NOVEL NEXT chapter 189
189. Grainif (5)
[You’ve arrived. Star eater.]
In Alon’s ear.
No, a voice that seemed to resonate in his mind.
Alon hurriedly looked around.
But all he could see were Lim’s eyes, staring at him strangely.
It was only for a moment that he realized this voice was heard only in his mind.
[Reach the depths of the root. There, you will find what you seek.]
“Wait-“
The resonating voice informed Alon of a plain fact and then disappeared.
Alon hurriedly opened his mouth, but.
“What is it?”
Only Lim’s voice returned.
In that moment, I unconsciously lowered the hand I had raised.
“…No, it’s nothing.”
“I will continue moving forward.”
“Do we need to go further?”
“This is just the beginning. We will move to the forward base.”
Lim moved forward as if no further conversation was needed.
Alon followed her, recalling the voice from a moment ago.
‘What is its identity?’
At first, he thought it was the voice of ‘it’ that had led him to the root, but it wasn’t.
‘The voice was clear. Unlike the voice of the eyes that could know nothing, it was definitely a man’s voice.’
It was distinctly different from the voice of ‘it’ that could not be distinguished from anything.
While Alon was momentarily pondering behind his expressionless face.
“We have arrived.”
“…Oh.”
Lim announced their arrival.
Alon exclaimed in awe.
A base built like a castle in the dark abyss.
Its scale was not very large.
But in this vast darkness.
Only that small castle emitted a faint light like a firefly.
A very dreamy atmosphere.
Alon, who was staring blankly at the scenery, soon entered with Lim.
‘This is better.’
Unlike the abyss of the root where nothing around could be seen.
The inside of the castle was somewhat dark, but the surroundings were clearly identifiable.
While Alon was calmly looking around.
“Huh? Lim, why did you come down? It shouldn’t be your shift yet.”
“What is going on?”
“Rimida-! ……Huh? The black leaf too?”
Three elves walked out from inside.
Two men and one woman.
“……A human?”
As soon as they spotted Alon, they instantly erased their bright expressions and each placed a hand on their weapons.
“Stop, it is a direct order from the Queen.”
“……From the Queen?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“It’s that matter. You might not have heard the details, but you should know roughly. Isn’t that right?”
At Rim’s restraint, they seemed to recall something for a moment.
With an expression of ‘Ah, that?’ they looked at Alon and returned their hands to their original positions.
However, the wariness on their faces remained.
‘……They feel similar to Rim.’
As Alon was thinking, the tall elf with a sword spoke.
“I am Egal.”
Next, the elf with a massive double-edged axe on his back, unusually large for an elf, and the elf with two short swords at his waist, who had a petite build, each stated their names in turn.
“Bian.”
“Ramua.”
“……I am Alon.”
Such a plain introduction.
Alon, who had been watching the three elves for a moment, then said.
“So, is there anything more you want to do here?”
Soon, Rim’s voice reminded him of his original purpose.
“How do I go deeper from here?”
“……You intend to go deeper than this place?”
“Yes.”
At Alon’s affirmation, Rim’s expression grew a bit colder.
“Do you know what lies in the depths of this root?”
“What is there?”
“Underneath here, there are ‘Ashes’.”
Bian answered instead of Lim.
Alon turned his head and asked him.
“Ashes?”
“Yes. To put it simply, you can think of them as monsters living under the roots.”
“…Are they strong?”
“They are not strong. We can handle dozens of them ourselves.”
Bian spoke the truth plainly.
“Then-“
“But, in the deep place you mentioned, there is the ‘Root of Ash’.”
“…Root of Ash?”
“The gatekeeper of the roots, endlessly creating Ashes. It is-“
Unlike just now.
Bian’s expression twisted.
“We cannot kill it. That’s why we are suffering like this.”
“…Is it that strong?”
“Yes. But that’s not the only problem.”
“What do you mean?”
It was Lim who answered Alon’s question.
She added with a still calm expression.
“In the deep place where the Root of Ash is, we cannot use magic.”
“…Cannot use magic?”
