Avatar.
In simple terms, my clone.
Unlike , it was able to leave the area where the house had been declared.
And then.
‘I didn’t know such a use was possible.’
I felt a sense of unease looking at the avatar, which had the exact sa expression as my future self from the world of the mind.
Still, it was completely different from the feeling I had when I saw the previous avatar.
Back then, it felt like I was watching another body that I controlled, but now it felt like I was seeing a completely different person.
‘I can feel the sensations, and the mind seems to be connected, but still…’
It was a strange feeling.
He grinned and spoke.
“This isn’t bad.”
“…What do you an?”
“Even this kind of limited freedom is sothing I’m pretty fond of.”
I asked the avatar.
“Wasn’t this the plan from the beginning?”
It was the other who suggested using the avatar.
So, that ans he already knew this way of utilizing the avatar.
He responded with a sly smile.
“Yeah. It was my trump card.”
“Tch.”
“Isn’t it actually a good thing for you? A variable you didn’t expect has been removed.”
That was true.
If I hadn’t known this fact, I might have been caught off guard at a critical mont.
“If it weren’t for the World Tree, I wouldn’t have cooperated by showing my joker card either.”
“……”
The face that had been smiling just monts ago was now twisted like an evil spirit.
The speed at which his expression changed from a smiling face to an angry one was almost like a transformation trick.
Using his entire facial muscles to express hostility toward the World Tree, he soon made eye contact with and smiled softly.
Then, with a look that seed to suggest I could rest easy, he opened his mouth.
“Anyway, I’m thankful. If it weren’t for you, I’d have stayed a fool, eating only the roots and thinking I devoured the entire World Tree.”
I didn’t need to use telepathy to know that he was sincere when he said that.
I knew because our minds were connected.
I spoke toward him.
“I’m saying this again, but our only goal is to devour the World Tree. There must be no aningless bloodshed.”
“You don’t understand those ear-ears. Do you think they’ll just watch quietly as I devour the World Tree?”
“……As I said last ti, I don’t wish for even a single drop of blood to be spilled. If they interfere, kill them. But do not kill unnecessarily.”
He stared at with an amused expression before stepping a little closer.
In a distance where I could hear his breath, he lowered his voice and spoke.
“This is war. Do you really think it’s possible?”
“……”
“You’ve been living comfortably within the powers I gave you, haven’t you? It’s impossible, you know.”
His eyes were filled with madness.
‘An invisible hand.’
The avatar, who had been standing so close to , shot up into the air.
An invisible hand grabbed the avatar’s neck.
Other hands tightened around the avatar’s body.
Looking straight into the still gleaming eyes, I spoke.
“It ans be as careful as possible. Rember, I’m the one holding the reins. The mont you go against my will, I’ll nullify the avatar summon.”
“Gack-.”
“If you understand, nod.”
He weakly nodded and fell to the floor.
After a mont of rubbing his neck and coughing, he slumped and looked up at .
“The one who used this power was really annoying. Even though it’s just an invisible hand, the utility is amazing, right? But—”
He smiled aningfully and continued.
“He too, in the end, was eaten by .”
A short silence passed, and after a brief mont, he spoke first.
“Are you afraid?”
“……”
“So, that’s why you don’t plan on leaving this cramped place, especially when I’m summoned?”
“……”
“Your sleep has gotten much shorter too……”
With a face full of sneers, he looked up at and continued.
“Where did all that boldness go?”
I couldn’t respond.
It was true that I was anxious.
I knew it too.
I was struggling not to lose control.
“What’s there to worry about? After all, all the cris will be carried out by my hands, not yours, and in the process, I will also gain the power of the World Tree.”
‘When he controls the avatar and devours the divinity, will that power flow to ?’ The experint had already been verified.
Out of the 39 candidate locations Ari found, I selected only the D-rank difficulty ones and sent avatars to three of them.
The result was a great success.
The divinity devoured by the avatar also beca my strength.
So, the World Tree would be the sa.
As the future , who now possessed the avatar’s body, devoured the World Tree, I would grow stronger.
‘And he knows that.’
The more the World Tree was devoured, the further away the future where I would lose my body beca.
He couldn’t not know that.
Still, why was he so willing to help ?
“I seek revenge for my family, and you seek the power of the World Tree.”
That was the surface reason.
As I peeked into his mories, I sowhat empathized with him.
In fact, I had begun to feel so anger toward the World Tree too.
The one who lost their family would surely harbor a much deeper anger than what I felt.
“Don’t tell you’re sympathizing with those damn ear-ears? If your hypothesis is correct, those ear-ears have been scattering disaster across countless dinsions, right? How many tis has what happened on Earth been repeated, and how many more tis will it happen?”
The intense anger in his tone was unmistakable.
