149 – Gaia (5)
go oh oh
“…”
what’s this
I don’t know anything about the black space that suddenly appeared, so I’m reluctant to do anything first.
Even if you look through the magic sight, you can’t see anything just like when you see it with the naked eye. It’s like looking at a bug space where there’s nothing there because there’s a hole in it.
Tuk-
“…no response.”
I picked up a stone that had fallen on the side of the road and tried to throw it, but that black space erased the stone in an instant as if nothing had existed in the first place.
There is no reaction whatsoever. If you throw a pebble into a calm lake, even ripples occur, but this black space shows no reaction.
I can’t even hear the sound of a thrown stone falling to the ground, so I’m sure this isn’t a hallucination caused by some distortion of light, it’s really a different space.
…have to get in here?
If you go in, it’s not a bad level, just something terrible will happen.
“I’ll give up on going in. I’ll have to get Gaia out first.”
Everyone’s heads nod at my words.
It’s been a while since I fought Cerapia, who was playing with all sorts of bizarre gimmicks, and it’s natural that I wouldn’t want to enter such a strange place again.
Of course, since we didn’t come to fight Gaia, I don’t think we need to be so vigilant, but there’s nothing wrong with being careful.
……….
“…it doesn’t appear.”
Unfortunately, all efforts to summon Gaia first failed.
Looking at the vines that attacked the elves, it was clear that she would be awake, but Gaia never showed up no matter how much she shook herself from under the world tree like this.
Well, if it was going to appear after a bitch, it would have appeared long ago when about a quarter of the Great Forest was blown away by my demonic energy.
“…Couldn’t we just pull this out?”
“Irene?”
At that moment, Irene suddenly makes a strange noise.
It was as if, after all the means had been exhausted, there was no other way, and this was the only thing left, quite naturally.
…to pull out the world tree?
“Anyway, this tree called the World Tree is just a tree that grew big by using Gaia-sama’s body as food, so is there any need to consider it sacred?”
“Ah, Irene-sama…”
“In the first place, when I was alive in the Great Forest, there was no tree like this. It’s just a big tree that grows parasitically on Gaia-sama’s energy.”
Of course, such an idea was enough to make Lena shocked, but Irene continued as if nothing was wrong.
Well, from Irene’s point of view, it wouldn’t be completely wrong.
At the time Irene was banished from the Great Forest, there was no such thing as a world tree, and according to Belial, this tree was just a sprout that accidentally landed on Gaia’s body and grew to this size by feeding on Gaia’s body.
There is no reason to view it sacredly, and to Irene in the first place, there is a high probability that the World Tree is a parasitic existence on the body of God, so it is rather disgusting to see it.
“That, that… But still, the elves’ mental support until now…!”
“…You elves are—-… No, meeting Gaia-sama is more important than that, isn’t it?”
At Lena, who insists on not removing the World Tree, Irene fires at her. It was literally a world apart from how he had always treated Lena well until now.
“Come to your senses, this is just a big tree that’s not even sacred. It’s like a mushroom parasitic on Gaia-sama’s body, isn’t it?”
“Bur, mushrooms…”
“Yes, if you don’t pick out the mushrooms that grow on your body as sacred, wouldn’t that be disloyalty to Gaia-sama?”
Little by little, Lena is persuaded by Irene’s persistent words.
Certainly, as Irene said, if the world tree is like a mushroom growing in Gaia’s body, it is only natural that it should be pulled out.
Extracting extremely high-purity mana isn’t because the world tree is particularly sacred, but if it grew with Gaia’s body as food, it’s natural, so it’s ridiculous to say that we shouldn’t extract the world tree because of mana.
“Faust-sama, should we see Gaia-sama as soon as possible at all costs?”
“…okay.”
“Then, the answer is decided, let’s choose.”
Taking advantage of Lena’s hesitation, Irene convinces her to quickly pull out the world tree.
…don’t you hate this world tree so much?
Hmm… Well, it’s not like I can’t understand Irene’s argument.
