Chapter 152: Just One Person
The tree towered as if to pierce the sky. Indeed, its branches grew piercing through the clouds. It was a tree huge enough to be called a World Tree without seeming strange, but he knew intuitively. That wasn't a World Tree.
‘I don’t feel any souls.’
He wasn't talking about the tree's soul. The World Tree was a tree called the Soul Tree, which took souls as nutrients to bear new souls. So if it were a World Tree, it would be normal to feel countless souls around it.
But that tree wasn't like that. Instead, there were many completely different souls around it. Filthy souls surrounding the tree, gnawing on it, and excreting waste.
He saw all kinds of insects harboring Black Flame.
"That is..."
"Not a pleasant sight."
Belkarim also couldn't continue her words and just watched. Horrible insects were flying and crawling around the tree, eating away at it.
The wind surrounding the tree swirled, fighting off the insects, but more individuals were being born than dying. Even the dying ones sprayed bodily fluids mixed with poison and filth onto the tree before dying, causing it to rot even further. The tree's decay was entirely the insects' doing.
It was a gruesome sight that would turn one's stomach just looking at it. Belkarim was also pulling her body back slightly. It looked like she didn't want to approach.
"Looking at the traces, this isn't a matter of a day or two."
Instead, she didn't turn her eyes away. Examining the state of the surrounding battlefield, she whispered to Jinwoo.
"How long do you think it's been?"
"I can't know exactly, but... it seems they've been fighting for at least five years. Do you see this insect shell?"
The maid pointed to an insect shell near her feet. Along with the remark that it was an object at least five years old.
"Long before you guys got swept up in this."
"Yes. Probably."
It meant this fight had been ongoing before Belkarim came here.
The insects' objective was clearly visible; the power of a Seed was being felt in the center of the tree. The Seed of Erosion. The proof of a Monarch. Then is that tree also a Monarch?
‘No, the tree didn’t rot because of Erosion.’
The presence of the Seed was felt, but its power wasn't spread into the surroundings. The rotting of the tree was purely due to the insects' brutality, not because the Seed's power had spread or anything.
Rather, the Seed existed quietly inside the tree as if time had stopped. Holding its breath silently. Unlike other Monarchs, it felt like it was sealing the Seed's power rather than wielding it.
The insects were rushing in targeting that Seed. To rot the tree, dig it out, and steal the Seed. He could now understand why they had killed Belkarim but left that Seed behind and left.
‘Because you can’t hold two Seeds.’
Except for Jinwoo, the original owner, beings who could hold two or more Seeds were extremely rare. They could exist in theory, but he had never actually seen one. Jerakson tried to build power to attempt it, but he hadn't succeeded.
Even if they wanted Belkarim's Seed, they couldn't have it. Because the vessel's capacity was maxed out just by sealing one.
And insects were swarming that sealed Seed.
"Larna, the Monarch of Insects and Desolation. It seems to be her minions."
"Are you well-acquainted?"
"Not well-acquainted, just heard rumors through the grapevine."
Larna. The Insect Monarch. Like the name suggested, a Monarch of Predation who commanded insects to expand territory and devoured everything in that land.
Most Divine Spirits who ascended here were beings outstanding from birth. Superhuman physical abilities transcending humanity. Deep-rooted secret techniques passed down through generations. An environment full of all kinds of elixirs and spiritual herbs.
It is true that they endlessly worked hard and refined themselves, but there was something innate added to that. The representative would be Jerakson. A Dragon, a great creature by birth.
"I heard the Insect Monarch wasn't like that. They said she was born as a weak existence truly no different from an insect. Her surrounding environment was bad too."
"Is her innate talent overwhelming?"
To ascend to the Spirit Realm, bone-carving effort is essential, but that alone isn't enough. Something innate is needed. If you don't have a body, a family, or an environment, you must at least have talent.
"If you call it talent, it is talent. Since she devoured those she trained rather than training herself, absorbing their power. Maybe she has a talent for defeating those stronger than herself."
"Ascended to the Spirit Realm through predation alone without training..."
In a way, she was similar to Jinwoo. Since Jinwoo was also here by absorbing the flames of all kinds of existences.
But it was different. Since learning the theory of the sword, and above all, the attitude toward the sword from Rona, there hadn't been a single day he skipped training. Moreover, his power was recalling a forgotten past life, so it was a bit different from the Insect Monarch.
‘The wind... is actually calmer as we get closer. It’s fully occupied with exterminating insects.’
The rebellious wind that had tormented them so much from afar was actually fine now. An appearance of pouring all attention into the insects.
"What will you do?"
Belkarim asked. Having lost the half that even had the Seed, she didn't have the power to intrude into that battlefield herself. Either retreat from here or rely on Jinwoo; it was one of the two. Perhaps because she had lived as a maid for a long time, she chose the latter without hesitation.
Just then, an insect nearby detected them. It was a guy looking like a large ant with wings; its antennae moved, and it turned its head this way.
Soon, the guy flying over—
Chwa-ak—!
Jinwoo's sword slashed. The pouring bodily fluids were blocked and pushed away by mana. Not a drop of fluid got on Jinwoo's body after swinging the sword once.
