Chapter 328 – Miasma

000

The land of the World Tree, a world of endless green forests.

In this small village, the inhabitants, who had the appearances of mortal races such as humans, elves, and centaurs, but whose bodies were made of plants, lived together.

In the center of the village, Yggdrasil, the world tree called the mother, actually created and cared for all living things in this village, stretched high into the sky.

Its branches, its leaves, spread out like clouds, as if expressing its boundless benevolence.

At first glance, this realm is like a paradise in the Bible that seems peaceful to the end.

However, even in this area, should I say that there is a problem or concern?

The army of the dwarf lord invades beyond the borders of the realm, seeking timber and souls.

He was a member of his family who rode a wagon drawn by mechanical goats and wielded steel weapons.

According to Yggdrasil’s inclination, most brothers and sisters were born as beings who hate fighting and love peace.

What protects them is their eldest daughter, who has the lower body of a strong horse and the upper body of a beautiful human.

Yggdrasil’s first offspring. This is Freya, a centaur dryad.

The bow of stems and vines that could be crafted from her arms was a bow that never lost sight of its aim of her, and was literally a part of her body of her.

Also, the arrows of the mistletoe, which can be created infinitely with magical power, become sharp thorns and lightly pierce any thick armor.

Because she shouldered her battle as the village’s guardian, her sisters were able to live a safe life.

From the time Freya was away with Cleon, three days had passed in the time of Yggdrasil’s realm.

Since there was no sun, the concept of the sun setting and rising did not exist, but Yggdrasil opened and closed its leaves to create artificial magical lights that floated in the sky.

It is at least a comfort that during her absence her, the Thunder Lord’s invading forces did not visit the realm.

Although there is no means, the voice of concern about Freya, who has not been heard from, is slowly spreading among the villagers.

As the dimensional door opened, the eldest daughter reappeared.

“Whoa…”

At the sensation of her returning home after a few days, Freyja involuntarily let out a sigh.

The place where the portal opened was right next to her mother her, Yggdrasil.

Beyond the revolving vines of magical power, in an empty plain landscape completely different from the realm of Yggdrasil, what appeared together.

They were allies who had joined forces to defeat the Thunderlord.

“…You’re back, Freya.”

“Yes. Yggdrasil-nim.”

Thinking that the light was leaking from a huge tree, what appeared in front of the party was a beautiful and mysterious woman.

Amelia looks at her cautiously at the feeling that she gives her with her green hair, something similar to her Quon her.

Amelia’s eyes met Yggdrasil’s her, shifting her gaze away from Freyja.

The beating of a heart that resounds somewhere in her eyes with her deep eyes.

Amelia involuntarily blushed and turned her head away.

“Whoops.”

Hearing Yggdrasil’s laugh, Freyja tilts her head, but soon turns a little darker and talks.

“We succeeded in saving Cleon’s comrades. …But Cleon-“

“I know. Cleon… Went to the realm of the dead and lost thoughts.”

Yggdrasil put a hand to his chest, saying that he could feel his presence, even from afar.

“It must have been a predictable fate to some extent. The last darkness that remains in this realm… And, the most dangerous and great darkness.”

“…Yggdrasil?”

Freya asked as if she did n’t know the meaning of her words, but Yggdrasil shook her head and looked at the group behind her.

Since each of them came from a different realm, the reason why all of them with strong personalities are quiet is probably because they were warned by Freyja before coming here.

In particular, Moose, who held Amelia’s hand her, remained silent with a faint moan as if his strength his continued to wane.

Utgart with Peruluca and Sif on his back.

And, Cassius supported by Gray.

Yggdrasil’s gaze stopped at Cassius.

“Ah… You are the Prophet who appeared to the Thunderlord.”

“…World Tree Yggdrasil. If you hadn’t aided Mr. Cleon, neither the Thunder Lord’s ambitions nor the darkness of the Exiled Realms could have been fought.”

Yggdrasil smiled as Cassius placed a hand on her chest her and bowed to him in his obeisance her.

