As soon as I regained my senses, I found myself touching the core of the World Tree just like before.
I couldn’t tell how much time had passed, but everyone was rushing towards me with worried expressions.
“Shinwoo! Are you hurt? You look more stupid than usual!”
“Master, I’m just as much of an idiot as always.”
“Husband! Please tell me right away when you’re hurt!”
If I had heard this before, I would’ve slammed their heads together.
But right now, relief washed over me that I had escaped the consciousness of the World Tree.
I held back tears and whispered with a faint smile.
“I’m back to normal… Everything is as it should be…”
“Shin, Shinwoo? Are you okay?”
“Thank goodness… I… won.”
“…Master? What the heck happened…?”
“No, no problems at all. You can say whatever you want.”
“Uaaah! My husband is broken! This has never happened before!!!”
[Who are you! Return our idiot to us!]
Suddenly, Elcia burst into tears.
Hyeji was looking worried while trying to find a mental hospital, and Jeong Ahyeon was just sighing with a troubled expression.
Feeling inexplicably angry because everyone was reacting this way.
“That’s me, you dog bastards.”
“Oh! Shinwoo is finally sane!”
“Of course, Master has to be an idiot!”
“Suddenly, my husband has been fixed!”
[I was worried too.]
“F*cking bastards!”
Despite my anger, I was still touching the core of the World Tree.
In that position, I condensed my magical power in my palm and unleashed the Cheonma Repulsor.
–BOOM!!!!
“Uh?!!!! Husband?!!!”
“Aaaaah!! You bastard!!!”
The World Tree screamed telepathically.
Elcia approached me with a look of surprise I had never seen before.
Hyeji and Jeong Ahyeon also couldn’t hide their shock at my appearance.
“Husband! Why did you suddenly… this has never happened before…”
“Master? Why are you attacking the World Tree?”
“This bastard deserves it. He needs to be hit more.”
Then Hyeji grabbed my arm tightly and looked me in the eyes, speaking harshly.
“Shinwoo! Why are you suddenly attacking the World Tree!”
“I told you, this bastard can die.”
“Are you being selfish and just blowing it up? I’m disappointed.”
“I made a hole here so you could do whatever you wanted. Shove in as much explosives as you like.”
“I believed you from the very beginning!!!”
[Stop it, you dog bastards!!!]
As Hyeji began to take action, the World Tree started screaming in pain.
There was a hole in the World Tree’s core that I had made with the Cheonma Repulsor, and Hyeji was blasting explosives, making that hole even bigger.
Green goo started flowing endlessly from the hole.
Seeing that, Hyeji and I commented.
“Look at that! Water dripping lewdly from the hole!”
“5282! I can’t believe it’s like this! This is a disqualification for the World Tree!”
“Look at that! That bitch is totally a female!”
[You bastards, stop!!!]
The World Tree tried to resist, but it had no effect in front of a prepared Hyeji.
Branches, vines, strange scents…
Hyeji just burned everything beautifully.
Seeing this, Jeong Ahyeon patted Hyeji’s shoulder.
“Hyeji singleton?”
“What? If you get in the way, you’ll die.”
“Give me one too. Thinking about what just happened is making me angry.”
“I’ll give you two!”
“Thank you so much!”
While Hyeji and Jeong Ahyeon were delightfully blasting the World Tree’s core once again, I took Elcia by the arm and led her to the corner.
When Elcia was making a confused face, I quietly whispered to her.
“Elcia, do I have to tell you honestly?”
“Yes! Husband!”
I took a moment to breathe and told Elcia what I needed.
“Did you know the World Tree was planning to use you as a breeding tool?”
“…Yes, I knew that to some extent.”
“Was this the same before the regression?”
“…”
“Tell me.”
“…How did you realize?”
Elcia erased all humor from her face and stared at me with eyes devoid of focus.
A sight I had never seen in her before.
Those eyes were as deep as an abyss, darker than the depths.
For a moment, I wavered and thought about stopping, but having started, I couldn’t turn back.
“I’ll tell you later.”
“…Is that a promise?”
“Yeah, I promise.”
I tightly held Elcia’s trembling hands and looked into her eyes.
Elcia’s hands were shaking slightly, but when I held them, the tremor started to settle.
At the same time, the focus slowly returned to Elcia’s eyes, and she spoke to me with a slightly despondent expression.
“Just as you said, my husband. The World Tree treated me only as a breeding tool.”
“Really?”
“Oh! Please don’t misunderstand! I killed the elves and ran away before anything bad happened.”
“Good job. They were going to die naturally anyway.”
[Thank goodness. That is a very important element in the story!]
‘Of course!’
Is that okay? The unicorn inside me?
Of course, Master.
Just then, Hyeji approached me.
