CHAPTER 159

159 - A View of the Tower

According to Terham, the World Tree had taken the Seed from him. In the process, he had lost his body, which had been so corroded by the Seed that it was beyond healing.
If that was true, it meant the giant here had escaped from the World Tree.
And now, the World Tree had come chasing after it.
"Kuwarrrrgh!"
The giant tore at the root and roared at the sky. With its massive body, its lung capacity must have been considerable, for its roar was deep and wide.
The vibrations of the sound alone were powerful enough to shatter rocks and uproot trees. However, the World Tree's roots pushed through, attempting to bind the giant.
It was like a battle between monstrous beasts, shaking the heavens and the earth. Both possessed immense life force and looked as if they could continue fighting for days on end.
"Bad tree! The bad one that trapped me! I'll pull you out!"
The giant's resistance was fierce. It was a natural reaction, given it would be dragged away if caught. It grabbed the thickest of the roots wrapped around its body and pulled, trying to rip it from the ground.
At first, the root seemed to resist, trying to hold its ground, but it was no match for the giant's strength. So, it changed its strategy and suddenly released its tension. The giant lost its balance as the root was abruptly pulled free.
"Kuoohhhhh!"
The giant's vision swam. A body this massive, once it lost its balance, was bound to fall. It began to topple backward. Because of its sheer size, even its fall seemed to happen in slow motion.
Sunlight poured down, blinding the giant's eyes. Strange. Why was the morning sun, which had just risen, so intense? Even the midday sun shouldn't be strong enough to scorch a giant's eyes.
"Who!"
Someone was there. An enemy. An enemy who was manipulating the sunlight to blind him.
He remembered that human from before. The annoying pest he had momentarily forgotten about while being pursued by the World Tree. A human as small as a flea, yet possessing a formidable presence. A savage creature.
"You wreeetch!"
As it fell backward, the giant flailed its arms wildly. The flea would surely use this opportunity to attack, and the World Tree's roots wouldn't stay idle either. Indeed, several roots were caught in its hands and torn apart by its powerful grip.
But the flea-like human could not be caught.
'Now.'
Jinwoo ran. This was the perfect chance to cut the creature's chest.
As if on cue, a convenient path to its chest had appeared. One of the roots wrapped around its body extended right in front of Jinwoo.
'Is it aware of me?'
It might know he was here and be seeking his cooperation. Or it could just be a coincidence.
Either way, it didn't matter. For now, having a path to run on was enough.
The giant was so massive that the distance to its chest was considerable. Still, for Jinwoo, it was a distance he could cover in a single dash. Reaching his target, Jinwoo raised his sword.
Krrrrrumble!
Thunder began to roll across the dry, sunlit sky. It was a truly bizarre sight. The abnormal sunlight was a product of his power, and now his sword was calling forth black lightning and thunder. The weather of the sky, the ceiling of the world, was being controlled by the tip of his blade.
"Kuoarrrgh!"
Its vision restored, the giant spotted Jinwoo and slammed its fist down. It was because, despite being a small human, he was gathering an unnerving amount of power.
Cain's Seed converted the sunlight into his power, while Kanok's sorcery summoned the very lightning once worshipped as a god.
Death. That premonition echoed in the giant's instincts.
It had to escape the threat of death. Even as a being with only a soulless body remaining, that instinct persisted. To be precise, it was more of a defense mechanism of the Seed that had taken over the giant's body.
KWANG!
While still lying on its back, the giant slammed its fists into the mud. It had judged that trying to get up would be too slow.
The judgment was correct. The shockwave from the giant's punch pushed the mud away. A disastrous wave of mud rose, sweeping away everything in its path, including the small human and the roots that had been targeting him.
After that, it grabbed whatever stones and rocks it could find and threw them as it somehow managed to get to its feet. Without letting its guard down against the human and the roots, the giant began to flee.
'Escape...!'
Its goal was not necessarily to kill all the enemies here. For a being without a self, left with only the instinct to protect the Seed, there was no room for humiliation or pride.

