Chapter 440 – My Younger Brother
Verden first recognized the entity called the Soul Tree two years ago.
Through the arrangement of the information broker Pale, he received a request from Count Rodenmeyer to find the missing Viscount Bailon.
At that time, the ominous gray tree he burned down in the Kazerdan Ridge was no different from a treant, except that it handled things in the form of the dead.
But that was only a part of the Soul Tree.
Only after receiving a trial from the Listener of the Ark did he face the true body, and with Leira at the vanguard and Verden at the rear, they were able to subjugate it without much difficulty.
The difference of compatibility.
Its final struggle swallowed the city, but it could not overcome Verden's mental strength.
At any rate, as a result, Verden obtained the material known as the Soul Tree's trunk.
He used three of the four to craft the Orient, and the remaining one is currently stored in subspace.
The past scene vividly flashed through his mind.
And it was not only Verden who recalled the Soul Tree.
"If it's a white corpse and tree roots… isn't that the abnormal species Your Excellency personally subjugated in the Principality of Riviant?"
He noticed it somehow.
At that time, Linus should have been locked in Leonil's laboratory.
It seemed he had caught up on all the newspapers he missed. As expected of a Platinum Rank adventurer.
But there was something to correct.
"The abnormal species we dealt with two years ago was indeed a Soul Tree, but not the same. If the one in the principality was immature… the one before our eyes now can be called a complete adult."
The bark of the tree, not gray, but dark crimson.
Especially the presence radiating in all directions was starkly different.
That was a special specimen.
"Hurry! We must run away at once!"
Barely holding onto his senses, Marmal urgently urged them to flee. He desperately tugged at Verden's robe, but he did not budge.
Crrrk.
The roots, which had only been moving slowly, suddenly surged upward. Soon they whipped about like lashes and came crashing down vertically.
"If struck head-on, that would hurt quite a bit. Should I dodge?"
"There's no need."
Stopping Gharun, Verden flashed his Mystic Eye.
Boooom!
A spatial barrier absorbed the impact.
Blocked by an invisible wall, the Soul Tree writhed again and again, then drew back. Contracting its roots, it prepared once more to spring.
It was indeed a much stronger strike than the Soul Tree in the principality…
'But something's off.'
Even considering its enormous size, its speed and reactions were sluggish. This was not the movement of something luring prey.
It was as if it had reached some kind of limit.
Verden's intuition told him the Soul Tree was not in a normal state.
'Could it be starving?'
The possibility was high.
After all, in this barren underground, there was little to nourish it. Feeding on dwarves would hardly be enough to sustain it.
Finishing his thoughts, Verden raised his hand like a blade and slashed strongly across the air.
A purple rift carved into the void.
A blade formed of magic power surged forward, tracing a half-moon arc.
It belonged to the last chapter of the Tome of Spatial Magic he had acquired in the Arc, and at the same time, it was the 7th-tier spell used by the Administrator, the avatar of the Demon King.
It was the essence of spatial magic.
Crack.
The razor-sharp space struck the lower roots, and a violet line shot outward in both directions.
A clean cut.
In the blink of an eye, without resistance, part of the Soul Tree was severed and fell toward the ground.
"It'll get a bit bright, so take care."
Ignoring the expenditure of magic power, Verden forcibly seized the space and hurled it.
The warped trajectory of the Soul Tree's root swept away the white-eyed dwarves like a landslide.
Part of the residential area collapsed under the massive shock, and a heavy roar shook the surroundings, but all was calm around Verden.
Lightning flickered at his fingertips.
The Transcendent's technique, Quinter Casting.
The white-eyed dwarves that had escaped the previous blast were instantly struck by five bolts of lightning like a plague, dying and vanishing on the spot.
For an instant, searing flames burst forth.
He immediately controlled the dying sparks.
Fueled by infused magic power, they expanded explosively, becoming fire pillars that overlapped one another.
Verden clenched his fist.
Kwoooooom!
A colossal pillar of fire burned everything away.
The underground, where only darkness had existed, was flooded with a crimson world.
The white-eyed dwarves vanished without being able to do anything.
Not only the severed root, but even the connecting section leading to the Soul Tree's main body flared violently.
