Free Web NovelChapter 9: Ch 9: The Great Old One
"Genuinely asking..."
"How does a protagonist stumble upon something which I, a transmigrator with all the knowledge, cannot find it?"
Deep inside the forest, Enzo complained to the empty air around him. Or perhaps to the tall trees that loomed over him.
While Draven was laying out his tactics on one part of the Great Forest, Enzo was busy on this other side. He was in fact, searching for a fortune that was supposed to be Thorgar’s in the original novel.
’His journey towards ascension started officially from here but where is it?’
Around him, large, old trees formed canopies that hardly let any moonlight touch the ground, which had turned slightly damp from the lack of proper sunlight. Enzo felt irritated whenever his bare feet would sink into the muddy soil.
However, he didn’t have to whine for long as he noticed the first signs of what he came here for.
Ahead of him, the thick vegetation of the swampy forest surrounding him thinned. The long alfalfa grasses had withered partially, the new buds malformed.
Even the trees weren’t faring any better. Their leaves dried faster than normal and fell off, giving the trees a barren look. Their branches twisted and spread outwards, often clashing with each other as if competing over who could remain directly under the sky and not under some random branch.
But even more concerning was the fact that the more Enzo walked in this thinned vegetation, the more he saw the trees drooping. The trunks looked damped and weak, moths feasting on it.
The entire scene resembled a hospital, the stench of death everywhere he laid his eyes upon.
The odour of rotting filled his senses as he had to alternate between his nose and mouth for breathing.
Then just when he thought he had to face the torture on his sensory buds endlessly, the vegetation ceased.
Enzo stepped out of the forest and stood at the edge, looking ahead him.
The land was now completely devoid of any signs of life, except for an ancient looking tree that stood ominously at the centre of this barren land.
Its roots rose above the ground, branches hanging downwards. Its leaves were blood red and glowed faintly at times, as if circulating something within it.
And Enzo did not have to guess what it was pumping out, as he looked at the ground around the tree.
It was pitch black and occasionally, the ground bubbled as toxic vapours rose upwards.
The ground was poisoned and the culprit was right in front of him - the ancient tree.
This toxic substance was spread around the entire barren land, which was also the reason why all lives except the tree itself perished.
Even though Enzo was standing at the edge of the forest, still not within the barren land, his feet burned slightly.
While not in direct contact with the poison the ancient tree pumped out, its influence was strong enough to slowly decay any living thing around it. Just like the dying, thinned vegetation he had left behind.
Enzo half closed his eyes, summoning every ounce of courage his bones could muster. Because he already knew what was about to happen and that knowledge which was supposed to be his very tool now scared him.
[~Ding~]
As if hearing his thoughts, a mechanical sound chimed and a screen appeared in front of his vision - its glow as that of a mirror.
On this mirror like screen, letters in red ink appeared as simultaneously, a voice spoke the same words in his mind.
[The Voice of the World hears your intention and welcomes you to try the challenge of the World Tree.]
It paused as the words on the screen disappeared, new words replacing them.
[Termed as the Great Old One, it is a Blessed of the World Tree. Having been the sole founder of the Great Forest, it demands your determination, courage and pure will. Only those who possess such qualities deserve its acknowledgement.]
[High Alert: The Great Old One, having being on the last thread of its life, had attempted to extend its mortal life by sheer will, as its nature dictated.
Unfortunately, that ended up corrupting it from inside. Now, where it had once produced Life Force, corruption has changed it to a poisonous miasma, which could destroy the entire Great Forest before the death of the Great Old One.
Transmigrator, tread carefully!]
[Objective generated: Cross the field burning with demonic miasma.] fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
[Reward: an Unique Mana Core and Mana Vision.]
Enzo felt a shock pass through him. Not because of the miasmic substance but rather from what the Voice of the World showed him.
"So it knows, no, the World itself knows my existence. Doesn’t matter who the Goddess of Time was, she still couldn’t bypass the world’s awareness."
Then pretending to look for something above him, he whispered. "So what now? Do I get struck by some kind of tribulation or something? I have heard of the balance shit these novels have where conscious Worlds can actually remove or add elements to balance out things."
But his worst fears seemed to be just mere speculation as nothing changed above him. Below though...it was another matter.
Enzo noticed that the demonic miasma the Great Old One released, that had ruined the lands around it and painted it in a charcoal black colour, was now spreading where he stood.
Soon, all the vegetation there would be decayed to oblivion and the process would keep on going untile the Great Old One died.
’Same plot, same place and the same decay. Just a different character trying to pluck away the reward this time.’
Enzo had no wish to figure out how much powerful was this demonic miasma and how much could it truly spread. And thus, he followed what Thorgar did in the original version and stepped onto the barren ground.
Instantly, a sharp sensation forced a groan out of Enzo, who felt as if he had willingly stepped on a thousand needles.
He paused as he let his foot adapt to the sheer amount of pain erupting inside him. But just a little later, he realised that his body wasn’t adjusting to it. Rather, what had felt like a thousand needles before now changed into shards of glasses, biting into his skin and threatening to enter his body.
Enzo realised he made a mistake by assuming his body could even adapt to the demonic miasma, that too released by a Blessed of the World Tree.
Although he wasn’t sure if this World Tree was the same one he had encountered in countless novels, he knew that the title it held had a weight of its own.
And being a Blessed of such a creature meant incomprehensible powers.
’Even when corrupted and practically almost dead, it can produce power of this intensity.’ Enzo thought internally as he dropped his other foot on the barren land and instantly felt his overall pain double.
Fortunately for him, the land here, although brimming with corrupted energy, wasn’t a swamp. Otherwise, he might as well have been declared dead at this moment.
Enzo lifted his eyes to the sky, where the moon glowed with a light pinkish hue. Even though the land here was barren except for the ancient tree at the centre and thus, devoid of any canopy overhead him, still moonlight didn’t even touch the blackened ground.
It was as if the tree was itself preventing the light from entering its range.
With one glance at the tree ahead, Enzo continued his journey.
