Chapter 36: The sun has risen (9)

– Cale.

Smirk.

Cale smiled after hearing the cheapskate calling him.

Sssss.

Vines were slowly approaching from behind him.

Cale lifted his foot and stepped on a vine.

"You seem to have a hidden cunning side?"

Cale sounded as if he was talking to the black tree.

"You also seem to not be scared anymore."

Sssssssss— sss—!

The vine did not retreat.

The vine pointed its tip at Cale as if it would do anything to grab Cale's body even as it burned.

The corners of Cale's lips curled up.

He then looked forward.

"Wow."

Dozens of tree roots were pointing their heads above the surface of the water.

And the vines of the tree that were as large as the Lord's Castle… Dozens of small and large vines were pointed toward Cale as well.

"How entertaining."

Rose gold aura started to shoot up from under his foot at that moment.

Crackle–

The vine instantly started to burn.

The vine's sharp thorns with the sticky liquid were instantly swallowed by the rose gold aura.

Tatap!

Cale moved the foot that was stepping on the vine that was quickly turning into ah.

Wind wrapped around his ankle.

The Sound of the Wind gathered by his ankle and created a small whirlwind.

Splash-

Cale moved over the lake as he pushed forward.

Boom—!

The ground started to shake.

It felt as if the entire black sand desert was moving.

– Kahahaha! Cale! Let's burn it up!

The moment he heard the cheapskate's crazed shout…

The black tree started to attack Cale.

Splash— splash—

The surface of the lake roared and split while making a different noise from before.

Then dozens of tree roots all shot up at the same time.

They were all aiming for one thing.

It was Cale.

"Hmm."

It looked as if large spears were flying toward him.

A tree root that was as wide as Cale's body shot forward as if to pierce through him.

Numerous roots behind that root were aiming at him from all directions.

The people watching this could only imagine what would happen next.

"He must be crazy. What is that person doing alo-!"

Fourth Imperial Prince Noi subconsciously started to speak from inside the gold shield.

"Is he trying to die-"

The tree roots would pierce through that man's body.

He would be ripped to shreds to the point that they would not be able to see any resemblance to him in what was left behind.

'I'm certain that guy was Heni Wishrop's Chief advisor!'

The most feeble-looking bastard was standing still with the tree roots all around him.

'What is going on?

What the hell is about to happen?'

The moment the Fourth Imperial Prince was questioning what was going on…

He saw a fire.

No, he saw a thunderbolt.

No.

That was not right either.

He saw a person.

He saw a person surrounded by fire and thunderbolts.

Shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-

He could see a whirlwind.

Whether it was a loud explosion, a piercing scream, or someone getting hurt…

He didn't hear anything.

Shaaaaaaaaaaa-

However, the gust of wind brought over by the whirlwind now had grey ash mixed in with it.

Ash fluttered in the wind.

That ash moved past the gold shield and disappeared into the black sand desert and the darkness.

"Ah."

Fourth Imperial Prince Noi subconsciously gasped.

'…It disappeared.'

The moment the man became surrounded by that rose gold thunderbolt, the moment that the thunderbolt shot up like fire…

The tree roots that touched the rose gold light disappeared without a sound.

They basically perished.

They died without being able to resist in any way.

Screeeeech—!

There was a monstrous noise before the tree started to shake.

The roots that remained were shaking.

It sounded as if the large tree was screaming in pain.

"Heni Wishrop!"

The Fourth Imperial Prince could not close his mouth.

"Who the hell are you?"

No, more importantly…

"Who the hell is that person?!"

The Fourth Imperial Prince definitely saw it.

The thick black liquid on the large roots…

That was dead mana that had turned into poison.

Those terrible things turned into ashes and disappeared once they touched the rose gold thunderbolt.

Even black magic was able to burn the black tree.

However, a power that could make dead mana that turned into terrible poison disappear…

'I've never seen or heard about such a power!

How could there be someone like this?'

The Fourth Imperial Prince barely managed to look away from the man to look at Heni Wishrop before he flinched.

'…Holy shit!'

First Imperial Prince Sanders, First young lady Mineh, the black-haired Dragon, and that other helper…

All of them were tightly bound by golden mana rope.

Furthermore, the sword master was behind the four of them with his sword filled with aura pointed at them.

It was as if he could slash their heads off at any moment.

As for necromancer Heni Wishrop, she used bones to create a prison for them.

"Ha!"

The Fourth Imperial Prince realized it after seeing them.

"…None of them believes that this person will get hurt."

