Translator: Ares

Editor Group: Liber Reverie

Booooooom!

“Uh… Why is it so big?!”

Kangtae, who was digging into the ground with a blade, showed frustration.

It felt like he would go crazy since he couldn’t even use his strength out of fear that the interior would collapse if he dug recklessly.

“What do you mean by solid… It’s so sturdy. What is there for me to be careful about?”

Kangtae mumbled as he looked at the surface of the white metal under his feet.

Though he had somewhat controlled his strength, it was at such a sturdy condition that there wasn’t a scratch to be found.

Even if he were to use his entire strength, it could be said that this metal could endure this, which was why he couldn’t understand. However, he soon shook his head and decided to focus on the job once more.

‘… Well. There was nothing wrong with listening to what Clementine had said so far, and maybe there could really be something delicate inside.’

Ruuuuuuumble!

Once more, he took his blade with his right hand and swept away all of the piles of dust. Then with the wind that was swept from his fingertips, he quickly removed the dust that had shrouded around him.

‘When do I have to keep repeating this action.’

However, his boredom would only be a moment.

Kangtae’s expression lit up.

‘I found it.’

There was an entrance that was clearly marked inside the white metal surface.

The moment he found the entrance, Kangtae shouted with all his might.

“I fooooooooooooooound the entrance!”

Boooooooooom!

A simple shout caused all of the pile of dirt around him to be transformed into a storm.

In the midst of the sandstorm…

“Ahem… Tch. I told you to control your strength!”

“Ahhhh… There’s sand coming in.”

From the fiery sandstorm, the Adventurers in the vicinity began to gather as all of them emanated their auras.

‘Haa… The world is truly wide.’

Kangtae muttered internally.

In the past during his first year, he had thought that the sky was scary.

Eres and Keldian were the only ones that were surprised to see him.

Though he was surprised at Eres’s heart, he was much stronger than anyone else in terms of strength.

Keldian also seemed great at playing tricks. However, he had confidence that he would absolutely win if they were to fight one another.

The reason why he was saying all of this was because his luck was truly amazing.

All of the good items and skills were in his possession, and he managed to survive all of the dangerous situations that he was under.

Of course, the rewards for facing all of those risks had come back to him as well.

As such, there was a time when he contemplated about living like a king.

Though it was a bit complicated, he thought it was a viable goal to have as a man.

If Eres and Keldian were to help him by his side, then he thought that it would be possible.

However, after meeting Clementine, who had entered the Otherworld one year after him, he realized just how wide the world was and that there could be monsters like him.

After joining forces with Clementine, whether it was Taehee, the Rift brothers or even the Valentine couple, all of them were elites that couldn’t be ignored.

‘Well. It’s not so bad.’

Kangtae shrugged his shoulders as he looked at Taehee and Clementine emerge from his eyes out of the sandstorm.

To have such strong elites as comrades was truly a nice ordeal.

It was then…

“You idiot… I told you to control your strength, didn’t I?”

Kangtae was startled at Keldian’s cold, piercing words.

“No, no! I controlled my strength! I was very careful!”

From Kangtae’s words, Keldian frowned as he pointed at a direction.

“Then, what is that?”

“…?”

After turning his head toward the direction Keldian pointed at, he soon frowned as well.

‘A hole?’

A very big hole at that.

There was a big hole on the surface of the giant metal surface.

It was a large hole that stretched hundreds of meters.

However, Kangtae soon shook his head and shouted, “Hey! It’s not me! I’m not the one that made that!”

Kangtae truly felt wronged since that big hole was hard to make even if he had used all of his strength.

‘How the hell was this made anyways?’

While Kangtae was inspecting the mystery of the big hole with a flabbergasted expression, Eres approached the hole as she shook her head.

“It wasn’t done by Kangtae.”

There was no way that it could have been done by him since the hole had traces of something that had dug out from inside.

There were traces of broken, melted pieces.

‘What the hell?’

Eres gulped as she looked at the erosion that was done by something that had succeeded in breaking out from within.

—

Ruuuuuuuuuumble!

Strange objects began to blossom from the seeds before falling from the Desire Tree.

At some points, there were scales of some creatures.

Other times, it would be fruit with thorns on it.

What was certain was that all sorts of things were opening from the tree and ripening.

‘Good. As for what I will make next…’

Hansoo continued to imagine what he was going to make after putting his hand on the surface of the Desire Tree.

Hansoo looked at him with an incomprehensible look who was continuing to imagine the next set of items he would make.

‘… What exactly are you trying to make?’

If he were to make a weapon, then he would understand, but after seeing all of these incomprehensible actions, Hosang couldn’t help but have a questionable look.

