TOTCF 2 (Novel) Chapter 295

C295

As he entered the backyard, Cale unknowingly furrowed his brow slightly.

‘What is this?’

He rubbed his arm with his hand.

‘It’s strange.’

He took a deep breath. Undoubtedly, the cold night air permeated his nose and body. Despite fully feeling it.

‘It’s empty.’

The moment he entered that space, an inexplicable sense of emptiness enveloped Cale.

The energy here is strange.
When he heard Super Rock’s voice.

“Ah!”

He turned his head at the sound of a labored breath.

“Haah. Haah.”

Erza, the elf, was breathing heavily, as if she had entered a place with little oxygen.

“Hmm.”

The First Bishop Mold let out a somber sound.

“……”

Clopeh Sekka had a calm smile, but his complexion was not good. He seemed unable to speak. Cale’s gaze turned to the Elder.

“Everyone, put these on.”

The Elder handed out hoods made of interwoven leaves. He already had a hood covering his nose and mouth.

‘Why didn’t he give us this earlier?’

Cale did not hide his irritation. He took the hood and handed it to Clopeh while watching the Elder.

The Elder, with an impassive expression, responded.

“Of the people I’ve met, only the Dragon Lord and Exion, as well as the three people they brought, can be here without needing a hood.”

‘Was he testing us?’

Cale’s tone became increasingly sarcastic. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Clopeh, after putting on the hood, had regained his normal color.

“Are you worried about me?”

Clopeh smiled at him, and Cale responded without hesitation.

“No. Why would I be?”

He had no reason to worry about Clopeh Sekka. In the past, he had carried mana bombs on his arms and legs and survived without any problems. Why would he worry about him now? Cale turned his gaze away from Clopeh.

“Haha.”

Ignoring that laugh, Cale rejected the hood offered by the Elder.

“No need. I don’t need it. But I would like to know the state of this place and why it’s like this.”

“The World Tree has gone mad, that’s why it’s like this.”

The Elder kept walking as he spoke. Cale followed him.

“The place where the World Tree takes root is usually the flow of the world, the point closest to the center of the world.”

Cale looked around him. The World Tree in his world was situated in a tranquil clearing, surrounded by dense evergreen trees that formed a sort of wall.

“The World Tree observes the flow and finds balance through that point.”

Here, however, everything was surrounded by flowers. Flowers on the trees, flowers in the grass. It seemed like an eternal spring, with all the flowers in full bloom. It was quite beautiful. But in the midst of the empty air, the view was only unsettling. Maybe because it was night, the flowers seemed lifeless.

“But, since the World Tree cannot maintain its sanity and has become a puppet, it cannot control the flow, and that energy escapes through this point.”

“Is that energy the Source of the World?”

Cale remembered Wisha, the White Snake, who had damaged her body trying to reach the essence of the world.

‘But this energy is a bit different from the Source of the World, isn’t it?’

The Elder immediately responded to Cale’s doubt.

“No, to be precise, it’s the vast energy of the Source of the World. You could say it’s the pressure or aura that energy emits. The energy that flows from the central point of the flow causes great pressure on common living beings.”

The Elder kept talking without stopping. The more they advanced, the more chills Cale felt in his arms.

“Sure, if someone absorbed the Source of the World, they could withstand this pressure to some extent. But that would only mean enduring it, not being completely free from it. It’s natural. Even if damaged, the Source of the World is immense. No living being could withstand it.”

Cale followed the Elder, trying to shake off the chills in his arm.

“Only a divine being, or someone aspiring to that level of power, could be free from this energy.”

The Elder looked at Cale.

“…And you seem to be free from it.”

Not only the Elder but also Erza and the First Bishop Mold. Their gazes towards Cale had changed.

Seeing those looks, Cale felt a familiar sense of déjà vu.

“Are you human?”

Finally, when the Elder asked that question, Cale responded without hesitation, as if he had been waiting for it.

“I am a very pure human.”

And as expected, the eyes of him showed even more doubts, so Cale told them the truth honestly to avoid misunderstandings.

“It’s just that I have Nature inside me.”

The balanced Ancient Powers within his being. Cale explained this.

The Elder, hearing this, trembled slightly and murmured unintentionally.

“…Nature?”

But Cale did not see the emotion in the Elder’s eyes.

‘Finally…!’

Instead, he saw something different.

A beautiful garden. In the center of a clean and desolate, yet incredibly splendid garden, Cale saw the World Tree. So he responded to the Elder’s question casually.

“Yes. Nature. Something like that.”

Cale passed by the Elder and headed towards the World Tree. That’s why he didn’t see the expression on the Elder’s face as he looked at him. Only Clopeh followed behind him, smiling. Seeing the World Tree, Cale commented.

“It’s a flower tree.”

The tree was about Cale’s height, about 2 meters. It wasn’t a big tree.

‘The hoods are made of World Tree leaves.’

A tree covered with ordinary green leaves. Among those leaves, flowers bloomed.

-It’s beautiful.

As Super Rock said, it was beautiful. The flowers shone in various colors, evoking the Source of the World in their brilliance, standing out in the darkness of the night. Although each flower wasn’t large, nor abundant, they looked like small wildflowers on the ground. However, those wildflowers shone like stars in the night sky, or even more splendidly.

It was a mysterious sight for anyone.

And, isn’t it a bit cold?

But as he approached the World Tree, an inexplicable chill enveloped Cale. The temperature wasn’t really cold. The energy emanating from the World Tree was so empty and oppressive.

“Hmm.”