Starting with that, Jinwoo intruded into the battlefield. Belkarim also guessed Jinwoo's intent and followed behind, catching insects. Even if her power was halved, she wouldn't struggle against one or two insects.
Dozens of insects were ground up with a single sword stroke, and the pouring golden sun burned even the remnants. Not stopping there, Jinwoo's sword summoned lightning. The incantation of God-Greeting.
Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwa-gwang!
As the charred insect corpses crumbled, a smell like roasted peanuts began to spread. At this point, everyone knew of Jinwoo's existence. The insects, and the tree too.
Having intruded intensely and executed the insects, Jinwoo next slashed a large hole in the wall of wind.
"Lord Jinwoo? Weren't we killing all the insects...?"
Belkarim, who had been freezing insects along with Jinwoo, was flustered. If he cut the wind barrier in this situation, what would happen was obvious.
The insects scrambled over each other to charge at the tree. Not just tormenting the protruding branches, but all the way to the central trunk.
"What are you talking about? My objective was the Seed from the start."
Jinwoo spoke nonchalantly and headed toward the trunk where the insects were rampaging. The place where the Seed was sealed. Since that was his only objective from the beginning, there was no reason to help anyone or exclude anyone.
Strictly speaking, it was the tree side that attacked first.
A little while ago.
The man, rooted and protecting the sealed Seed, was greatly flustered. The Seeds of the Monarchs he regarded as dangerous had approached this place.
‘Kuh...! Four of those maggot-like things!’
Four detected Seeds. That meant four Monarchs had come here.
Why on earth? No, more than that, were Monarchs the type to work together to do something?
They each had strong self-assertion and hated cooperating. Just looking at Larna, the Insect Monarch whose Seed he had defeated, it was obvious. Larna viewed other Monarchs only as high-class prey and constantly looked for opportunities to eat them.
Since such a wretch was defeated by a Divine Spirit like him who wasn't a Monarch, she must be seething with resentment. He had collected her Seed well and was sealing it like this. Since he couldn't release it into the world until he found a way to completely disassemble or destroy it.
But other Monarchs appeared. And four of them.
The man's heart pounded thump-thump-thump at the presence exuded by four Seeds. It was more terrifying and tense than ever before. Since becoming a Divine Spirit, this was the first time he felt the sensation of cold sweat running down his spine.
‘I already have a headache because of the Insect Monarch’s remnants...’
The Insect Monarch was famous for having particularly many minions. Her insects weren't undying like undead, but they were far more numerous and terrible than an undead army.
They were even filled with gluttony, known to devour everything on the path they passed and devastate it.
In a sense, she was the most dangerous Monarch among them and the one who caused the most damage to the surroundings. That was why he chose to strike the Insect Monarch first. Because she was one of the most urgent matters among the problems piled up in this Spirit Realm.
Along with Jerakson, the Monarch of Oppression, Larna, the Insect Monarch, was evaluated as a supreme calamity.
But to approach like this before he could even finish dealing with the remnants...!
Boom!
Kwa-aaaa-aaang!
The surroundings trembled. Along with the explosion, he felt a massive power being wielded countless times. Mighty Qi, the pouring, burning sun, and even falling lightning.
‘They are killing the insects?’
Were they perhaps those who chased the Insect Monarch, not targeting him? Since she was a wretch who caused so much damage around her, it wouldn't be strange if she bought that much resentment. Did four Monarchs damaged by Larna gather to subjugate her remnants?
If so, there was room for conversation. Since he also defeated Larna and obtained the Seed for a similar reason.
The thought that four Monarchs might be targeting Larna's Seed crossed his mind, but he shook his head saying that couldn't be.
‘You cannot possess more than two Seeds.’
That is the common sense of Erosion and an absolute unwritten rule. He heard rumors that the Monarch of Oppression was invading all sorts of stars to suck up essence to overcome that, but no story of success was heard. It meant he failed or was still only attempting it.
Then, perhaps it could be solved through conversation somehow. While he was thinking that.
"......! No!"
The wind was split. Through that gap, insects poured in. The terrible insects clinging thickly to the trunk sealing the Seed, which he had protected until the end.
But that wasn't the problem. Beyond the blown-open wall of wind, they entered. Four Seeds. Four Monarchs.
Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwa-gwang!
The encounter was fast. The four Monarchs, having pried open a gap once, dallied no longer. Detecting this side, they approached in a straight line. Neither the blocking insects nor the rotting stems, nothing could stop them.
And so, he came to meet them.
"One person...?"
The one who came was one human. Yes, a human, not a Divine Spirit. That alone is a heterogeneous existence in the Spirit Realm. Although there are many Divine Spirits of human origin, there is no one who reached the Spirit Realm with a human body as is.
However, something else stood out in his eyes more than that. The one who came was one person, but the power of four Seeds was felt from within him.
The intruder was not four Monarchs, but just one person.
The Divine Spirit of Wind, or rather, the Demonic Spirit Grunt, trembled upon seeing the unidentified existence that was impossible to understand even after seeing it.