Where would he use such materials, to begin with?

However, instead of fixating on Hosang’s attitude, Hansoo frowned at the brief twitching of energy in the tree.

It was a wavelength that was trying to invade deep inside him as if it was trying to stimulate the desires in his heart.

The Desire Tree was relentlessly attempting to raise his desires inside him whenever he infused his desires onto the tree as if trying to persuade him that showing his desires was a better option. It was even insisting on the emphasis of replenishing essence to satiate those desires.

‘Where do you think you’re scheming at, you piece of **.’

Puuuuuuuuk!

Ruuuuuuuumble!

Hansoo gave a strong, rough kick to the tree who was trying to scheme against him.

“Now let’s go.”

“… Leaving this tree behind?”

Hansoo chuckled from his remarks.

“I used up all of the essences in this tree now.”

“… Crazy.”

Hosang looked at him with a shocked expression.

As he knew, the amount of tree essence consumed was proportional to the value of the products made.

In other words, the higher the value of the products, the faster the essence would be consumed.

But just now, he had created some junk-looking items that ended up consuming all of the tree’s essence.

‘What the hell are these?’

He picked up the opened seeds that were laying around him to check what they were.

No matter how much he looked at it, they looked nothing more than thorny sea urchins with the shape of a chestnut, and yet they had consumed so much essence.

Seeing Hosang fling it up and catching it when it came down, Hansoo laughed.

“Make sure to look after it well. If you’re not careful, your wrist could be sent flying.”

“What bull**… I’m a 4-Star. A 4-Star.”

“Yes. I’m telling you to be careful since you are a 4-Star. Pack anything you have left. Let’s go.”

“Damn…”

Hosang muttered complaints as he picked everything up on the ground in preparation for leaving.

If he were to stay at this location, there was nothing for him to do.

Even if he weren’t a slave, he wouldn’t have a choice. As the guy said, he now had to make sure that the others were enslaved like him. If not, the people that were looking for sacrifices to give to the Desire Trees would hunt for the others.

Although he might have luckily monopolized this tree, he had no confidence in keeping his monopoly against other groups.

‘Yes. Let’s live for now.’

Hansoo chuckled as he looked at the Desire Tree where Hosang and the others, who were full of complaints, were making preparations to leave.

‘You dirty **.’

Hansoo had an uncomfortable expression as he recalled it trying to raise his desires.

When the thing was trying to stimulate his desires, the things that flew through his head were not heaven-defying weapons or treasures.

It was people.

Countless people went past his memories. There were both men and women. Their ages were around 20, and even some that weren’t even 20 yet.

What it meant was that the people that the Desire Tree showed were people that he had wanted to see before his memories were locked.

‘Tch.’

Recalling this scene, he couldn’t help but feel somewhat uncomfortable.

At the same time, he began to recall the sixth seed, Soul Explosion, in his chest.

However, Hansoo soon shook his head and deleted the burdensome thoughts.

He had too many things to do.

‘I will let you live a bit longer.’

Hansoo looked at the huge Desire Tree beside him.

Though he had thought of putting this reckless tree on fire right now, it would make things too complicated.

He couldn’t be hurriedly provoked.

Boooooooooom!

“Let’s go!”

After kicking the tree, Hansoo turned around and gave a quick shout, beginning to move toward their next destination to the northwest where the John Nice couple were at.

Hosang, who was following behind Hansoo, asked, “If you are to capture the John Nice couple, will you make them become like us?”

Hansoo nodded in response to his words.

“Probably, if they are alive that is.”

“…?”

Hosang frowned from Hansoo’s words.

‘What? You’re saying that they could be dead?’

He couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable.

Up until now before the standoff, they had spent a long time as comrades fighting together. He knew better than anyone else of their experience and strength since they had survived in this damned world for 20 years.

However, his ignorant-like remarks made him feel as if he was ignored.

‘Shit. It would be great if you slap the bastard, John Nice.’

Hosang mumbled as he threw the similar-looking sea-urchin object into the sky.

—

Ruuuuumble.

“… What’s this?”

Hosang frowned as he saw the sight before his eyes.

At the base of the large Desire Tree, he could see the essence being extracted from the corpses of the people.

The best part was the John Nice couple.

‘… Damn. We can’t save them if they’re like this.’

If their upper and lower bodies were absent, then even if one were a Transcendent or even an expert Transcendent, one wouldn’t be able to save them.

Hansoo, who was looking at this sight alongside Hosang, clicked his tongue.

“I should’ve known this would happen.”

‘I had wondered about it… But it seems like it’s been released.’

Hansoo muttered as he looked toward the direction where the Holy Ark, Noah, was at.