Rumble… Ruuumble…!
Struggling with all its might, the Soul Tree retreated and sank beneath the black rock.
The severed root, freed from the Soul Tree's control, instantly turned to ash and scattered.
Once, the Soul Tree had been an existence Verden had to exert his full power to defeat.
If the principality's Soul Tree had grown to adulthood and become a special specimen, he might have died, unable to handle it.
But that was a thing of the past.
'So it's nested quite deep down, huh.'
Already, with magic power and insight, Verden roughly grasped the Soul Tree's location.
But he had no intention of dealing with it right away.
Partly because of the distance, but more because the very presence of the Soul Tree was questionable.
Why claim territory in a place almost devoid of nutrients, and why not leave despite starving? It made no sense.
'Something is here.'
Perhaps the Black Volcano became like this not by natural means.
It was pure intuition.
That was why he judged it better to head to the dwarven village where Marmal lived first.
[Safety secured.]
Hearing Alpha's whisper, Verden turned back.
"There's no more threat. Now, would you lead us to the village?"
"Ah…"
Marmal nodded blankly.
The sea of fire he saw for the first time in his life was reflected vividly in his eyes.
Rustle.
Though the robe didn't fit and slipped from his body, the young dwarf felt no cold.
***
The Soul Tree, having lost one of its massive roots, screamed silently. The pain traveled along the trunk, spreading everywhere.
For the Soul Tree, weakened by continuous starvation, it was unbearable suffering.
In the underground where sunlight never reached, suffering such damage was a first in centuries.
Tang, tang.
A hammer rang.
Not a dwarven search party.
The presence was solitary, and it was clear the being was powerful, forcibly so.
Taaang! Taaang! Taaang!
The hammer wailed.
"It has been long since I fulfilled the duty given to me…"
He swung his arm even harder.
By the hand of an unknown outsider, the Soul Tree's life force, already greatly damaged, would be drained even further.
It was but a speck, but it was also the work he had done out of habit.
"…At last, I may die."
A dwarf with a golden beard, his body pierced through in many places by thin tree tendrils, laughed for the first time in ages.
The golden anvil and hammer clashed, ringing with metallic sound.
***
The Black Volcano Clan collapsed.
But it did not perish.
Deep underground, untouched by external hands, they clung tenaciously to life.
Amidst famine, cold, abnormal species, and threats like the Soul Tree, many dwarves perished, yet some endured.
At the highest place in the structure of the sunken Black Volcano, that is, the only safe zone at the uppermost layer, there was a sanctuary of underground dwarves, numbering just over two hundred.
The residents, except for only a single one, were all dwarves born underground.
"This is our village!"
Marmal smiled as he pointed toward the village.
For the first time in about 260 years, a guest had arrived.
***
The village where Marmal was born and raised was the area that once served as the entrance to the fortress.
As it had to block external offensives and invasions, it was a stronghold with durability second only to the central facilities.
Although much of it had been destroyed by past tectonic shifts, the barrier itself remained in its original form, and the shattered fragments were somehow reused thanks to their unique craftsmanship.
They built a new wall to protect the dwarves, using everything available, and raised buildings to block the cold even a little.
This place was created solely for survival.
Linus scratched his head.
"Ugh, those stares are burdensome."
Every dwarf they passed flinched and stared intently at Verden's party.
Verden and Linus, being humans, drew most of the attention.
Gharun, at least, was a dwarf, so the stares were less intense, but since he was an unfamiliar elderly dwarf, many gazes still gathered on him.
It was all understandable.
For the dwarves of the village, they had never encountered anyone other than their neighbors.
"Marmal brought dwarves with him…!"
"Uh, that dwarf over there kind of looks like the chief. Or maybe not?"
"But are those two dwarves as well? They're way taller than us."
The murmurs carried both curiosity and caution.
There was plenty of wariness, but no one stopped Verden's group.
Instead, they kept their distance while following.
Before long, they reached Marmal's home.
"Mom!"
"Marmal!"
Marmal was embraced by a dwarf.
Female dwarves tended to be taller than males, comparable on average to a human in their early teens.
They had almost no beards.