“Hyeji, what’s going on all of a sudden?”
“This bastard is no longer responding, so it’s getting boring.”
“…Already?”
“I feel like dying from boredom.”
Hyeji replied blankly with indifferent eyes.
Then I suddenly remembered Jeong Ahyeon and asked Hyeji.
“What about Jeong Ahyeon?”
“Over there, she threw a Molotov cocktail once or twice, and she keeps throwing them because it’s surprisingly fun.”
“Oh, really?”
We moved towards Jeong Ahyeon.
Jeong Ahyeon, unaware of our approach, was throwing Molotov cocktails around with a more excited face than usual.
Just then, she was raising another Molotov cocktail, posing to throw it.
“Receive! This is my secret weapon-!”
“Hey, what are you doing?”
“…Master?”
Jeong Ahyeon froze in her throwing pose as soon as she saw us.
“When… when did you start watching?”
“So what are you doing?”
“Um, I was just practicing martial arts a bit…”
“Martial arts? Let me guess what kind of martial art it is.”
Jeong Ahyeon held on to the Molotov cocktail, bowing her head, looking embarrassed.
Fire art, huh…
Fire art, that has to be it.
“You’re practicing the Fire Punch from the Volcano School, right?”
“Shut up!!!!!!!!!!!”
“Then what’s the martial art you were trying to show off?”
Jeong Ahyeon avoided my gaze and spoke quietly.
“….It’s the Infernal Fang of the Sanseok family.”
“Hey, you crazy girl! If I see that, you’ll be reported on the spot!”
[And it’s even a relatively new technique.]
‘Heartless bastard.’
I gave Jeong Ahyeon a good whack on the head.
She grabbed her head and protested to me while snorting.
“I want to use a real martial art too!”
“You can use a Remington or M60 to practice martial arts, but you’re being too greedy.”
“F*ck! What kind of Ten Thousand Flowers of Fire and Hundred Steps Divine Fist are those!!”
Jeong Ahyeon stamped her feet in frustration.
Just then, Piis asked me.
[Since we’re on the same platform, wouldn’t it be okay to borrow some techniques?]
‘You’ll get reported and disappear without a trace.’
And comments will say ‘Look at that! Reporting attempt, huh?’ like that.
[Look at that! The stew here is delicious!]
‘Fck off, btch.’
Jeong Ahyeon was half-heartedly throwing the remaining Molotov cocktails.
But it seemed she couldn’t let go of her yearning for fire arts.
At that moment, Elcia grabbed my sleeve and got closer.
“Um… Husband?”
Elcia was fidgeting and twisting her hands.
She kept looking around, unable to look directly at me, bowing her head in modesty.
Then she glanced up slightly, and in a voice barely audible, she quietly spoke to me.
“Um, are you not going to ask anything more? Like what I did before the regression?”
“Not really? You look like you’re having a hard time. You don’t have to say it.”
“…Thank you.”
Elcia’s stiff expression relaxed, and she faintly smiled.
Then suddenly, she bowed her head and muttered.
“That’s right. As expected, it’s you, Husband. Before, and now.”
“Elcia?”
“It’s nothing! Thank you!”
“Yeah. Good job.”
Though I couldn’t catch what she was saying, she was showing a bright smile this time, so I thought there wouldn’t be any problem and didn’t ask further.
Just in time, Hyeji was bringing Jeong Ahyeon over here.
“Shinwoo, how is it?”
Hyeji placed her hands on her hips, as if asking for compliments about the current scene.
I looked around and felt that the situation was more serious than I had expected.
Of course, it wasn’t our situation that was serious, but the World Tree’s.
The core of the World Tree had completely lost its color, pulsing faintly like it was about to stop any moment.
On the walls, the floor, the ceiling,
There was not a single sign of tree color anywhere.
Instead, all around were flames burning red and the black ashes left behind after the burning.
[You’ve really done it…]
‘Looks like it’s heated up.’
But wood turns to firewood to keep people warm.
Looking at this warmed our hearts a bit, so perhaps the World Tree had fulfilled its purpose as firewood.
The World Tree probably wouldn’t respond anymore, but it would live on in our hearts.
I patted Hyeji’s head and said.
“You did well, Hyeji. It looks much better now.”
“Hehehe.”
“Now let’s go down. We need to get out of here fast while it dies.”
“Alright!”
We quickly descended the stairs we had climbed up earlier, hopped into the elevator, and pressed the button to go down.
After a bit of time, just before the elevator doors opened below, Elcia spoke to me in a worried tone.
“Husband, be careful. They’re probably waiting for us.”
“Don’t worry.”
And the moment we stepped out of the elevator, someone shouted loudly.
“Surround them!!!”
“””””Yes!!!”””””
