlier, and honestly, even if someone of her level betrayed him, it wouldn't be much of a blow. The current Belkarim was neither a Monarch nor a complete Divine Spirit. A half-baked Divine Spirit. The power she held might still be high, but in terms of rank, she was lower than even Kanok.
"The sunlight is nice."
Coming up to the surface, dazzling sunlight poured down. That gave Jinwoo strength. The golden energy held by Cain's Seed gradually filled up and amplified.
"This is..."
Belkarim also noticed the anomaly in the sky. The movement of the sun had stopped.
It hadn't stopped completely, but it seemed almost halted. A minute movement difficult to confirm even with the eyes of a Divine Spirit like her, albeit a half one. That meant the string of time had stretched that much.
The ability that was the authority of Monarch Belkarim. However, this ability was far more natural than the Monarch's.
The daytime now created an illusion of being more like the original daytime than the daytime in the snowy mountain.
‘So this was its original form.’
She realized it too. She had guessed Jinwoo's identity, and now she was even more certain.
That the Seed had returned to where it originally belonged. That what had been growing in the wrong soil called Belkarim until now had finally returned to its original soil.
So, from now on, it would bloom even more brilliantly.
Since all Seeds originated from him, the current Monarchs would be nothing more than his children. In a way, an existence that could be called Father. However, that Father saw his wicked children and came in anger to reclaim the Seeds.
Just now, already four. Four Monarchs had their Seeds reclaimed by him and died.
"Phew..."
While Belkarim was silent, Jinwoo absorbed the sunlight to his heart's content for a moment. Seeing the wind blowing, there was no need for him to move first. He built up the golden energy along with the sunlight until the aforementioned ominous wind arrived.
And finally.
Hwa-a—
The wind blew. An existence completely different from the natural wind that had been blowing until now. Ominous, ghastly, and a creeping sensation like a razor blade shaving off peach fuzz.
It came. The wind that killed Monarch Belkarim and extracted that Seed.
"I'm going. If you fall behind, I'm leaving you, so follow on your own."
"Ah, yes!"
Without paying any attention to her, Jinwoo leaped toward the wind.
A lukewarm wind blew, neither hot nor cold. It was an incredibly unpleasant wind accompanied by a faint scent of rot.
Jinwoo moved exactly as he had before. He dodged the same way and blocked the same way. But it was several times easier than before.
Belkarim's Seed absorbed in a short time. And Cain's Seed endlessly accepting the power of the sun through it. With the two powers as his center, they made Jinwoo into a giant tree that would not fall to the wind.
"Ugh... Kuh..."
At the strained sound coming from behind, Jinwoo looked back slightly. Belkarim was struggling somewhat. It seemed burdensome to strike away the stickily clinging wind and keep up with Jinwoo's speed.
Whether she did or not. Jinwoo increased his speed even more without a shred of consideration. In the first place, she wasn't a comrade or anything. Just a connection that got entangled by chance. Wasn't the first meeting closer to enemies?
Clench. Belkarim gritted her teeth too. She didn't want to utter weak sounds to Jinwoo. She didn't want to be a hindrance to him.
‘Faster.’
She chased behind him even faster. Fortunately, she quickly closed the widened gap. In the process, she got hit by the wind a few times, but since there were no major injuries, it was fine. Small wounds would heal with a little rest.
‘Haa... Haa...’
She forcibly calmed her labored breathing. Normally, she wouldn't be this exhausted just from running a little. But now she had to deal with the tenacious wind, and amidst that, chase after Jinwoo.
‘How can he be that fast?’
Jinwoo was running as if the wind didn't exist. Clearly, this ominous and lukewarm wind was assaulting him too, yet his speed did not decrease. His sword cut through everything, deflected everything, and opened the path forward.
The fact that she could follow, even with difficulty, was because Jinwoo was opening the path from the front. At least from the front, the wind didn't blow. She only had to deal with the wind coming from the sides and back.
Just that was this hard, yet Jinwoo was facing the headwind from the front and opening the path. It was a situation where she was forced to realize the difference between herself and him, even if she didn't want to.
"Belkarim. Do you know if the guy using this wind has a Seed?"
At that moment, Jinwoo spoke. Belkarim flinched in surprise and quickly answered.
"I don't know. But it's certain that he is an extraordinary person. Since he killed my other half who had a Seed..."
Because it killed a Monarch, she thought it might be a fellow Monarch. But it wasn't certain. It wouldn't be strange if there was a Divine Spirit stronger than a Monarch. The Spirit Realm was a place ascended by only a handful of individuals in the vast history of the entire universe.
The wind blew. Jinwoo's sword, covered in golden energy, sliced it. Certainly, it wasn't easy to deal with using only Belkarim's ability. Because that slowed the world but couldn't slow only the opponent.
However.
‘Even so, to be defeated that easily?’
A slight sense of incongruity.
It was certain that Belkarim's Seed wasn't suited for direct combat. It was also true that this wind was extremely tricky to deal with.
But Monarch Belkarim was a guy who engaged in physical combat with even Jerakson. She didn't even get pushed back that much.
An existence with that level of combat ability lost her life easily to this level of wind?
‘She died too easily.’
He recalled Belkarim's memories again. Not the Maid Belkarim beside him, but the memories of Monarch Belkarim.
That immense power she lent when killing Johann. The overwhelming feeling when opening the gate to Hell. When he met her in the snowy mountain, she was an opponent he could communicate with better than expected. Even if she grumbled, she didn't cause harm.
And the appearance of her fighting fiercely against Jerakson.
If he released Jerakson in this spot, would he easily die and fall to this measly wind? Impossible. He couldn't imagine that arrogant Dragon perishing to wind of this level.
Then Belkarim, who fought equally against that Dragon for a short while, was the same. She couldn't have died from this.
‘Though the Seed was left behind and she disappeared.’
Anyway, it was a fact that the Seed had returned to where it should be. He would find out what scheme the bastard was plotting in due time. As long as he didn't lower his guard.
"Over there! I see something!"
At those words, Jinwoo lifted his head and looked at the sky. Up ahead, something that hadn't been visible just a moment ago suddenly appeared.
A tree towering as if to pierce the sky. For a moment, he thought it was the World Tree, but it wasn't. What was there was a dead, decaying, rotting tree. Yet, it was as huge as the World Tree.
The wind was blowing centered around it.