“Are we not doing this to save the countless lives of future victims?”
I couldn’t directly refute his words.
He too was a victim, wounded by the World Tree’s tyranny.
In a sense, it was the World Tree’s own doing.
It was the World Tree that created this world.
I reached out toward him and spoke.
"Don't cross the line. The mont you do, you'll never be able to use the avatar's body again."
"……Understood."
After a heated exchange, the conversation took a more constructive turn.
He asked.
"So, what was the thod you ntioned before? How do you plan to cross over to the dinsion where the World Tree's main body is?"
"I’ll be using Lilith's power."
Lilith.
The parasite of the World Tree, and the entity referred to as the "Owl" by the White Dragon.
She clung to the World Tree in the cracks between dinsions, feeding off its life force, while also collecting the souls of those nearby to survive in that world.
After absorbing her divinity, she beca one of the summoned beasts I control, and the world she created still exists.
‘Dongdaemun Opening.’
As I opened Lilith’s space, a small creature popped out as though it had been waiting for .
"Wow! It’s the Master! So glad to see you!"
Clinging to my leg like a cicada, Lilith alternated between looking at and the avatar, then let out a small scream.
"Ahh! Master, now there are two of you!"
After dropping from my leg, she looked back and forth between and the avatar before quietly sneaking up and hiding behind .
"That Master is scary…"
I gently patted her head and spoke.
"I was hoping we could talk at your place today, is that alright?"
"My place? Wow! This is the first ti the Master has co over! And you brought two of you!"
Receiving Lilith’s welco, I entered the space where she lived.
"Ta-da! This is my house!"
The space was very different from before.
First of all, the entire area had shrunk considerably.
Previously, there had been an endless forest there, but now it had shrunk to the size of a small village.
‘Well, she probably doesn’t have enough energy to maintain that size.’
I had witnessed the collapse of the world right after the divinity was stolen.
"Is this really okay?"
Ignoring the avatar’s words, I began doing what I needed to do.
‘Absolute Being’s Eyes.’
Fwoosh—
My eyes, now blackened, scanned the entire space.
Imdiately, I was able to find what I was looking for.
‘Fortunately, there are still so traces left.’
In Lilith’s space, I could easily spot things resembling the roots of the World Tree.
The problem was that they all looked like dead roots.
Unlike the shimring roots I had seen in the World Tree's forest, these were dark and lifeless, leaving only traces behind.
I poured the World Tree’s life force into the area.
Whooo—
Soon, I saw a response.
The dead-looking roots began to regain vitality, shining, and along with that, it seed like a connection to another dinsion was forming.
I directed my focus toward it.
Whoosh!
I pushed black energy into it.
"Hoh?"
The black energy, following the temporarily revived roots, crossed into the other dinsion.
At that mont.
‘Dongdaemun Opening.’
Just like when I entered here, I opened the Dongdaemun again.
And then.
Zziing!
A crack appeared, looking much more unstable than a normal Dongdaemun.
Beyond the unstable, shimring crack, I could see a dense forest.
The avatar asked.
"Where is that?"
"I don't know."
One thing was certain.
"At least, it’s not Earth."
It was from another dinsion.
And.
"It must be a world where the World Tree exists."
Upon hearing that, the avatar’s mouth curled up into a wide grin.
"That’s enough."
Without hesitation, the avatar leaped through the crack, and the unstable dinsional rift disappeared shortly after.
‘Absolute Being’s Eyes.’
At the sa ti, I summoned the Absolute Being’s Eye to keep an eye on the avatar.
"Hey, can you hear ?"
[I can hear you.]
As soon as I sent the telepathy, the avatar's face twisted slightly.
"That’s a sha."
[What do you an?]
The avatar laughed as though amused.
"I thought there was a chance our connection might be severed once I crossed dinsions. That’s why I said it’s a bit disappointing."
That was one of my concerns as well.
[If that happened, I would have imdiately nullified the summoning.]
"If the connection was severed, I doubt it would even be possible, and even if it were, who knows how the ti would get tangled? I’m not sure how long it would take for the information about the summoning nullification to reach here."
Well, this was typical of him.
His hostility toward the World Tree was genuine, but since there were various expectations, he had been actively cooperating.
[You should be careful. I’ll be monitoring your actions in real ti, so don’t get any foolish ideas. If you do, you’ll never use the avatar again.]
"Boss, isn’t it illegal to watch CCTV in real ti? I’m reporting you to the Labor Office."
Hearing his nonsense, it seed like he was in a particularly good mood.
"Well then. Let’s start by seeing what kind of place this is."
I used teleportation to move up into the sky, and the surroundings ca into full view.
And.
"Bingo."
Beyond the horizon, I could spot a massive tree standing like a mountain.
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