It wanted only one thing: to be free from everything that constrained it. In other words, to escape from the World Tree that had imprisoned it.
It had come to the lake to reclaim its soul, but that could be done later. For now, not getting caught was the priority.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Shaking the ground, it escaped the lake. In just a few steps, it was already out of the muddy water.
It fled, leaving violent footprints in the pristine forest.
Naturally, the World Tree's roots weren't about to let it go. Though momentarily stalled by the wave of mud, they quickly regrouped and gave chase.
"Hmph!"
The giant swatted away the pursuing roots as if performing a trick. It punched them, crushed them with its grip, and kicked them away. The massive body of the giant was a weapon in itself, and the World Tree's roots were helplessly severed.
'I won.'
The giant's eyes sparkled. It had escaped far enough. There were still roots chasing it, but shaking them off was only a matter of time. After all, it was faster running on the surface than the roots chasing it from underground.
"Kyeong—!"
Amidst the chaos, one root pursued it as if fighting a desperate last stand. It was a root with a white flower on it, which alone signified it was different from the others.
Was it receiving more of the World Tree's power than the other roots? He didn't know for sure, but it was dangerous nonetheless.
Which meant one thing.
"This is the last one!"
If he could get rid of this, it would be over. The giant clasped its hands together and raised them above its head. Then, it brought them down like a sledgehammer, violently severing the middle of the root.
Tududuk!
The shockwave completely snapped the root, and the beautifully blossomed flowers scattered. Flowers of the World Tree were said to be where souls were born, but it seemed these flowers were not of that kind. No souls emerged from them.
Things were quiet now. Seeing the other roots chasing from a distance, the giant smiled. It turned around to run again. Or rather, it tried to.
"You forgot about me."
Slice—
"Kuoh?"
The leg it thought had touched the ground suddenly gave way, and its body tilted. It looked down to see what had happened and found its ankle had been severed. Cleanly. Not a single drop of blood flowed from the ankle, which had been cut without any pain.
Jinwoo's sword rushed toward the tilting giant. After severing its ankle to make it lose balance, he leaped into its guard in a single breath.
"No!"
The giant hurriedly crossed its arms to cover its chest. This should be safe. A small sword wielded by a small human couldn't possibly pierce both its arms, cut its chest, and gouge out its heart.
But Jinwoo's target, as he leaped, had never been the chest. His sword continued its ascent, aiming for the neck—the single connection between the giant's head and body.
Pshuk!
The sword sliced through, and the giant's neck was severed. The creature's head tilted and fell. Its body, with a severed ankle, also swayed, unable to maintain its balance.
Having neutralized the beast by removing its head, Jinwoo began the finishing work. He cut off both arms that were guarding the chest, then split the chest open. He punched a hole in the heart and grasped the Seed within.
And then he leaped. Kicking hard against the heart, he burst out from inside the giant's body.
Tuduk, tududuk!
The black nerves connected to the giant's body snapped like spiderwebs. The Seed could have resisted, but it remained docile. Now that it was in Jinwoo's hand, it would not defy him any longer.
"Hoo."
A moment after Jinwoo escaped, the headless giant finally crashed to the ground with a thud. Landing on top of it, Jinwoo looked at Terham's Seed and let out a sigh.
This was the fifth one. Including Larna's, he now had half of them.
And.
'World Tree.'
At the very moment he had gathered half the Seeds, he came face to face with the World Tree. The black root that had finally caught up faced Jinwoo directly, its gaze fixed on Terham's Seed.

It was true that the World Tree had helped, but Jinwoo had been the one to ultimately retrieve the Seed, so it was rightfully his. Besides, Jinwoo, who had already tamed four Seeds, was a more suitable keeper than the World Tree, which had failed to manage it properly and let it escape.
But the black root was showing a strong desire for the Seed in Jinwoo's hand. It didn't seem like it would attack and snatch it, but he could feel its powerful will, asking him to hand it over.
"Why."
Jinwoo asked.
"Why are you trying to embrace the Erosion?"
It was the same back then. When he met the Black Knight in Bellen Village.

The World Tree had appeared to consume the Black Knight and had been forced to retreat upon meeting Jinwoo. If Jinwoo hadn't been there, the knight would have surely been killed by the World Tree. And he would have become its nourishment.
He couldn't understand. Why she had made such a choice. Whether it was related to his past self. What his past self had thought of her, and what she thought of him.
The root of the World Tree approached Jinwoo. However, there was no sign it intended to take the Seed.
The root covered Jinwoo's eyes and showed him something. Just like when it had shown him the tower and Permu in Bellen Village.
'Is that the tower?'
The scene he saw this time was the same. A view of the tower. The only difference was that the tower had completely collapsed and was now nothing but ruins.
It didn't look like it had collapsed from age. The once-intact tower had been destroyed by some external pressure. Indeed, unfamiliar monsters and what looked like demonic spirits were roaming freely inside.
'Did Permu return to her own world, leaving the tower abandoned?'
The White Tower had been managed by Permu. As the priestess of the World Tree, she could wield power by receiving revelations and grace from it. With that power, she would have been able to repel invaders and all sorts of evil things that came to the tower. Though she couldn't repel Jinwoo, whom the World Tree itself had invited.
In any case, with her, the tower's guardian, gone, its collapse was only a matter of time. It was just that the time had come sooner than expected.
'No, considering the danger level of the Spirit Realm, it's only natural.'
It hadn't been long since he had received the fairies' hospitality, but that was an exceptional case. The Spirit Realm had always been dangerous, teeming with powerful beings.
An abandoned tower would have been invaded and conquered in an instant.
If so, the World Tree's intention in showing him this was clear. It needed someone to manage the tower. Someone to drive out the unwelcome guests and reclaim it.
"Are you asking me to become a priestess? No, 'priestess' doesn't fit since I'm a man."
But calling himself a shaman didn't seem right either. Perhaps 'priest' would be appropriate. In any case, that was what it was asking him to become.
The root moved its body up and down, as if nodding its head.