“Yes. The deeper you go under the roots, the less you can use magic. Even though Sir Filde, who has reached the 9th rank, is with us, we cannot eliminate those things below.”
Alon roughly grasped the situation from Lim’s explanation.
‘To obtain the method of using the rank, we have to kill the Root of Ash in a place where magic cannot move and go inside, something like that.’
“…”
Alon pondered.
Unlike the information they had until now.
There was not a single piece of valid information about this ‘Root of Ash’.
In other words, the probability of being in danger was much higher than usual.
Adding to that, it would be even more dangerous if we couldn’t use magic.
But even considering all of that.
“I hope you can take me to the depths.”
It’s worth going.
“Of course, you don’t have to come along. Just show me the way, and I’ll go down alone.”
Alon, deciding to go alone while recalling the emergency device.
“Sorry, but we never intended to let you reach the depths in the first place-“
At that, Ramu stepped forward as if to ask what he was talking about.
“No, no.”
Rim stopped him.
“What?”
“The Queen said to grant this one’s request.”
“…Really?”
“Have I ever lied?”
“No, but no matter how I think about it, going down to the roots is too-“
“Ramu. It’s the Queen’s command.”
The Queen’s command.
Ramu mumbled as if he wanted to say something several times.
“…Alright.”
In the end, he stepped back.
“Then let’s move right away.”
They once again left the castle and began to walk into the dark abyss.
Towards the depths of the roots.
####
How long had they walked since leaving the castle?
Alon, whose senses were dulled by the surrounding abyss, walked absentmindedly.
Just as his legs began to tingle slightly.
“…!”
Suddenly, light poured in as if the view in front of him had opened up.
Alon squinted involuntarily at the rare stimulus.
“The middle layer of the roots.”
Rim’s dry, monotonous announcement.
Alon took in the scenery of the middle layer.
The middle layer of the roots was completely different from the upper layer.
‘It’s bright.’
The uppermost layer had been an abyss.
Unlike that place, the middle layer was bright enough to see far into the distance.
Huge, tangled roots formed a chaotic path here and there.
Alon soon realized that the path he was walking on was just one of many roots, but he didn’t feel any particular discomfort.
The roots were so large that it felt like walking down the middle of a massive eight-lane highway.
As Alon marveled inwardly,
“We’ll continue down this way.”
He followed Rim and resumed walking downward.
####
As Alon descended further,
‘…Why am I doing this dangerous task just because of that human’s words?’
Rim, walking ahead, let out a small sigh with a slightly annoyed expression.
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t understand the queen’s orders.
At least from his perspective, the human behind him didn’t seem to be the Primordial Elf or anything of the sort.
Of course, there were circumstances.
The human possessed items of the Primordial Elf and had the endorsement of the Elves’ Archmage, Filde.
But aside from that,
What else was there?
What proof was there that this man was the Primordial Elf?
Was that all?
There were even points that contradicted Filde’s words.
The Primordial Elf had reincarnated through a contract, and because of that strange thing behind him, he couldn’t come to the World Tree.
But what about now?
With that creepy thing that might harm the World Tree,
He had come to Greynip.
Even going deep into the roots.
In other words, it was moving completely differently from what Filde had expected.
However, despite that, the Queen acted as if she had seen definite evidence.
That worried Lim.
The Queen, who couldn’t let go of her dead brother.
She wanted to believe that man was the primordial elf, clinging to even the slightest possibility.
To her, who couldn’t hide her discontented expression.
“…Lim.”
Suddenly, Bian’s voice was heard.
“What’s wrong, Bian?”
“Something is strange.”
“…What is?”
“By now, we should have met the Ashes.”
Only then did Lim look around and frown.
Indeed, as Bian said, something was strange.
The Ashes constantly crawl up the roots.
Conversely, to prevent the elves from coming down, hundreds of them always occupy the middle layer of these roots.
In other words, they should have been here.
‘But we’ve almost come down, and there are no Ashes…?’
The Ashes, which should have been seen everywhere.
Not a single one was visible.
Lim tensed up without realizing it.
Because he knew.
The absence of Ashes was not a good thing.
After a moment of contemplation, Lim called Bian.
“Bian.”
“Speak.”