That was why they were acting like this.

Mary started to speak at that moment.

"…I am concerned because he might cough up blood."

'Blood?'

There was a look of confusion on the Fourth Imperial Prince's face when he heard someone's sigh-like voice.

Of course, there were some other emotions as well.

"Blood, I see."

It was Chief Eaen.

She looked even more out of it than when she had seen the Dragon as she looked at the person surrounded by fiery thunderbolts.

She mumbled in a low voice.

"…It must be the rebound from using the power of a god."

'A power of a god?'

The Fourth Imperial Prince's eyes opened wide after hearing a completely unexpected concept. Most of the attack team members couldn't hide their shock either.

'Oh dear.'

Eruhaben slightly shook his head.

It was fine that Mary spoke honestly but Chief Eaen had said something quite useless.

'Of course, I'm sure it isn't useless from her point of view.'

She was a smart person.

It was true that she was blankly staring at Cale but the words that came out of her mouth were quite intentional.

In order to get everybody here on the same side and in order to come up with an acceptable justification for Marquis Helson's actions…

'There's nothing better than the power of a god.'

That was why Cale himself had packaged it like that.

'…Tsk.'

Eruhaben clicked his tongue internally after figuring out how Cale would fare in this place, no, what kind of existence he would become here.

'Poor poor Cale.

He's always getting farther and farther from what he wants.

He sure has quite the talent for doing that.'

"Chief, what did you just say?"

Eruhaben watched as Fourth Imperial Prince Noi grabbed Eaen's shoulder and asked.

Eaen finally looked at the Fourth Imperial Prince and responded.

"That sir is the purifier."

Eaen peeked warily at Eruhaben, who was visible beyond the Fourth Imperial Prince's shoulder, as she continued to speak.

Marquis Helson was back at the castle right now.

The things happening right now were things he had done on his own without receiving permission from the Imperial Palace.

The Imperial Palace would not leave the Margrave alone once they learned about the current situation.

As the Chief who served the Marquis and for the guardian who took her in when she had nowhere to go…

'I need to clearly set the field.'

The expression on her face looked like someone who was looking at an existence that deserved a lot of awe and respect.

"He is from the Church of the Fire of Purification."

"The cult?"

Everybody heard what someone managed to blurt out.

Eaen continued to speak.

"The Fire of Purification is an existence that defeats the darkness."

Eaen's gaze turned toward Cale.

The purifier was crossing above the lake toward the black tree.

There was nothing stopping his steps.

Crack, crackle-

The rose gold thunderbolt surrounding his body was burning even brighter.

"When darkness has descended on the ground and even the sun in the sky has been covered…"

Rumble—

The starlight had disappeared as the sky was covered by the cloud.

It was dark around them once again.

But the light from this man's fire was radiant.

No, it was scary.

It looked as if it would burn everything.

"The only fire that can swallow darkness."

Yes, this person will swallow this darkness.

And he will turn it into ashes.

Eaen said the word that described this situation the best from what Marquis Helson had explained about the Fire of Purification.

"A sun rising from the ground."

When the sun rises…

Night ends and morning arrives.

"That sir uses that power."

Shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—-

The black tree's roots and vines were continuing to turn into grey ash without making any noise.

Cale moved forward without anything stopping him as he cut through those grey ashes.

'That's odd.'

Cale was feeling odd right now.

'…Is it okay for it to be this easy?'

The black tree was even larger than the Lord's Castle at Precinct 9.

The attacks from that tree were extremely strong.

The black tree roots… They seemed to be so strong that nothing could break them.

As for the tree trunk, it was large but felt as if it could come suffocate Cale at any moment like a snake or use sharp fangs to poison him.

The black vines charged at him endlessly and were now swimming on top of the lake to approach Cale.

It looked as if they were trying to crush him with waves of vines.

'…It's not weak.'

This black tree was definitely not weak.

In fact, it was strong.

To make a comparison, it was probably as strong as the unranked monsters on Earth.

It was not weak.

'But it is weak.

It is weak to me.'

The roots burned as soon as a fiery thunderbolt touched them.

It literally disappeared.

'This is really weird.'

Cale thought to himself while approaching the body of the black tree.

'Why is the Fire of Destruction so efficient in this world?'

Using one percent of his power to release fifty percent's worth of power…

Something was weird for him to just believe that was the case.

'I'm sure there is a reason it is like this.'

The Super Rock, who had been quiet lately, started to speak.

