NOVEL NEXT Chapter 28
The screen fills with the sight of a massive tree growing around a building and a woman screaming as she watches.
Lumi’s broadcast began airing as soon as the siege began.
Seeing that horrific scene, I turned to the teddy bear beside me and asked,
“Who’s the opponent?”
“That’s Kim Min-seong, the Streamer.”
Right, Kim Min-seong.
Han Yu-seong was aware that this siege was going to happen.
After all, it is the first siege ever conducted.
Those waging war can be considered somewhat noteworthy.
The man named Kim Min-seong is the de facto ruler around Hongdae and also a Streamer who obtained skills relatively early on. His opponent, Lumi-chan, while slightly delayed, was a promising candidate I had been watching with keen interest early on.
Given that they are frontrunners, I had regularly checked on their broadcasts and was aware of their clashes in advance.
I also knew that it would lead to war.
To be honest, I had some expectations.
Siege wars.
A system designed to pit two Streamers against each other, awarding the victor with rewards.
They each command their own forces.
It’s a harsh reality, but I’d prefer a strong ten factions managing regions over a hundred weak ones any day.
Nonetheless, the Starter Pack was distributed to a hundred individuals to foster competition and identify the truly strong ten.
In other words, it’s a system to nurture potential pillars of the Broadcasting Station.
However…
“These damn fools are making a move?”
The Painter’s disciples.
I was aware that those scumbags would attempt to approach the Streamers.
It’s obvious that those who’ve lost their center, like the Painter, would mix in among survivors to ensure their own survival.
That’s why I moved the Silver-tier Streamers first.
It would take too long to gather everyone, and I judged that the Silver-tier Streamers, already possessing sufficient strength and influence, would not fall for their temptations.
But could it be that someone who almost devoured an entire region had already succumbed to them?
“No, it’s not just the Painter’s disciples.”
They meddled with the system.
The Painter himself lacks such abilities, so how could his disciples possess them?
There’s no way.
Which means the ones instigating this are traitorous scum and the Painter’s disciples, but there’s a third party aiding them.
Someone with the audacity to mess with the system, who has a connection to those two and is close at hand.
As luck would have it, one such person doesn’t exist in Korea.
“Damn Clown…!”
I immediately left the management room and began to move.
Regardless of being a Clown, it would be impossible to manipulate the system remotely.
Thus, their location is predictable.
Kim Min-seong.
No, this actually works out well.
If I can deal with that treacherous bastard at once…!
“…What is that?”
As I returned from the back room to the Ordinary City, something strange caught my eye.
The sky above the city.
Floating clouds.
A blue sky.
But it looks unnatural.
Like a bizarre landscape painted over with watercolors.
“Barrier?”
An Abnormality that overlays reality like Ragnarok.
So subtle that even Han Yu-seong wouldn’t notice unless he concentrated…
It taints the canvas of the world.
A painting layered over the world.
“You damned bastards…!”
The Clown, who knows he can’t compete with Han Yu-seong, wouldn’t have initiated something without preparation, fully aware of the risks.
He doesn’t desire battle.
He doesn’t even wish to meet.
That intent is evident in the Abnormality.
It traps the lives of dozens of the Painter’s disciples within the Ordinary City as though it were a painting.
While not an absolute barrier like Ragnarok, it would still take time for even Han Yu-seong to break through without fulfilling the release conditions.
To buy himself time to escape, he sacrifices the lives of the Painter’s disciples.
The Abnormality, swallowing their lives and souls, overlays that scene onto reality.
Landscape Painting.
The final move of the Clown against Han Yu-seong.
“…!”
As Han Yu-seong’s scream erupted, the momentum began to distort the Landscape.
*
“NO!!!”
Lumi’s scream echoed.
The screams from all around quickly ceased.
Everyone within the stronghold, except for Lumi, is engulfed by the colossal tree.
The Painter’s artwork.
Soul-Eating Ancient Tree.
An Abnormality painted by the Painter that devours the user’s thoughts and manifests in reality.
Though it manifests in a highly imperfect form, it stands as a calamity against which ordinary humans cannot contend.
Amidst the shattered ground, Lumi’s eyes catch something.
A bunch of disheveled people wearing suspenders.
Except for one man holding a frame containing a painting, everyone else appears exhausted and collapsed.
In contrast to the chaos around them, that spot looked as if it was untouched.
“Is it you guys?!”
Everyone has vanished.
Even the fans who approached with smiles.
Families who thanked her for help and promised to repay the favor.
Even those who said they would join in to be of any assistance.
Those who assured her not to be too scared because preparations were perfect.
Everyone she had lived with for the past month.
In an instant…!
Crack—
As I kicked down with force, the already broken ground burst apart.
With the recoil, I leapt downwards with all my might to the floor below.
With the elevation of Silver-tier status, my physical abilities completely transcended the limits of being human, propelling me forward on the debris.
“Die!”
Shockwave.
A skill that emits shockwaves proportional to the force applied to the attack.
Not merely jumping down from the tenth floor but launching downward in an accelerated state.