“Wasn’t there an abnormal phenomenon last time too?”
“A month or two ago, the Ashes poured out massively, and that was the end.”
“And since then?”
“There were no particular signs, but this is-”
“…an abnormal phenomenon.”
An abnormal phenomenon.
A term used when the behavior of the ash particles suddenly changes.
It wasn’t a common occurrence, but once it happened, something very dangerous would follow.
“We had to come down here at least once anyway.”
Rim muttered quietly.
An abnormal phenomenon needs to be discovered as quickly as possible to prepare for what comes next or to solve the problem at hand.
Rim’s face grew a bit more serious.
Her steps down to the depths of the roots became more cautious as well.
Soon.
“From here on, it’s the depths of the roots.”
All the tangled roots gathered together, arriving at a place where a huge hole was drilled in the middle.
“How do we get down?”
A hole similar to the upper part, where the inside was not clearly visible.
Rim silently pointed to the circular stairs leading down along the wall of the huge hole.
The group once again began to walk down the stairs.
And, just when they started to feel the pain, wondering if blisters had formed on their feet.
Rim realized that they had finally reached the depths of the roots.
“-”
She froze in place.
No, it wasn’t just her.
Egal, Bian, and even Ramuma, who had followed Rim, were also frozen in place with faces full of astonishment.
Filling their vision-
■■■■-
Due to the enormous number of ash particles.
“Huh-”
Rim involuntarily swallowed her breath.
Clearly in the form of humans or beasts.
Ashen powder scattered from every part of the body, like the surface of an active volcano where lava quietly stirs below. Skin that flickers with red soot with every movement.
All these elements.
They unmistakably indicated that they were ash.
Rim counted the number of ash particles.
Hundreds?
No, too few.
Thousands?
Still too few.
Then-
‘Tens of thousands.’
Rim gritted his teeth.
The future that was about to unfold was vividly clear before his eyes.
It wasn’t a matter of whether magic could be used or not.
The moment they all rose above the roots.
Pagade would inevitably collapse, overwhelmed by their sheer numbers.
At the moment of despair, as he bit his lip.
-■■■■■■■■!!!
One of the ash particles, which had been silent until just a moment ago.
Howled towards Alon and his party, who had descended, no, invaded the underground.
■■■■■■■■-1!!!!
As if resonating with it.
Other ash particles began to howl madly.
Soon, ash began to swirl and shoot towards Alon and his party.
“Run-!”
Rim shouted urgently and immediately started running back up the spiral staircase.
But.
“No!”
“What?!”
“Above too…!!!”
At Rim’s continued scream, she lifted her gaze.
“`
“……!!”
Witnessed.
Just a moment ago, there was nothing on the upper stairs.
The sight of ashes starting to fall.
As if they had been waiting for them to reach the depths.
It was a very strange thing.
The ashes they had been dealing with for hundreds of years.
They had never once.
Acted as if they had intelligence.
Without time to ponder the incomprehensible situation.
Despair was evident on the faces of the elves.
There was not a single weak one among them.
Because they were ‘Pagade’.
But even if they were Pagade.
“This, this is…….”
There was no hope of surviving through this absurd number of ashes.
At the moment when they were all sinking into resignation.
“Everyone, stick to the wall.”
“!”
A voice was heard.
A voice so calm, it didn’t match the urgency of the situation.
When Lim turned his gaze.
There was Marquis Palatio.
The grotesque sound of the ashes filled the space.
Even in a situation where it wouldn’t be strange if their lives were lost at any moment.
Just looking at them with emotionless eyes-
“Because you might get swept away.”
Him.
“Foolish-! I told you……! Magic doesn’t work here because the mana doesn’t move-“
The marquis casually glanced at the ashes rushing in from above and below.
“`
However, he was a wizard.
Remembering that he was essentially bound hand and foot, Lim urgently shouted.
“Comrade, manifest yourself.”
At the moment Alon’s calm voice resonated.
The elves could see.
Under the roots of the World Tree,
Crack-!!
Crushing countless ashes as it appeared-
■■■■■■■■■■■■-!
The manifestation of the receiver, Basiliora.