Clopeh murmured in a low voice. Cale raised his hand and spoke to the others.

“It would be better if you didn’t come any closer.”

But he said something different to the Elder.

"Will you accompany me, Elder?"

To communicate with the World Tree, one had to touch it.

"Yes, I will."

The Elder pulled out not only the hood but also gloves and a cloak, and put them on. Everything was made of leaves from the World Tree.

"Let's go."

The Elder led the way, and Cale followed. There were about ten meters to the World Tree.

"Do the World Tree's leaves block this energy?"

In response to Cale's question, the Elder answered calmly.

"Yes. Of course, the closer you get, the stronger the energy becomes, so it can't completely block it. But it's bearable."

As he said this, the Elder's face grew paler as they approached.

Despite that, Cale asked another question.

"What is the method to have a normal conversation with the World Tree?"

"...My clan has been dedicated to carpentry for generations."

"I know. The Guardian Sword of the Dragon Lord was made by your family, wasn't it?"

"That's right. Although I'm not as skilled, thanks to the permission of the World Tree, I was able to create an item to communicate with it."

When they were about five meters away, the Elder stopped and took something out of his pocket.

"Although the outward appearance of the World Tree isn't large, its roots cover this entire garden."

The entire garden? Cale stopped in surprise and looked down. This garden was quite large, almost the size of Exion Castle. Did the roots cover all of that?

"That's why the flowers that grow on those roots don't wither due to this energy."

Finally, Cale understood why the flowers continued to bloom despite the oppressive energy that made it difficult for humans, elves, and Dragon Half-Bloods to endure.

"This is a mask made from the freshest root. In other words, a mask made from a root that hasn't been corrupted yet. It hasn't been affected by the Dragon Lord."

Although they had to make a new mask every day.

"If you wear this mask and touch the trunk of the World Tree, you can communicate with it. However..."

The Elder sighed for a moment.

"Even using this mask, the time the World Tree can maintain its sanity is extremely short, and it's decreasing more and more."

That's why the Elder had brought Cale here today, with a freshly made mask, before a day had passed.

"It's best to keep conversations to the point when speaking with it."

"What did the Dragon Lord do?"

How had the Dragon Lord managed to make the World Tree lose its reason and bring it under his control? Although the Blood Cult Wanderers, Demons, God of War, and others helped him, the end result was that the Dragon Lord still had the World Tree under his command.

That meant he had used some trick.

"...I don't know the details. But..."

The Elder's face turned somber.

"The World Tree is trapped in a time prison."

A time prison?

Cale remembered the Dragon Lord's Attribute. 'Time'. His Attribute was Time. And currently, he had sealed this abnormal world energy in a state of 'time detention' using his Attribute. To break that seal, Cale had to go to the Dragon's Lair and destroy his 'reference point'. Knowing this, Cale understood what a 'time prison' meant.

"The World Tree is trapped in the process of its destruction, constantly reliving the same moment."

Ah.

Cale sighed involuntarily.

The World Tree is an immortal entity that repeats destruction and rebirth.

"I don't know how the other World Trees are, but our World Tree loses all its flowers when it's destroyed. Although the process isn't physically painful, they say it's a state of great emptiness and emotional pain."

Cale finally understood what that feeling of emptiness filling this space was.

"They said it's like being alone in a cold winter."

Mm.

Cale paused and made a sound.

"The World Tree has endured about 200 years in that Time Prison."

The World Tree had endured more than 200 years since the Catastrophe Era.

"Of course, before entering that Time Prison, the tree was already mentally destroyed to a great extent. I didn't hear the details about that. But even so, the World Tree has clung to its sanity until now."

The Elder sighed deeply and murmured.

"The World Tree has held on and not collapsed until this moment."

Cale seemed to understand why the World Tree so desperately wanted to disappear.

"Anyway, since we're here, I'll be honest with you."

The Elder spoke freely, as only Cale was there.

"In its normal state, the World Tree is already half-crazy."

Mm.

Cale briefly closed his eyes and opened them again.

"It's best to keep that in mind when talking to it."

The Elder handed the mask to Cale and stepped back. It was time for Cale to face this alone.

"...I'll wait here."

"Understood."

Cale took the mask and moved forward.

5 meters.

As he approached, the air grew emptier and colder.

4 meters, 3 meters—

The closer he got, the more he could see that the flowers, which were like wildflowers, trembled slightly. As if they were suffocating with fear or shivering from the cold.

The flowers trembled.

2 meters, 1 meter—

What kind of terror was the World Tree experiencing?

Cale understood again why the Source of the World described the Dragon Lord as a 'God of Time' and he understood the feelings of those who feared him.

The Dragon Lord.

He really was a terrifying being.

"...Even so, I have to do my job."

Cale stood in front of the tree. He grasped a branch that was close enough to touch his cheek. Then he put on the mask. He closed his eyes covered by the mask and slowly rested his forehead against the branch.

Uuuuu—

The air vibrated.

The energy oscillated.

"Mm!"

The Elder suppressed a groan and staggered, struggling to maintain his balance against the immense energy.

His voice trembled.

"T-this has never happened before."

Surprised by the change in the garden's air, the Elder looked towards Cale and the World Tree.

----------------

"Where am I...?"

Cale opened his eyes in a space where ice and fire coexisted. A space covered with snowy mountains with snow falling.

In the center, a huge fire burned. Inside that fire, a young man was kneeling with his entire body bound. His body was burning.

"Are you the Messenger who is going to kill me?"

The Time Prison.

Cale had entered it.


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