The power of that blow was on a different scale compared to the skills Lumi had used until now.
-!
No sound reached me.
Only for a moment.
In that stillness, it felt as though the world had stopped, distorting the visual landscape around me.
And then…
Lumi’s body lifted off the ground faster than she was falling.
Shattering through the still-intact ceiling, Lumi’s body soared endlessly.
From a position now higher than the building that was supposed to be a stronghold, a sound finally reached Lumi’s ears.
Boom—
From the point where Lumi’s weapon struck, everything began to shatter.
Starting with the pillars and walls supporting the building, the asphalt of nearby roads was swiftly stripped away and scattered in every direction.
The ground split in a spiderweb pattern centered around what used to be the stronghold.
Eventually—
Crash—
The collapsing ground.
Everything above began to be sucked into the abyss below.
Sinkhole—
An unbelievable spectacle for mere individuals;
Of course, Lumi wasn’t unscathed either.
The D-grade bat from the Starter Pack showed countless cracks and looked on the verge of breaking, and her right arm was shattered, turning from blue to a deep purple.
Moreover, she felt the dull ache throughout her body from the impact of crashing through the ceiling.
Only after enduring such extreme circumstances did Lumi regain a sliver of her senses.
‘The tree…!’
She had made a colossal mess.
It wasn’t even confirmed if her fellow stronghold members were truly dead!
What if they were caught in that earlier attack…!
Lumi’s vision caught sight of the massive tree.
Wrapping around the building, now severely broken and on the verge of collapsing.
The roots of the lower floors, where the Shockwave had blasted through, appeared half-baked and precarious, yet, unlike everything else that was sucked into the sinkhole, the lower half remained intact, supporting the shattered building.
It looked a bit precarious, but it’s fine.
If the tree’s fine, then those who are swallowed within it should be okay.
Then she needed to rescue them quickly…
“Gen…jam…!”
But her body refused to move as she intended.
Lumi wanted to act to save those engulfed by the tree, but her body had already reached its limit.
To make matters worse, her body began to lose strength after being flung into the air by the Shockwave.
Up so high, even a person with enhanced physical abilities would find it hard to survive the fall.
Lumi’s body, pushed to its limits, started its descent.
Was it a flash of memories?
Suddenly, flashes of her past swept through her mind.
The longing she felt when she first saw the stage.
The joy of becoming a trainee at a major agency.
The frustration of repeatedly canceled debuts.
The happiness of meeting fans who supported her after starting her own broadcasts.
And…
Those who genuinely expressed gratitude and concern for her.
I….
“I don’t want to die!”
The words never left her lips.
The moment she began to fall, it became too difficult to even open her mouth.
Blinded by fear…
Plop—
“Not too late! Safe!”
Along with the sensation of being caught, she heard a voice.
Opening her eyes revealed a boy who hadn’t quite shed his youthful appearance.
“I saw the explosions from afar and hurried over. Are you okay?”
With the sight of the boy, relief flooded through her, bringing tears to her eyes.
The boy gently cradled Lumi’s head, shielding her face…
With a thud—
They successfully fell safely atop the unnaturally sprouted weeds beneath the enormous tree.
*
“This is….”
The sight of the weeds spreading like an explosion above the sinkhole.
Lumi, in her panic, hadn’t noticed, but the man who saved her, Jung Seong-min, did.
As he caught Lumi and prepared for the fall, he witnessed the weeds growing to fill the sinkhole.
As if warning that such a drop must not conclude in death.
Rustle—
“…!”
Hearing the sound of someone approaching through the weeds, Jung Seong-min tensed and placed his hand on the sword at his waist.
But his readiness quickly faded.
Because the figure that emerged was in no state to fight.
“Who are you….”
Jung Seong-min was also aware of the Painter’s disciples.
He had seen the streamer rampaging around Seoul, proclaiming they’d capture the Painter’s disciples, and amongst those capable of summoning an Abnormality in the form of such a massive tree, there aren’t many even if he searched the world.
Yet the disciple that revealed themselves looked terrible.
The left arm was completely missing, and the right side of the body appeared slashed apart as if from a tremendous blow.
“Four hours….”
With a look suggesting he could drop dead at any moment, the Painter’s disciple began to speak.
“In four hours… the tree will finish digesting….”
“The tree, you say.”
Jung Seong-min glanced at the tree enveloping the nearby building.
The disciple nodded in agreement.
“Deliver it… to that woman….”
Thud—
Before he could finish, the disciple collapsed.
As if he had fulfilled his mission.
“This is….”
Did they wish for Lumi to come to them alive?
“Ugh…”
And just then, as if to coincide with that moment, Lumi began to regain consciousness.
Jung Seong-min gazed thoughtfully at her.
Despite having an easy opportunity to take her out, they deliberately spared her to pass along information.
This meant they needed her for something.
‘It’s a trap.’
Surely, they would have completed all preparations and be waiting for her.
Should he tell her?
Jung Seong-min looked at the tree that engulfed her stronghold.
Four hours.
The time remaining before her stronghold members vanished from the world.