The World Tree’s wail did not simply spread in the form of sound.
It was a resonance of the soul.
The immense tree vibrated violently, and the waves it released spread beyond the royal castle and across the entire forest.
Swoooosh—
With a gust of wind, the trees swayed furiously.
Birds nesting in the branches all took fright at once and rose into the sky.
The wild beasts, too, sensed something and began to leap away in panic.
The pyramid of nature, where predator devoured prey, could not function in this moment.
Both predator and prey alike fled in terror.
The elves on the road to refuge witnessed this sight, then turned back toward the direction of the royal castle they had left behind.
“The World Tree...”
The castle was no longer in sight, but the World Tree could still be seen.
The World Tree, which had always showered them with warm light and grace, now looked as though it was filled with rage and agony.
A bizarre sensation, like a stone cast into the depths of the soul, rippling outward.
The elves realized the severity of the situation when the immense tremors followed.
Kuu-goooong!
The ground heaved upward once, violently.
Some failed to keep their footing and fell to the ground, others screamed without meaning to.
In the brief stillness that followed, one elf pointed with a trembling hand toward the World Tree.
“L-look there.”
All gazes turned to the World Tree.
Some sat down on the spot with eyes wide open, others bowed their heads and prayed in reverence.
What they saw was the World Tree, its enormous roots surging wildly, destroying everything around it.
* * *
“Damn it all.”
Ambella Burke couldn’t help but curse at the sight before her eyes.
Had someone rebuked her for such language being unbecoming of a family head, she would have answered that everyone else was thinking the same.
She could vaguely guess that the writhing, tentacle-like roots within the inner castle meant the power of the World Tree was being used.
But that was only on the surface.
Ambella judged that this army could never fully stop what was happening.
And now, the situation had completely overturned.
She did not know exactly what Ventmin Lifret had done, but the World Tree was exerting far greater power than before.
Not only had the number of roots sprouting throughout the inner castle increased,
but those very roots were attacking the Lifret and Shadewarden elves who had guarded the castle, draining their life force.
The loyal retainers who had devoted everything to defend the castle from its enemies were now having their very lives consumed by their master.
“Lord Ambella, what in the world is happening?”
Vierno looked up at the wailing World Tree, his face aghast.
The divine tree.
The very being they had revered and served was now raging in fury.
“Could it be that Lord Lifret has done something...?”
“Of course. After the Plante fell and they took the seat, they must have long been researching ways to wield the World Tree’s power.”
“Then isn’t this dangerous? If the World Tree’s full power is unleashed, our gathered forces here will never be enough...”
Knowing the World Tree’s strength, Vierno instantly grasped the gravity of the crisis.
The forces assembled here could not withstand it.
But Ambella shook her head.
“No. That’s not its complete power. It feels more like something being forcibly drawn out.”
Ambella had seen the World Tree’s power closer than most.
More precisely, she had seen elves who could wield the World Tree’s power up close.
She herself had never handled it directly—only witnessed it from afar, and even then in ritual form.
But she had lived long enough, and with her years she could easily surmise.
“That is an incomplete power. If we grow frightened and flee now, that malice will expand uncontrollably.”
It was clear enough just from watching the roots devour every living thing in sight.
Ventmin Lifret was substituting her lack of control over the World Tree by absorbing other life energies.
“On the contrary, this is the chance. We must advance quickly.”
“But if we try to enter through those roots...”
The moment they touched, their life force would be stolen.
Dodging them was not impossible, but for such a large number of soldiers to move at once was nearly impossible.
The larger the force, the heavier the movement.
Therefore, it was inevitable that they had to lighten the weight.
“A small, elite force is our only option.”
Ambella swung the massive greatsword in her hand in a wide circle.
Whooosh!
With the sound of the air being split, a gust of wind swept through.
“If there is any consolation, it’s that those who should have been blocking our path inside are tied down, unable to act because of our allies’ deaths. At least the only thing we need to watch is the roots.”
“Considering those roots are the greatest danger, that hardly counts as consolation.”
“Come now. You know just as well as I do that in war, nothing is too strange to happen.”
Saying so, Ambella turned back.
“Don’t you agree, Helia?”
“Mmm, I wouldn’t know. I haven’t been through many wars myself~.”
A bright, playful voice that did not suit the grave atmosphere.
Holding a parasol, striding forward like a model, Helia whistled as she looked upon the collapsing inner castle and the rampaging World Tree.
