Chapter 31: Lima vs the cultist II
Inside the association control room, Joseph Milroy stood silently in front of the massive screen displaying Lima’s battle in real time.
The atmosphere inside the room was unbearably tense.
Every staff member watched the fight with pale faces while warning alarms continuously echoed throughout the association building.
Joseph’s hands tightened into fists. "I should’ve known..." he muttered darkly. "Of course, it’s those rats behind this."
His expression twisted with frustration. "How did I overlook something this obvious? If only I had my true power..."
His fists tightened even further until his fingernails dug deep into his palms hard enough to draw blood.
The room fell completely silent; no one daring to speak a word.
Then suddenly, Joseph turned toward the staff members. "Inform everyone immediately. No one is to head toward the east side under any circumstances."
The staff members straightened. "Yes, sir!"
Orders immediately began spreading across the entire city to all the variants. But then... Joseph’s eyes suddenly shifted toward one of the side monitors, and his brows furrowed.
"Wait, who’s that?"
The nearby staff members quickly turned toward the screen he was looking at. On it was a young boy around nineteen years old moving through the ruined streets at terrifying speed.
Every monster that approached him was effortlessly cut down or bisected instantly. The smaller ones were blown apart before they could even react.
The staff members immediately began searching through the database. A few seconds later, one of them spoke.
"Sir, his name is Zac Godson, nineteen years old and awakened just a month ago. According to the records, he should currently be attending the Maroon City entrance exam."
Joseph’s eyes narrowed. "Then why is he here?"
Nobody could answer that question. The staff members exchanged awkward looks while continuing to dig deeper into the database.
Meanwhile, Joseph kept watching the screen. The more he observed Zac’s fighting ability, the more abnormal it felt for him.
"How can he possess such high combat ability? A person who became a Variant just over a month ago shouldn’t have this much power."
"Is there anything else on him?" Joseph asked.
"No, sir..."
"What? Just tell me."
"All information related to him has been locked under the highest authorization level." The entire room froze for a second. Even Joseph looked genuinely surprised.
"Highest authorization? For a nineteen-year-old boy? Just who exactly was this kid?"
Then suddenly, another staff member spoke up nervously. "Sir...That boy...He’s heading toward the eastern side."
Joseph stared at the screen silently for a few moments before speaking in a low voice. "I can see that. The question is, how is he here and what is he doing?"
***
"What kind of aura is this...?"
[want me to answer? it’s just another twenty points.]
"No"
Zac’s expression darkened as he stared toward the eastern side.
Even from this far away, he could still feel the overwhelming pressure spreading through the city like a rising tidal wave.
His instincts were screaming at him to stay away. "If I didn’t use my ’Divine Aura,’ I think I’d collapse from this pressure alone."
He stood 500 meters away from the tree and looked at it with confusion. "I didn’t remember seeing a tree here before."
[Idiot, it’s the A-rank monster.]
"What, since when have trees become monsters?"
[That only shows how much of a frog you are; check it with the system.]
"Oh...Right."
[Access denied. The host is too weak to see the information on the given target for free.]
"You already know this was going to happen didn’t you?"
[Maybee...but on the bright side you can still see it with some points.]
"Why are you so hell-bent on me spending my points?"
[And why are you not using it when it’s needed.]
"I’m saving it to use it later."
[Really, at this rate you’ll be preserving your points for your grandchildren.]
"Fine show me the info."
[-20 Info Points]
Name: Hysteria Tree
Rank: A-rank
Type: Psychological / Plant type
Abilities: Emotion orbs.
Strength: Extremely high durability
Weaknesses: Lacks direct offensive capability, immobile body, and fire.
"To me, it doesn’t look that dangerous of a monster." Zac kept running while staring at the information panel.
"The giant tree definitely looked abnormal... but compared to some of the horrifying creatures I had heard about, it didn’t exactly feel unbeatable."
"I mean, come on. It can’t move and doesn’t even have any strong offensive abilities, so how hard could it possibly be to beat?"
[Oh, really?]
"Why the sarcasm? Am I wrong in any way?"
[You are wrong in every possible way. Again and again, you keep proving your ignorance. Seriously, what would you even do without me? And how exactly did you become the top student in school?]
"It’s not my fault, you know. They don’t teach stuff related to Variants and monsters in school. You have to wait until you enter the academy to learn all that."
[That’s just BS. This world’s educations system seriously in need for an upgrade.]
[Now listen. Inside a Portal, Hysteria Trees are considered relatively easy targets.]
[But in a densely populated city like this... they are, quite literally, among the worst monsters you could possibly face. Even a single newly matured tree can bring down an entire city within a few hours.]
Zac’s expression slowly changed. "I don’t get it."
[The danger lies in its skill, ’Emotion Orbs.’ Once matured, the Hysteria Tree continuously produces five different types of emotional orbs in bubble form, with each orb possessing a different color. And each color represents a different emotional state.]
As the system explained, Zac noticed the floating bubbles surrounding the giant tree. They drifted through the air almost beautifully.
[Once an orb comes into contact with a living being, the corresponding emotion within that target becomes hyper-amplified.]
[For example, if a Red Orb representing anger touches someone, that individual will immediately fall into an extreme state of rage. At that point, the target will focus solely on destruction and violence.]
[The same principle applies to every other emotion type. There is anger, despair, laughter, fear, and lust.]
[What’s worse, is that affected individuals cannot be restored through ordinary means. They will continue indulging in their amplified emotional state until their minds and bodies completely collapse from exhaustion.]
[Even high-level variants cannot withstand it for long. And attempting to stop them would only worsen the situation.]
[Even if the Hysteria Tree itself is destroyed... those already affected will not immediately return to normal. The mental and physical pain they experience during that time will be excruciating.]
Silence.
For the first time since seeing the tree, Zac truly understood the danger it possessed. "This wasn’t a monster meant to kill directly. It turns people against themselves and watches them suffer."
[Yeah. A true masochist.]
"What? I’m trying to be serious, and you’re making jokes."
[It’s my way of relieving stress.]
[Anyway, now you should understand why this is one of the worst monsters imaginable to have in a densely populated city like this.]
Suddenly, the system’s voice rang out sharply inside Zac’s head.
[Wait, stop moving.]
Zac instantly halted mid-step on top of a broken streetlight.
"Why? What happened?"
[If you advance any further, you will enter their Domain.]
Zac’s expression slightly changed. "Domain?"
[The moment you step inside a domain, its owner will immediately become aware of your presence.]
[And given the sheer ’oops, I accidentally leveled a mountain’ energy of the people brawling in there... you’d basically have the survival rate of a paper boat navigating through a tsunami made of acid.]
"Okay, hold on. What the hell is a domain supposed to be now?"
("...")
The system remained silent for a brief second before replying. [That is my mistake. Anyway for now, whatever you intend to do... do it from here.]
Zac stared toward the tree for a moment before immediately jumping onto the rooftop of a nearby building. He crouched near the edge and started watching the ongoing battle.
[I need popcorn!]