“Is most of it as you planned?”

At Yggdrasil’s question, Cassius did n’t change his expression his and just kept his mouth shut.

What he did was for the sake of humans living outside the Exile Zone.

Strictly speaking, for the survivors of other realms gathered here, he was also the main culprit in destroying that realm.

“[He keeps his mouth shut on questions that are difficult to answer. That’s good, just like the wise man I know.]”

The one who laughed at such Cassius was Peruluca.

No, to be precise, it must be his teacher inside Peruluca.

“Crowley…”

Yggdrasil also looked at Peruluca, perhaps feeling Crowley’s presence in his.

“[It’s the first time I’ve seen it in person like this. I’ve always sent my familiar.]”
“Yes, I hope for branches and leaves and fruits.”

At Yggdrasil’s words, Freya’s face turned to surprise, and then she glared at Peruluca.

“[Hey, don’t stare at me like that. I always took it with permission.]”

“Even so! Sending a familiar to another realm… And I myself don’t notice it…!”

Freyja frowned with a very disapproving face, and Yggdrasil quietly stopped Freya from doing so.

“It’s okay. In his case, he doesn’t mind invading other realms as long as his thirst for knowledge is satisfied.”

“[It’s an honor that you trusted me that much. Well, it’s just as you said.]”

Freyja glered at Crowley as if she were still wary of him.

Then, Amelia carefully raised her hand her.

“Excuse me! … I’m sorry, but I have to go get Cleon. Yggdrasil, I heard he can open a portal to that realm…!”

Amelia’s eyes were full of worries, even at this moment, that something might have happened to the kidnapped Cleon.

“Of course. I can branch out into any realm from this realm of exile, creating a dimensional realm that you can pass through. …But-“

Yggdrasil smiled a little, and Amelia flinched, and her body her trembled.

She felt her fear her in her smile her, not because she felt her tree trunk crawling on the ground, climbing up her own body.

She didn’t feel uncomfortable or uncomfortable, she just felt that it was a little slippery and that it was an unfamiliar texture.

The tip of her stem her, where the slightly broader leaves touched, was the same as Amelia’s stomach, nape of neck, and forehead.

“What, what…?”

“Don’t worry. I’m just examining the state of my body. As expected, it consumes a lot of magic power as I thought.”

As she said, many people, including Amelia, were exhausted from the long battle with Edin.

I can’t possibly continue the next fight in this state.

“If it’s Cleon, it’s still fine. No, rather, now is the time to leave him alone.”

“…Why do you think so?”

When Amelia questioned Yggdrasil’s words, she replied with a smile.

“To overcome the dangers that await you in that realm.”

“…How far do you know? Yggdrasil.”

As Cassius questions her, Yggdrasil looks up at her sky and talks.

“I am the oldest being in this Exile Realm. My roots reach into the lands of other Exiled Realms. That’s why… If any ‘alien being’ touches the root, I can immediately notice it.”

“An alien being…?”

Her Amelia and others didn’t seem to know what she was referring to, but only Cassius silently looked at her.

“Hey. Swindler. And firewood. I don’t know what you two are up to, but the other guys will get fed up with hiding it like that.”

At that time, when Moose, who had been caught by Amelia and was quiet, talked about it, Freya made a surprised face as if she had lost her mind.

“Now, firewood! Could it be that you called Yggdrasil-nim firewood!? After all, I can’t forgive you guys!”

Freya pulls out her arrow and aims it at her moose her, though her moose her watches her as she snarls.

Yggdrasil smiled and grabbed her by the shoulder, shaking her head.

Freyja groaned at her face with a resentful expression saying ‘Keuuu…’, Then she lowered her bow and stepped back behind her.

“…Don’t worry. Depending on what you do with ‘that existence’, your destiny will change greatly. But–that’s if an entity like me or the sage over there, who is strongly entangled in this realm, will be able to clarify the identity of ‘it’. To put it bluntly… It gains power immediately.”

“… Is it something like an age?”