– Cale. Similar to how the shadows become thicker when it is too bright… It might be that this world is so dark that the opposite becomes stronger as well.

It was at that moment.

A black vine attacked from through the grey ashes behind Cale.

– Cale!

Cale raised his hand at the Super Rock's urgent voice.

Rumble-

The sky cried once.

Baaaaang—!

A fiery thunderbolt shot down to the ground.

Pss-

The vine that was a couple times thicker than Cale's body turned into ashes and disappeared.

The Super Rock mumbled in disbelief.

– …It's so easy. It looks like this place was made for you.

The cheapskate chimed in at that moment.

– Cale. Don't overthink it.

He sounded as if nothing was an issue.

– Is it a harmful situation to us right now?

No.

It is beneficial if anything; it is definitely not harmful. And you know…

'Hmm?'

Cale waited for the cheapskate to continue and the cheapskate whispered in a wicked voice.

– Just blame the world if they tell you to take responsibility. This world is who called you here.

– That is true.

"Hmm. That is true."

Cale nodded his head.

He then stopped.

Cale was now near the black tree.

Ten steps. He stopped ten steps in front of the tree.

– This should be good enough!

Cale ignored the cheapskate's comment as he reached his hand out.

Crack!

The hand that had a fiery thunderbolt wrapped around it clenched a vine that was trying to run away.

This was the first time Cale reached his hand out first.

Boom-!

The tree roared and Cale smiled.

There was a reason he had not burned the tree from the beginning and had approached it.

"Hey, can you talk?"

An extremely rude voice flowed out.

– Cale, you sound like you want to start shit-

Cale ignored the Super Rock's comment and clenched the vine even tighter.

"Hey. You can't talk?"

Cale closed his eyes.

He did not hear anything.

Cale asked once more.

"Are you sure you are not just pretending? You can't send thoughts into my mind? Show me a sign if you can. If you wish to live, that is."

It was at that moment.

Screeeech—

He heard another screech before the black tree started shaking.

The tree's large body…

A space appeared on the large pillar as if a mouth was opening.

"Mm."

Something black started to fill into that space.

Cale let go of the vine and opened his mouth.

– It is not a World Tree.

The cheapskate confirmed.

The punk who almost burned down the World Tree confirmed it.

"I don't think it is either."

Cale had wondered if it was the same situation as the fake World Tree.

In that case, he thought that he should chat with it first.

– It has no free will and only instincts.

The Super Rock continued to speak.

– I cannot feel its years. It was definitely something that was created.

The Fire of Destruction chimed in.

– And that thing filling up in that mouth-like space seems to be dead mana. I think it is trying to attack you.

– I see. It is quite dense dead mana. Most things will melt and disappear if hit by that.

The Super Rock agreed and added that explanation.

"Mm."

Cale uncrossed his arms.

Oooooo– oooooo–

There was a bizarre noise as the black aura gathered in the black tree's mouth.

It was obvious that the mouth would shoot out that black aura to attack Cale.

'I guess it makes sense, what other means would a tree have to attack?'

The roots were not a match for him nor the vines and branches. The poison didn't work either.

Since everything else had been burned up the black tree was using its secret weapon.

"You said it seems to have been created."

The House of Huayans probably created this monster just to pollute the land and the world with dead mana.

It was more a machine with instincts than a living creature.

Oooooo– oooooo–

The aura gathered in the monster's mouth became even stronger.

Cale heard someone's voice in his mind as he nonchalantly watched.

– Cale, be careful! That aura looks dangerous!

It was Eruhaben's voice.

Cale nodded his head.

'I want to learn more about this monster, but…'

He was certain that monsters like this were all around this world, leading to the quick pollution of Xiaolen.

That was why Cale wanted to gather some data about the monster.

'There's no need to receive an attack for no reason.'

He had no reason to receive this monster's attack.

"Then I guess it is time."

Cale raised his hand and pointed to the sky.

– Kahahahaha!

The Fire of Destruction laughed maniacally.

– It is finally starting!

Rumble-

The cry in the sky stopped.

Cale's hand slowly moved down.

The black tree.

The moment Cale's hand stopped while pointing at the monster…

Cale used half of his power.

"Burn it up."

A single strand of rose gold light…

Soon turned into dozens…

Then a couple hundred…

Before a giant heap of light struck down onto the ground.

Baaaaaang—–!

The darkness was no longer there at that moment.

All they could see was a red light that looked as if it would swallow the world.

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Yu Ryeo Han]

[Translator – Anowa]

[Proofreader – Rai_Mayank]