CHAPTER 173: Half-Mixed with Forest**
Not much blood flowed. But he could feel his life force rapidly draining away. His body was shutting down, his mind was freezing, and his soul was distorting.

Regret. For having lived for so long looking only upward. Regret for the reality that he couldn't reach the top and had to get off midway.

‘It did not reach.’

He had failed to reach the place he so desperately desired. Kang Jinwoo, though possessing the body and mind of a human, had a soul that had ascended to the top. He had tried to reach the realm where he stood, but in the end, he had failed.

If he couldn't even defeat a god who had destroyed himself and descended to the level of a human, how could he ever become a new god?

‘However…’

At that moment, Yuberis’s heart shone. His soul, along with the Seed, was being sucked into Jinwoo’s sword, but that flow was suddenly blocked.

At this sudden turn of events, Jinwoo’s eyes narrowed. He twisted the sword more violently, trying to crush the soul, but Yuberis’s soul was no longer being pulled toward Jinwoo.

“I will not let you take it so easily!”

He admitted he was inferior to Kang Jinwoo. But he would not go down this easily.

The Seed implanted in him had already recognized Kang Jinwoo and was trying to return to its original master. He forcibly held onto it. The magic formula carved into his soul released its chains and wrapped around the Seed.

The Seed seemed flustered. Yuberis, the Lord of Eternity. He, who had chosen death as a means to achieve eternity, had been preparing for his own death for thousands of years.

—If I am to die, my opponent will be him.

He had never even considered the other Lords. Not the ferociously present Jerakson, nor the calamity-wielding Larna. And certainly not Belkarim or Terham, who had rejected the Seed’s power from the beginning.

His death would be at his hands, and he would try to reclaim his soul and the Seed.

He would block that and use it against him. No matter who he was, even he would have to let his guard down for the moment he absorbed the Seed. The power of a Seed was not something even he could ignore, and absorbing it would inevitably leave him defenseless for a short time.

‘Now!’

Right now. Into Kang Jinwoo’s soul, left wide open to steal the Seed.

Yuberis was already dead. But as a necromancer who commands death, he does not stop at mere death. In fact, this very moment could be considered his peak. A peak where he burns his short remaining time to achieve his goal.

His arm, in turn, plunged into Jinwoo’s chest. His five outstretched fingers grasped his heart and clawed at his soul.

Jinwoo’s eyes widened. Yuberis’s final move had damaged his flame and even seized his physical heart. His mind, which had been intact, was now shaking violently.

“I won…”

Yuberis smiled. The cloth covering his eyes fell away, revealing empty sockets where his eyeballs should have been. Those empty eyes curved into a smirk, mocking his opponent who had let his guard down at the final moment.

However, it went no further. He tried to clench his hand and crush the heart, but his fingers wouldn't budge. It was as if he were gripping solid rock; his hand wouldn't move at all.

“...Huh?”

His hand was instead enveloped by a golden aura. An energy protecting the heart. The power of the Golden Apple, mixed with Cain's Seed, had become even stronger. It was far too strong for a Lord to shatter with a sudden sneak attack.

To destroy his heart, a mere surprise attack wouldn't do. A more meticulous plan and concentrated power would be needed. For Yuberis, who had little time left, that was next to impossible.

“Wha…”

As he tried to utter a word, Jinwoo’s sword sliced through his neck. His arm also fell away from Jinwoo's chest. A hole in the chest was a major injury, but his heart was fine. A few broken ribs were the extent of the damage.

Yuberis, on the other hand, was completely decapitated. The magic formula that had barely sustained him was completely destroyed, and the flow of his soul, which had momentarily stopped, resumed.

With that sword, Jinwoo absorbed Yuberis’s soul and Seed without leaving a trace.

“Ah, ugh…”

“Don’t be too disheartened,” Jinwoo said, offering a word of solace to the dying Yuberis.

“This, too, is the way of things.”

“...!”

At his words, Yuberis’s empty eye sockets shot wide open. The very words he had wanted to deny his entire life, but had failed to. The resentment of being swept away by the natural order and dying in the end.

He had pursued eternity and tried to achieve it through the means of death. But Kang Jinwoo—no, the man from the past—had told him. That even death could not become eternity.

That he had chosen the wrong means from the very beginning.

‘Kang Jinwoo…'

This time, true regret washed over him. Enveloped in sorrow—no, in emptiness—he closed his eyes for the last time. His body disintegrated into particles.

The battle was over. The underground labyrinth was still collapsing at this very moment. Having started to fall apart due to their battle, it began to crumble beyond recovery once it lost its master.

The masterless undead likewise stopped moving and fell. The debris of the labyrinth raining down on them naturally created their graves.

‘First, Yuberis’s body.’

Even while needing to escape quickly, Jinwoo didn’t forget to clean up. He scattered a golden aura, completely annihilating the particles that were Yuberis's body. If left alone, there was no telling when a second Yuberis might appear and resurrect his corpse.

After that, he didn't forget to collect Rondar’s sword. He didn't even need to go pick it up; it flew to his outstretched hand naturally. The Seed dwelling within the sword had sensed Jinwoo’s presence and already acknowledged him as its master.

