<Crazy bastard. And an even crazier bastard (4)>

Cale subconsciously scowled after entering the rear garden.

‘What is going on?’

He rubbed his arm with his hand.

‘That’s odd.’

He took a deep breath.

He could feel the cold night air coming into his nose and body.

And despite feeling that…

‘I feel like I’m missing something.’

An unexplainable feeling of futility surrounded Cale as soon as he walked into this place.

– There’s something off about this place.

The moment he heard the Super Rock’s voice…

“Haaaaaaaa.”

He turned his head after hearing someone gasping for breath.

“Haaaaaaaaa. Haaaa.”

Elza was unable to breathe properly as if she walked into a place with not enough oxygen.

“Mm.”

First Bishop Molde groaned.

“…….”

Clopeh was gently smiling but his complexion looked slightly off. He looked as if he could not open his mouth.

Cale turned toward the Grand Elder.

“Everybody, put this around your face.”

The Grand Elder handed them bandanas made of tree leaves.

He already had a bandana over his nose and mouth.

“Why are you giving this to us now?”

Cale did not hide his annoyance. He got a bandana and handed it to Clopeh before staring at the Grand Elder.

The Grand Elder received Cale’s gaze and nonchalantly answered.

“I’ve only seen a few individuals who do not need a bandana here. The Dragon Lord, Axion… As well as three individuals who came with the two of them.”

“You were testing us?”

Cale’s tone was turning even more annoyed.

He peeked at Clopeh, whose complexion returned to normal after putting the bandana on.

“Were you worried about me, Cale-nim?”

Clopeh asked with a smile on his face and Cale immediately answered without hesitation.

“No. Why would I do that?”

Of all people, he had no need to worry about Clopeh Sekka.

Why would he worry about a bastard who had no issues living with dead mana bombs in his arms and legs in the past?

Cale looked away from Clopeh.

“Hoo hoo.”

He ignored Clopeh’s laugh as well before rejecting the bandana offered to him.

“It’s fine. I don’t need it. But I would like it if you would tell me about the condition of this place and why it is like this.”

“It is because the World Tree has gone crazy.”

The Grand Elder started walking as he spoke.

Cale followed behind him.

“Originally, the World Tree places its roots in a spot with an energy stream that allows it to reach the center of the world the easiest.”

Cale looked around.

The World Tree of his world was in an empty area with vibrant conifers growing like castle walls around it.

“The World Tree uses the energy stream to see the flow of the world and find balance.”

On the other hand, this place was surrounded by flowers.

Flowers growing on trees, flowers growing in the grass…

All sorts of flowers were filling the rear garden without caring about the season.

It was quite beautiful.

However, a beautiful sight within a place with empty air made it feel quite chilling.

Was it because it was night time? For some odd reason, none of the flowers seemed to have any life.

However, the World Tree is struggling to maintain her conscience right now, and ever since she became a puppet, she has not been able to maintain that energy stream. As a result, the energy is flowing out of it.”

“When you say energy, are you talking about the foundation of this world?”

Cale thought about how Wiesha’s body had been damaged trying to reach the foundation of this world.

‘But this energy feels a bit different from the foundation of this world?’

The Grand Elder answered Cale’s question.

“No. To be more accurate, this is the immense power the foundation of this world possesses. You could call it the pressure or aura that it releases. Since it is the energy flowing out of the stream that is at the center of the flow, it is enough for most creatures to feel immense pressure.”

The Grand Elder did not stop walking as he calmly continued to speak.

Cale got even more goosebumps on his arm as they walked.

“Of course, absorbing the foundation of this world allows you to resist this pressure to some degree. But it is not full resistance. It does not allow an individual to be completely free from the pressure. That’s to be expected. No matter how damaged it is, it is still the foundation of this world. How could a mere creature handle the pressure of that?”

Cale, who was rubbing the goosebumps as he walked, stopped once the Grand Elder stopped walking.

The Grand Elder still had more to say.

“Divine-Grade Only a strong person at the Divine-Grade or aiming for the Divine-Grade can be free from this energy.”

He looked at Cale.

“……And sir, you seem to be free from it.”