There is no reason to treat the world tree as a special tree and handle it carefully, and you should meet Gaia as soon as possible and ask the answer to the limit of life.
“Lena, I will pick the world tree. Do you have any objections?”
“…No, no.”
“Yes, I understand.”
Dudududu-!!
As soon as he gets permission from Lena, he immediately starts removing the world tree as Irene insisted.
Using mana, he pulled the world tree he held onto with all his might, and the entire great forest shook as if an earthquake had occurred, as if the roots of the huge tree had spread quite widely. The ground is shaking and breaking as if it had been hoeed.
Hmm… Sure, it’s a little hard to pull out if the roots are spread out widely.
I shouldn’t have just pulled it out whole, I should have taken it apart and removed it slowly… Wait a minute.
‘The ground shakes and breaks?’
Isn’t this the one you saw on the other side of the screen where you can see the past?
The vine that appeared from the shaking and breaking ground and swallowed all the elves?
…no.
“Oh, Dad?”
“Faust?!”
When I thought of that possibility, my body moved on its own.
I hurriedly run to the party who are holding their posture so they don’t fall and hug everyone tightly.
Everyone is very embarrassed by the sudden situation and calls me with questions, but the questions are quickly resolved in an instant.
Paaa!
“Ugh…!?”
The vines, no, the roots of the World Tree began to protrude from the ground and attack everyone.
The roots that completely enveloped my shield in an instant became so tightly entangled that I couldn’t even see the outside.
Within a few seconds, all the crevices were covered with roots and disappeared, so it was impossible to check the outside state at all from inside this spherical shield. Not even a ray of light enters.
“Everyone… you’re right. I’ll go outside first.”
“Yes, yes, yes…”
But to me, that doesn’t mean anything.
I only hesitated for a moment to protect everyone, and this kind of root is torn apart in an instant even if I breathe.
When I increase the size of the barrier, the roots that have been suffocating from all sides fail to stop the expansion of my barrier and break or break.
Tsk… It’s making my heart pound for nothing.
As expected, this World Tree is not something to be held sacred, but it must be pulled out and burned—-… What is it?
“Faust!! Avoid!!”
The warnings from Aigokeros from afar pierce my ears, but those warnings are of no use now.
This is because warning is a warning that warns of imminent danger, and nothing is as meaningless as giving a warning when danger is already approaching.
“…The land has disappeared.”
Lucia’s trembling voice walks through the group.
Just as Lucia said, the ground we were standing on had disappeared completely. Not only that, but also numerous other plants that were taking root on the land.
The black space seen beyond the tunnel he had just dug occupied the space in place of the soil.
No, is it wrong to say that it was replaced?
go oh oh
In the distance, trees can be seen being sucked into the black space together with the soil. It looks like a tree falling from mid-air.
In other words, the ground we stood on… was eaten away by this black space.
There is only one object left intact.
world tree.
The world tree, which is several times longer than the one we just saw, stretches out countless roots in the black space, probably because of a tree trunk buried under the ground.
And in the center of that root… there’s something glowing green.
According to common sense, you should, of course, run away first and then plan for the future.
It’s hard to do something with everyone who has no place to step and is only holding a posture with the shield I spread out.
Roaring!
…However, I couldn’t help it even though I knew it very well.
If I left it in front of my eyes like this and went back, it felt like something terrible would happen that I couldn’t undo, so I didn’t choose to run away, I raised my hand and aimed at the world tree, then poured out a huge storm of flames.
[Kieee!!]
…it’s a scream.
The world tree screams.
The World Tree, hit directly by my storm of flames, begins to burn like a pile of firewood in a campfire.
Wow… that scream is so real that it’s creepy.
It’s like boiling phlegm. There wouldn’t even be vocal cords, let alone phlegm.
However, the current situation is not good enough to focus on the screaming world tree.
“…over there.”
“yes?”
“It’s Gaia.”
In the center of the root, which was just full of green light, you can see the Gaia you’ve been looking for so far.
Although the form is very different from what I saw only in the form of light before, Gaia herself must be right as the feeling of divine power is the same.