When Sif asked her question while tilting her head, Yggdrasil replied, ‘Let’s say something similar’ and turned her body her away.

“Freya. Please guide them to a place where they can rest.”

“…I understand. Lord Yggdrasil.”

At that time, Utgart soars into the sky.

[I’m sorry, but looking at such a wide forest doesn’t calm me down, so I’ll fly around. Are you okay? I think it’s okay.]

…It’s like they’re excited about the natural environment they’ve seen for the first time in a while, so they’re flying.

“Wait! So selfish…!”

“It’s okay. He must be happy to have arrived in a realm close to his environment. What about you?”

Upon receiving Yggdrasil’s proposal, Sif said “Oh…” With a slightly troubled expression, then just shook her head.

“…No, this is not ‘our forests and swamps’.”

At Sif’s answer, Yggdrasil only smiled lightly, nodded, and permeated into the body of the giant tree.

“…You’ve heard? Yggdrasil-sama will open the door for you when you’re in the best condition. If you know, let’s calmly go to the inn.”

As if she had become the leader of a school excursion, when Freyja’s words were answered with ‘yes’, she sighed and led the way down to the village.

Amelia just glanced at Yggdrasil, closed her eyes, and chased Cleon’s magic flowing through her own imprint of her.

Certainly, he still seemed unharmed.

Or rather, he seems to have gotten a little better—

It was then.

Cleon’s intense visual information flowing through the imprint.

The image of him hugging someone naked.

“…Wow…!?”

In a fit of rage, I severed his magic connection and stroked his startled chest.

“Cleon, in this situation…”

For some reason, Amelia’s expression her became a bit bitter when she thought of him, who had become a cliché to mix with a woman in a dangerous situation.

At the same time, feeling the old scars in her chest her throb, albeit slightly.

‘…This time, I’m going to go get it.’

And she burns her own fighting spirit.

001

Shortly after Layla peeked into Cleon’s memories of her, she called him a pervert and then flew back to her own studio.

It wasn’t until then that she noticed that she had left her mask behind her as she felt the heat on her face her not cooling down.

“Haa~~~~! I’m just embarrassed by that…! I’m still a long way off…”

I try to calm her down like that, but what comes back is not equanimity—

The violent love scene between Cleon and himself that came to mind.

No, to be precise, she wasn’t herself.

Lyla Flamewatch from another world.

In Cleon’s world, she plots to kidnap the hero.

She was stopped by Cleon… And the woman who became Cleon’s ally in the true sense of the word behind it.

Her self her, even her own her, was a lich whose memories were unclear, but as she read her memories of Cleon, the magic she used was still clearly visible.

Constellation magic, incarnation magic, and pure flame magic.

Except for the first one, the other two were magic that he had neither used nor thought of.

It was okay to get information about such things.

If there’s a problem- it’s that you need conditions to use that magic.

“…A firm conviction that can’t be shaken by anything. And- a wedge that continues from that conviction and binds me together. A bond.”

Even if he said something like that, nothing came to Richie’s head.

It’s her natural story of her, the only thing she brought back was her own name of her.

Her ‘real self’ and her relationship with her.

It didn’t exist for the current lich.

“…Does that mean that you are disqualified as a mage?”

It was as if Lyla from another world was laughing at her.

No matter how hard you try – you are in a state that you cannot reach unless you are alone.

Even if you become a lich and have hundreds of years of magic research.

The limit that Layla Flamewitch could reach without Cleon was clearly set.

“Do not be ridiculous…!”

Laila threw the cup she was drinking in at the wall, making her hair glow red with boiling anger.

No one could underestimate him, he would surely reach a new level of magic.

—If it’s for that.

Lila becomes a sober eye and holds her head up.

She looked to where the door she had jumped in was.

Beyond – where it leads in a straight line.

He’ll be there, that guy.

“…Anything, I’ll do it. I’ll take it away.”

She holds her miasma, holding her hand until it hurts.

There can be no losing.

Defeats had to be repaid with victories.