“Wow. Looks like that Ventmin girl was desperate. To go so far as to pull a stunt like that.”
“So then, what do you intend to do?”
“Hmm. Well, honestly, I think it’s enough that man managed to get inside thanks to the distraction I gave.”
Helia fixed her gaze on the World Tree.
She could see the shadowy birds rampaging nearby, and the man fighting upon them.
Ludger, firing his artifacts like starlight in all directions, and Ventmin answering below with golden arrows.
In this dreadful scene, their clash carried an almost bizarre, ironic beauty.
Helia could hardly contain the joy and exhilaration rising within her.
The world truly was delightful.
Having made up her mind, Helia spoke toward Ambella.
“Well, I suppose I’ll lend a little more of my services.”
Helia raised the parasol in her hand and aimed it forward.
She mischievously stared at the writhing tentacle-roots tearing apart beautiful Serendel’s inner castle.
“Bang.”
For such a crucial moment, her action was absurdly frivolous.
But the result was anything but.
Beside Helia, a gigantic monster’s head suddenly burst into existence in midair.
It was her authority—illusions imbued with physical force.
No, could one even call it an illusion anymore?
The moment it could be touched, the moment it had physical power, it had long transcended the realm of the false.
What appeared behind Helia was a beast with a reptilian head.
Scales tough as iron, and two great horns rising from its skull.
The neutral elves gasped in shock at the sight.
“A-a dragon?”
A being that had once existed in the distant past, in the age of myth and legend, now long extinct.
A fragment of mythology, said to be closest to the gods themselves, had manifested here—even if only as an illusion.
The semi-transparent crimson dragon drew in a deep breath.
Its chest, swollen to the limit, glowed a fiery scarlet.
The dragon exhaled toward Serendel Castle.
The breath of the dragon, said to burn the world, erupted radially, engulfing the roots around Serendel’s inner castle.
The World Tree had not budged even before the heat of human-made gunpowder and bombs.
Yet even as an illusion, the heat of the dragon’s breath had a tangible effect upon it.
Fsssssssh—
The roots swept by the breath blackened and stiffened in place.
Even the splendid gates of Serendel Castle, once so magnificent, sagged grotesquely and melted.
It was tragic that a piece of the elves’ long history had collapsed so horribly.
But everyone here was too overwhelmed by the spectacle to even dwell on it.
The breath seemed as though it would reach past Serendel Castle, to the World Tree and its cradle itself.
“Oh my.”
Helia let out a sigh of admiration.
But Ventmin did not simply stand idle before the attack.
Crack-crack-crack!
Stronger, more massive roots surged up in succession, forming a colossal wall.
If what had moved before were but small roots, these were the main roots, directly connected to the World Tree’s trunk.
Each was over fifty meters thick and kilometers long; as they stirred, the ground flipped and torrents of soil erupted skyward.
The world shook along with the rising clouds of dust.
Even the dragon’s breath could not burn away both the vast earth and the World Tree’s massive main roots at once.
Helia pursed her lips in a pout at the way things were turning against her intentions.
“Well, now. Looks like I’ll have to give out an even bigger service than usual.”
She had only intended to lend a hand and leave, but Ventmin’s resistance was rougher than expected.
Helia did not like that.
She had come in the first place to ruin Ventmin’s scheme, to repay her double for the humiliation she had once inflicted.
But if Ventmin was going to grate on her nerves like this, then she could not help but get serious.
“Pierce through.”
At Helia’s command, the dragon intensified its breath.
The radial flames, which had swept away a wide area all at once, gradually narrowed.
“Wh-what is this heat?”
“Fall back!”
The elves watching from behind felt the heat from the dragon’s jaws surge even hotter, and they hastily retreated.
The narrowing breath eventually became a single streak.
Ziiiiing—
It was no longer a torrent of flame, but something that could only be called a laser of condensed heat.
The highly compressed breath blasted through the earth and the roots of the World Tree, leaving a massive hole.
But the breath did not stop there.
Ziiiiing—
The dragon’s jaws tilted upward, and the red laser swept along its trajectory.
From Serendel Castle’s gate, up the trunk of the World Tree, all the way to its branches.
Where the massive flash had passed, delayed explosions burst out like petals blooming.
Having fulfilled its role, the dragon dissolved into the air like cotton candy melting in water.
“Th-the World Tree!”
The elves cried out at the sight of a massive scar engraved upon the World Tree’s body.