He wanted to examine the sword, but escaping came first. He wouldn't die from being buried alive, but there was no reason to stick around.

Jinwoo climbed up the crumbling labyrinth. He cut through any blocked parts with his sword, carving a path to the surface.

It seemed to be quite deep, as it took some time to ascend. When he finally dug his way out, he felt the bright sunlight shining down on the surface.

“Oh.”

It was a meadow. A field like a pasture stretched endlessly, and small hills could be seen rolling along the horizon. In contrast to the horror of the underground, the beautiful scenery left an even deeper impression on his heart.

Moreover, upon seeing the sunlight, Cain’s Seed became more active. The heart that his foe had attacked. Although there was no wound on the heart itself, it was true that he was injured enough to have a hole in his chest. The energy of the sunlight permeated the wound, stopping the bleeding and causing new flesh to grow.

He took out some water from his inventory, washed the wound, and wrapped it with a clean bandage. Since regeneration had already begun, this simple treatment would be enough for it to heal cleanly.

After tending to his wound, Jinwoo examined the sword he had taken from Yuberis.

‘Even without the Seed, this sword is far superior.’

The sword that Rondar was said to have poured everything into. The one he had been using until now was also Rondar’s, but the craftsmanship was on a different level.

In the first place, if he tried to implant a Seed into the sword he had been using, the sword would not be able to withstand it and would corrode or break. The fact that it could endure the power of a Seed meant it was no ordinary sword. This single sword truly contained the power of a Lord.

‘Rondar… why did he stake everything to create this one sword? Could he be dead?’

Yuberis had said Rondar wasn't dead. But he had also said he was in a state where he could die at any moment.

Why would he shave away his own lifespan and soul to create this one sword? It couldn't have been a simple whim. There must have been a reason for doing such a thing now.

Where could he be? Having created the perfect sword and even cast out the bothersome Seed, could he be living in seclusion in some quiet place?

There was no way to track him now that he had discarded the Seed. If he had even a little power left, Jinwoo could have tried to find him by sensing it, but Yuberis had said he was now nothing more than an empty shell. He might even be weaker than Kanok.

However.

‘With this sword…’

We will meet someday. He had a strong feeling about it.

Normally, he would have no reason to meet him again. There was no catalyst, no reason.

The moment Jinwoo collected the Seed, his business was done, and Rondar likely wasn't looking for him either. Since Jinwoo wasn't hiding or running away, if Rondar had wanted to find him, he would have appeared long ago.

The fact that he hadn't meant that Rondar didn't want to meet Jinwoo either. It was safe to assume their paths would never cross again.

Vwoom—

But the sword was telling him. This sword, which held a Seed and acknowledged Jinwoo as its master, also held the lingering thoughts of its creator. No, it wasn't strong enough to be called a lingering thought. Perhaps just a trace.

Sensing the being waiting at the end of that trace, Jinwoo sheathed the sword.

Whatever it was, it could wait. For now, he had to return to Earth to check on the city, and he also had to cross over to the Spirit Realm and return to the White Tower. He wondered if Larna and Terham were taking good care of the World Tree.

‘So much to do.’

Haaah, letting out a small sigh, Jinwoo began his journey home. Bright sunlight illuminated the path before him. But the shadow that followed behind him was also an inseparable presence.

“Jinwoo!”

When he returned, a tearful Chartia clung to him. Was she happy he returned safely? Of course, that was part of it, but there was another reason.

Looking at that reason, Jinwoo stammered out a question.

“Chartia? What is all this?”

“I don’t know! It suddenly started growing like this…”

Jinwoo’s house, which had been completely destroyed by the zombie horde, was now completely covered in trees, having become almost like a forest.

If it were just that, he wouldn’t have been so surprised. The area covered by the World Tree wasn't just Jinwoo’s house, but the entire city—all of Seoul had transformed into a state of being half-mixed with a forest. In such a short time.

“Was the flow of time different? Have a few years passed since I left?”

“Absolutely not! It hasn’t even been a week!”

It seemed the flow of time really was slightly different. In Jinwoo’s perception, the battle in the underground labyrinth hadn't even lasted a full day. At most, half a day.

But for her to say it had been a week meant that time in the underground labyrinth had flowed somewhat slower.

However, that alone couldn't explain it. The matter of trees covering the entire city in just one week.

“You told me to take good care of it, so I did, but for it to grow this much… Didn’t you do something to the World Tree before you left?”

“Nothing comes to mind…”

At Chartia’s words, Jinwoo thought seriously, but nothing specific occurred to him.

If he had to guess, maybe it was because he removed the enemy, Yuberis, from Earth? Or because he, having received the Baptism of Flowers, had passed some energy to the World Tree? Or perhaps Chartia’s arboricultural abilities had become much stronger without him knowing?

Zhiing— Zhiing—

“Ah! It’s a call from Mayor Ma Doo-sik! Would you like to take it?”

“Hand it over.”

It probably wasn't planned timing, but just then, Ma Doo-sik called Chartia. Chartia answered the phone, explained that Jinwoo had returned, and then handed the phone over to him.