Physically sturdy, yet not as extreme as the males.
At a glance, certainly dwarves, yet not so utterly different from humans either.
Marmal's mother, Talia, cautiously asked.
"But, who are you…?"
"We came from outside."
"Outside?"
"The surface, the surface."
At Gharun's answer, the dwarves gathered behind them buzzed noisily. To them, the surface was a world only spoken of in stories.
"More importantly, where is the chief?"
It was far more efficient to talk to one leader than to explain to each villager.
Small though the village was, if it was a community, there had to be a leader or someone equivalent.
And that thought was correct.
He had already confirmed as much through his conversation with Marmal.
"The chief is…"
"Mm."
The villagers hesitated.
Verden narrowed his eyes.
'They're being very cautious.'
He could feel it was simply out of care or concern for someone. Pure emotions were the easiest to read.
The chief was held in the highest respect in this village.
Marmal, who had already shed all wariness, looked around.
"Since he's not in the village… he's probably farming over there! He'll be back soon!"
"Marmal…!"
Talia quickly covered Marmal's mouth, but it was too late.
From the direction Marmal pointed, an unfamiliar dwarf's presence drew near.
A presence distinctly different from that of the villagers.
"I'm here!!!"
With a booming voice, an old dwarf strode forward.
The chief, carrying a basket of harvested crops, waved the root of a plant with green potatoes dangling in clusters.
"Today the green potatoes are really plump! For the first time in a while, each of us can have two─hm?"
He froze.
His eyes fixed on Verden's party, but his focus locked onto Gharun and did not move.
'Wait, looking at them like this…'
The chief and Gharun.
Their detailed features were different, yet in overall appearance they somewhat resembled each other.
They had said Gharun's family participated in the second search party, so perhaps the chief was a distant descendant left by Gharun's brother.
But that guess was dead wrong.
"Geradin?"
"Gharun?"
The two dwarves spoke at the same time.
They knew each other's names.
That could only mean one thing.
"Ohh."
Not a descendant, but a brother.
So it wasn't only Gharun, but the whole bloodline that bore this abnormal longevity?
Even so, to reunite with a brother thought dead, after more than 200 years… it was nothing short of astonishing.
Verden showed interest.
Alpha was already recording the scene with the Memory Golem.
But there was no touching reunion.
"…These damned spirits must have evolved while I wasn't looking. Now they even conjure up the face of my long-lost younger brother grown old. And they've disguised the white eyes too. But do you think I'll be fooled?"
The chief, his expression ghastly, flung aside the basket.
He drew the axe at his waist.
"Everyone, bow your heads and step back! Don't be deceived!"
"Geradin?"
"I don't know how the Soul Tree's ghosts made it to our village, but as long as I'm here, they won't take anyone!"
"Wait…"
"Please wait, Chief!"
"Step back, Marmal! Uaaaaaaaah!"
The chief's eyes rolled back as he charged.
More agile than expected.
His forward rush and subtle feints carried the experience of a seasoned fighter.
After two fakes, the chief swung his axe diagonally.
"Tsk."
Smaaack.
Gharun's fist slammed into the chief's jaw.
***
The chief's jaw swelled greatly.
Fortunately, Gharun had moderated his strength. Had he gone full force, with the chief's momentum, the impact would have multiplied and shattered his head.
When Verden poured a top-grade potion on him, the chief soon came to.
"You spirits! Begone at once…!"
"Ugh, seriously."
When he tried to lash out again, Gharun slapped him across the cheek. Then, grasping his brother's shoulder, he spoke in a low voice.
"You once said, when we got rich, you'd quit smithing and live a life of luxury."
"…!"
"So what are you doing here, Geradin?"
Geradin flinched.
No dwarf alive knew of that conversation. There couldn't be.
Of course, neither did the Soul Tree's white-eyed minions.
"You, you can't be…"
"Yes, it's me."
Geradin discarded his tangled thoughts.
Acting with simple, instinctive judgment, he inhaled sharply.
"My brother!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
A voice louder than Gharun's.
The air cracked with the sound.
"Damn it!!!"
Unfortunately, standing right beside him, Linus clutched his ears and collapsed.
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