The Grand Elder, Elza, and even the First Bishop… The way they looked at Cale all changed.

Cale felt a sense of déjà vu when he saw their gazes.

“Sir, are you really human?”

Once the Grand Elder finally asked the question, Cale answered without any hesitation as if he had been waiting for this question.

“I am one hundred percent pure human.”

As expected, the three of their gazes looked even more questioning and Cale shared the truth in order to prevent them from having a misunderstanding.

“It is just that nature is contained within me.”

The ancient powers were in balance within his plate.

Cale explained about it.

The Grand Elder flinched and started to shake after hearing the explanation and subconsciously mumbled.

“…Nature……?”

Cale did not see the emotions within the Grand Elder’s eyes.

‘Finally……!’

He was looking at something else.

The beautiful rear garden…

Cale found the World Tree at the center of this neat and desolate yet unbelievably beautiful garden.

He was so distracted by it that he just nonchalantly answered the Grand Elder’s question.

“Yes sir. Nature. That is the gist of it.”

Cale walked past the Grand Elder toward the World Tree. It made it so that he could not see the expression on the Grand Elder’s face as he looked at him.

Clopeh simply smiled and followed behind him.

Cale looked at the World Tree and commented.

“This one is a flowering tree.”

The tree was slightly taller than Cale. It was about 2 meters tall.

It wasn’t that tall for a tree.

‘The bandana was made with the leaves of the World Tree.’

This tree had stereotypical green leaves.

Flowers were growing in between the leaves.

– It’s beautiful.

The Super Rock was right.

Despite it being night, the flowers were glowing in five beautiful colors that made him think of the foundation of this world.

Each of the flowers was not that big. They were actually pretty small and not very elaborate.

They were more like wildflowers on the ground.

Nonetheless, these wildflowers were sparkling more beautiful than the stars in the night sky.

Anybody would think that this looked magical.

– It also feels a bit cold?

As beautiful as they were, an unexplainable coldness wrapped around Cale the closer he got to the World Tree.

It wasn’t that the temperature was cold.

It was just that the aura coming out of the World Tree was empty and full of pressure.

“Mm.”

Clopeh groaned.

Cale raised his hand and addressed the others.

“I think it is best for all of you to stop here.”

Of course, he said something different to the Grand Elder.

“Grand Elder-nim, you will be coming with me, I presume?”

The only way to communicate with the World Tree…

He had to touch it.

“Of course.”

The Grand Elder now pulled out some gloves and a cape as well and put them on.

These were made of the World Tree’s leaves as well.

“Please come this way.”

The Grand Elder led the way and Cale followed him.

There were about ten meters left to reach the World Tree.

“I guess the leaves of the World Tree protect you from this aura?”

The Grand Elder answered Cale’s question.

“Yes sir. The aura gets stronger the closer you get so it cannot fully protect you, but… It is bearable.”

The Grand Elder’s face turned paler the closer they got.

Cale still continued to talk to the Grand Elder.

“What is the way to have a proper conversation with the World Tree?”

“…Our tribe has been carpenters for generations.”

“I heard about that. Your tribe made the sword of the Dragon Lord’s Guardian Knight as well, correct?”

“Yes sir. I am not as talented as the creator of that sword, but the esteemed World Tree did allow me to create an item that facilitates conversation with her.”

Once about five meters remained…

The Grand Elder stopped walking and pulled an item out of his pocket.

“The World Tree does not seem that large on the surface, but her roots cover this entire rear garden.”

‘The entire rear garden?’

Cale stopped in shock.

He then looked down.

This rear garden was pretty large.

It was almost as big as Axion’s entire castle.

‘The bottom of this entire place is full of roots?’

“That is the reason the flowers that grow on those roots do not wilt under this aura.”

That finally answered Cale’s question about the flowers growing in a place that humans, Elves, and even Dragon half-bloods found difficult to be in.

“This is an eye patch made from the latest root to extend out. Basically, it means that the eye patch made of this root is not as dirty as the rest. It has not been affected by the Dragon Lord’s scheme.”

He had to make a new eye patch every day, but…

“Using this eye patch allows the mind of the World Tree-nim within it to be normal.”