But Helia was unconcerned.
“What. It’s just this much. Even this damage is fleeting. It’ll regenerate soon enough.”
Then she turned to Ambella.
“Still, I’ve opened the path for a while. Now it’s your turn.”
“Indeed.”
Ambella rushed toward the World Tree with the elite troops she had already gathered.
Vierno did the same.
Helia watched the elves’ retreating figures, then thought of Ludger fighting atop the World Tree.
“I do hope you manage well. You cannot afford to die here.”
* * *
Helia’s strike had a direct impact on the battle between Ludger and Ventmin.
An inferno of uncertain origin swept across the battlefield.
The cradle, too, was caught in the path.
The massive hollow of the cradle was split cleanly in half.
Ventmin, caught in the blast, saw half her body—transformed into a giant tree—burn away into ash.
“Ughhh! Helia!”
Synchronized with the World Tree’s senses, Ventmin immediately recognized whose attack it was and roared in fury.
But at the same time, what little reason remained in her carried a flicker of expectation.
The trajectory of that breath had also included Ludger, hovering in the air.
With the Steel Raven’s mobility, he must have dodged the direct hit, but even so, the aftermath should have inflicted enough damage.
Yet Ventmin could not hide her shock at what she saw.
“How?”
Ludger was unscathed.
She had clearly seen the breath graze past him and the Steel Raven, yet the man bore not a single burn mark.
What startled Ventmin even more was the lingering flame and heat around him.
The embers left behind by the dragon’s breath still swirled around Ludger, drawn in as if by a force.
The sparks contracted, sucked into a single point.
It was the crimson jewel clutched in Ludger’s right hand.
“Dragon’s Breath, is it.”
Having absorbed the flames into Quasimodo’s spirit stone, Ludger looked satisfied as he glanced at the jewel pulsing red in his hand.
And then his eyes shifted to the familiar woman with black-and-white hair at the ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ front of the neutral faction’s army.
“Foolish.”
Ludger clicked his tongue, though he could not deny he had been helped.
At that moment, the World Tree shuddered violently.
Even a World Tree could not endure the agony of being struck directly by Dragon’s Breath, its natural opposite.
The inner castle quaked violently, the cradle shook as if on the verge of collapse.
The cradle, seared by the breath, could not withstand the tremors and cracked in half, slowly widening.
Ludger shouted.
“Hans! Get Sedina out of here!”
[U-understood!]
Hans carried Sedina on his back and took off at once.
Ventmin lashed her roots to snatch them, but she was a beat too late.
“No!”
The last key of the Plante was slipping away.
No matter what else, Sedina could not be lost.
Hans realized Ventmin could not completely stop him, but he still did not take the escape lightly.
Flooding his body with mana, Hans prepared to accelerate.
He meant to get as far from the World Tree as possible.
───!!!
And then, the anomaly occurred.
Something neither Hans, nor Ludger, nor even Ventmin herself had anticipated.
Crack-crack-crack.
The branches of the World Tree began to lengthen, stretching outward in all directions.
Like an umbrella being opened, the expanding branches drew arcs until they touched the ground.
Kuu-guuuung—
Wherever they touched, the earth quaked.
In an instant, a massive cage was completed around the World Tree.
[Wh-what is this...!]
Hans panicked as the branches forming the cage reached toward him.
[Hold tight!]
Hans tried to flee, but trapped within the cage, no matter where he went he was still under the World Tree’s reach.
In a flash, branches seized Hans, and Sedina atop his back was caught as well.
Ventmin watched, her voice trembling as she muttered.
“Th-the World Tree moved on its own. The World Tree desires that child.”
* * *
“What a mess.”
Lutus Wardot could not hide his bewilderment at the sight before him.
Only days earlier, he had set out upon hearing from the First Princess that the Elven Kingdom was preparing for war, intending to prevent it in advance.
But when he arrived, the Elven Forest was already chaos.
Those who should have guarded the borders were absent, and inside, battle raged.
Above all, Serendel Castle, the capital of the Elven Kingdom, and the World Tree itself were rampaging as if stricken by calamity.
“I thought I might catch up with an old teacher and reminisce, but it looks like I’ve walked into a bothersome affair.”
Seeing the World Tree rampage like this, he knew the situation was dire.
Depending on the outcome, the Empire itself would surely be affected.
“It can’t be helped.”
Lutus drew his sword and stepped slowly toward the battlefield.
