The puji hung suspended by the root, its mycelial tentacles limply drooping, looking utterly resigned.
Its two little stubby legs twitched occasionally and unconsciously; otherwise there was no movent—just the air of a “naive, wild magical beast.”
On the other side, the elf old Deng still hadn’t grasped the severity of the situation and continued to struggle.
He tried again and again to condense mana in his body, but each ti it began to take shape the roots coiling around him would tremble slightly and instantly scatter the power he’d painstakingly gathered.
After several failed attempts the effort only aggravated his wounds, and a thin line of blood leaked from the corner of his mouth.
“What level of control is this… who exactly are you?” Iros’s voice was full of suppressed pain.
From the darkness ca the faint sound of plants being trampled, and then soft gleams appeared among the flower sea around them.
What materialized before the elf and the puji was a sort of tumbleweed—woven from various roots, vines, and branches.
Embedded in the center of this spherical body of intertwined root-and-stem was a faintly glowing structure resembling an eye.
It was not a physical body but an embodint of an intelligence projected within this special Abyssal Chamber.
Then the voice appeared directly in both Iros’s and Lin Jun’s minds: “You burn my roots, you ss with my consciousness, and you still ask who I am?”
The voice was pleasant—like wind through leaves.
“Divine Tree?” Iros stared at the tumbleweed in disbelief. “Impossible! The Divine Tree can’t possibly possess a complete self—there’s no record of such a thing in any texts!”
The tumbleweed rolled lazily through the flowers for half a circle. “After all, until now no one has snuck in like you and played little tricks.”
Lin Jun felt the Divine Tree was easy to talk to; it was even willing to explain things to Iros.
A mont later, a tiny twig shot from Iros’s one-ard wrist, severing tendons; the staff and the Heartwood Core dropped and sank into the flowers below.
“The Heartwood Core isn’t ant to be used like this. And you…” the tumbleweed rolled slowly over to the puji. Its glowing “eye” seed to scrutinize it for a long ti, then remained silent.
Iros, unwilling to accept defeat, hissed, “If you truly are the Divine Tree, why do you stop ? You should know of the Ark Plan! Any harm I’ve caused you was accidental; everything I’ve done is only to continue that plan!”
“The Ark Plan?” The Divine Tree’s attention was indeed pulled back; it rolled in front of Iros and its light flickered slightly. “Then tell —what exactly does your ‘Ark Plan’ look like?”
The tumbleweed-Divine Tree’s tone carried a hint of amusent, and Lin Jun imdiately sensed that Iros’s sche likely contained a fundantal flaw.
Sure enough, after Iros laid out his grand blueprint—using the Dungeon as an Ark to resist the Mist, making it a base to analyze the Mist and seek a final solution—the Divine Tree showed no trace of enthusiasm at finding a kindred spirit.
A few thin branches extended from the tumbleweed and coiled around Iros’s skull, eventually wrapping it completely.
After a while the Divine Tree seed to understand: “Multiple Wills LV10, huh—indeed, your mind’s been polluted by information.”
“What information pollution? You’re babbling!” Iros struggled and retorted from within the bindings.
“The Ark Plan does exist, but it has nothing to do with what you described, and it failed long ago. As for you…” the Divine Tree’s voice softened with a asure of pity, “you’re just another fool who overestimated himself—trying to parse the Abyss and instead letting the corrupted data imprint your thoughts.”
“No… that’s impossible!” Iros’s voice trembled with emotion. “Are you saying the extinction-level threat from the Mist is false?”
“It’s not false,” the Divine Tree replied briskly, as if stating common knowledge, “but there’s no point worrying about it! After all… it’s already hopeless.”
???
“What do you an ‘hopeless’?” Lin Jun couldn’t help himself—he’d only been here a little over three years; how could the world already be dood?
“Your voice is annoying,” the Divine Tree said, clearly displeased.
Damn it!
If Lin Jun weren’t facing an LV99 powerhouse, he would’ve exploded at it right then.
“Hopeless ans hopeless. Using the Dungeon, performing sacrifices, slaughtering—none of it matters. All those efforts only make everyone struggle uglily for a while longer. Better to sleep soundly.” The Divine Tree’s branch gently stroked the puji’s pale cap.
Just as Lin Jun thought he might also be wrapped up and considered whether to self-destruct, the branches withdrew and left only, “You’re the sa.”
What do you an I’m the sa?
The roots binding them suddenly relaxed and the puji plopped onto the soft grass with a “pud-pud” sound.
On the other side, Iros knelt there as if in a daze, unable to accept the truth he’d just heard.
He suddenly lunged forward, snatched up the Heartwood Core from the ground, and shouted at the tumbleweed, “You’re lying! You’re not the Divine Tree! You just want to abandon the Ark Plan!”
At that mont Iros didn’t hesitate—he activated the artifact and poured a large amount of life energy into it.
But unlike when the Elf King used it, this energy concentrated at the staff tip and beca a dangerously destructive force.
Attack the Divine Tree’s body with the Heartwood Core? Lin Jun watched Iros as if he’d gone mad. Follow current novels on novel·fıre·net
Sure enough, the artifact fell silent the next mont.
“You wouldn’t believe otherwise,” the Divine Tree said calmly, “because those wrong informations beca truth to you.”
Branches wrapped around Iros’s ankles and began to creep upward—not rely to bind.
The encircled flesh started to lignify at a visible speed; skin took on the texture of bark.
In the final monts before fully becoming wood, the elf—aging rapidly from surrendering life energy—cried in tears for an answer: “Tell … please tell … you just want to stop ! All those sacrifices… it can’t be for nothing…”
But the Divine Tree gave him no final comfort. It watched quietly as he turned completely into a small tree.
Only the puji and the tumbleweed remained in the space.
Lin Jun looked at the wooden figure that had been Iros, then at the tumbleweed, and asked proactively, “Are you going to do in too?”
“Cutting off one or two of your tentacles—what aning would that have?” the Divine Tree replied.
A cannon-fodder puji lifted the voice-puji aside, rubbing its tentacle as it shuffled closer. “Divine Tree overlord, you… do you know sothing?”
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