He used the root that was as thin as string to knit it into an eye patch.

“Wearing this and touching the World Tree will allow you to reach her. It’s just that……”

He sighed.

“Even using this eye patch, she can only maintain her normal state of mind for a very short period of time. Furthermore, that time has slowly been decreasing.”

This was the reason the Grand Elder brought Cale here with an eye patch made today before tomorrow arrived.

“It would be best for your conversation with the World Tree-nim to be as efficient as possible.”

“What is the Dragon Lord’s scheme?”

How was the Dragon Lord able to make the World Tree lose its free will and control it?

The wanderers of the Five Colors Bloods, the Demonic race, and the God of War probably helped him, but the end result was that the Dragon Lord was able to control the World Tree as he pleased.

This definitely meant that he did something.

“…I do not know the details either. However-”

The Grand Elder’s face slowly stiffened.

“The World Tree is imprisoned in a time prison.”

‘Hmm?’

Cale thought about the Dragon Lord’s attribute.

‘Time.’

His attribute was time.

He was using his attribute to seal the abnormal aura of this world using ‘Time Freeze.’

Cale needed to go to his lair and break the reference point in order to break the seal.

Knowing this allowed Cale to have a sense of what the time prison would be like.

“The World Tree is currently imprisoned at the time of her demise and repeats that scene over and over.”

“Ah.”

Cale subconsciously gasped.

The World Tree was an immortal existence that repeated death and life.

“I don’t know how it may be for other World Trees, but our World Tree loses all of her flowers at her death. That process does not physically hurt her, but it puts her heart in an extremely empty and painful state.”

Cale finally understood the sense of futility that filled this area.

“She said it feels like she is standing alone in the frigid cold winter.”

“Mm.”

Cale let out a groan.

“She has been persisting for 200 years, imprisoned at that time.”

The World Tree had lasted this long experiencing her death over and over.

“Of course, her mind was quite damaged even before she entered the time prison. I have not heard the details of that either, but… She did her best to maintain her sanity despite the situation.”

The Grand Elder let out a deep sigh as he continued.

“She somehow managed to persist until now without breaking down.”

Cale felt like he understood why the World Tree wanted to disappear.

“Anyway, I will be honest as we’ve made it this far.”

The Grand Elder spoke freely as Cale was the only one here.

“Her normal state is still half crazy.”

“Mm.”

Cale groaned and closed his eyes for a moment.

“Please keep that in mind as you communicate with her.”

The Grand Elder handed Cale the eye patch and moved back.

He seemed to be telling Cale that he was to walk on his own now.

“…I will be waiting here for you.”

“Yes sir.”

Cale received the eye patch and continued to walk.

5m.

It felt emptier and colder the closer he got.

4m, 3m-

He could see the flowers slightly shaking the closer he got.

It was as if they were suffocating from fear or shaking because of the cold.

All of these flowers were shaking.

2m, 1m-

What kind of fear was the World Tree trapped within?

Cale felt like he understood why the foundation of this world called the Dragon Lord a God of Time and it justified why everybody was scared of him.

The Dragon Lord…

He was quite a scary bastard.

“…I still need to do what I need to do.”

Cale stood in front of the tree.

He grabbed a branch that was close enough to touch his cheek.

He then put on the eye patch.

He closed the eye under the patch and slowly placed his forehead on the branch.

Ooooooo-

The air rumbled.

The aura in the area started to roar.

“Mm!”

The Grand Elder held back a groan and barely managed to maintain his balance as the intense aura blasted through the area.

His voice was shaking.

“I, it’s never been like this?”

As the Grand Elder looked toward Cale and the World Tree in shock because of the change to the air in the rear garden…

* * *

“Where is this place……?”

Cale opened his eyes at a place where ice and fire coexisted.

He saw a mountain covered in snow.

But there was a large flame burning at the center of it.

There was a young boy tied down and kneeling within the flame.

His body was burning.

“Are you the grim reaper who will kill me?”

Cale walked into the time prison.

—

Translator’s Comments

Cale as the grim reaper. It’s sorta fitting?

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