Serene's eyes went wide at Liliz's explosively blunt words.
She didn't seem frightened, exactly, but it was an unusual reaction for her. Maybe it was because she hadn't left Yggdrasil, but she apparently wasn't used to conversing with Hunters all that much.
Wait, Liliz... you just want to go to a Treasure Hall, don't you?
She hadn't been to a high-level Treasure Hall in a while—though more to the point, she'd already conquered nearly every Treasure Hall around the Imperial Capital, so for someone like Liliz who craved the unknown, this whole incident was a godsend.
"...You do understand, yes? The area surrounding the World Tree right now is truly dangerous. The Mana Material sourcing is the same as outside, but the density is entirely different. Yggdrasil is the center of the world—the Monsters that manifest there have already surpassed the realm of ordinary Monsters."
"So what?! You don't know until you fight them! A Hunter who's scared of strong enemies has no business being one! Right, Klie—Klye?"
Liliz turned to me, seeking agreement.
Her pale pink eyes shone with vitality, and her face was faintly flushed. That was twenty percent irritation and eighty percent excitement.
...Just for the record, even if we hypothetically went along with fighting, the objective was still curing Luke's curse. I'd appreciate it if she didn't forget that.
Serene, who had clearly never had anyone grab her by the collar and manhandle her before, couldn't hide her bewilderment. At that point, Lapis, who had been standing with her arms crossed and a complicated expression, huffed through her nose and spoke.
"Hmph... As always, barbaric. However—the duty to exercise power belongs to those who possess it."
She paused.
"It does resonate with the pride of the Spiritfolk. *Thousand Transformations*—very well. This time, I'll follow your lead."
"Ah... yes..."
I hadn't said anything, though.
But when I thought about it calmly, the most reliable way to save Luke might actually be this. I didn't need to go so far as to conquer the manifested Treasure Hall or anything like that.
If Serene's words were true, what was needed for Luke's curse was the *site* itself.
We could sneak close to the World Tree, have everyone keep any Phantoms busy, and use that opening to quickly get the curse removed. Simple.
Besides, a fundamental solution was impossible. Even I couldn't do anything about a Treasure Hall manifesting.
I'd witnessed the birth of Treasure Halls before, but never their disappearance. You couldn't exactly burn one down to get rid of it...
"W-well, it seems like we do need to go to the World Tree to cure Luke's curse, so..."
As I reluctantly went along with it, Serene shrugged as though completely exasperated.
"...It seems the rumor that humans are overconfident is true. Or should I call it recklessness—"
She was completely right. Hunters really did take their lives too lightly. I wanted to retreat inside my shell and hibernate.
"The Mana Material has already reached saturation, and the time of destruction draws near. The Mana Material isn't staying near the World Tree—it's spreading throughout the forest, even affecting the Sacred Tree Circuit we built. The number of demons born from it is probably in the thousands or tens of thousands. The area around the World Tree has become a demonic zone where even approaching it is impossible. The spirits who once built and protected Yggdrasil together with us have mostly undergone metamorphosis as well... The preparations we were making for battle amounted to nothing. Knowing that fact—will you still challenge it for the sake of your companion?"
Completely oblivious to how spineless I was being, Serene reconfirmed our resolve in a serious tone.
...Could she not have dropped that information a little sooner? Maybe I really should look for a way to cure the curse outside after all—but even if I backed out, Liliz and the others wouldn't stop.
Normally, a scene like this would have Luke going berserk with Liliz reining him in, but without Luke present, Liliz was the one running wild. And there was no stopping Liliz.
I was racking my brain for the most polite way to decline when Citry, who had been silent until then, raised her right hand.
"I have... a question, if I may, Serene."
"What is it?"
Serene looked at Citry. A face as perfectly proportioned as a doll's. Citry smiled brightly, brought both hands together, and spoke.
"The nature of Mana Material is unchanging. Mana Material flows through the Ley Lines running beneath the ground, and Treasure Halls and Monsters—Phantoms—are born where the power accumulates. This has been true since ancient times. Moreover, from what I've heard—it seems the people of Yggdrasil were accurately perceiving the problems the World Tree harbored, the future that could come to pass. They let their companions go, they prepared for battle..."
Her tone was perfectly logical. She was right, actually.
I hadn't noticed at all, but Serene and the others had let their companions go before Shel's curse went out of control—that must have been at least a thousand years ago.
For an instant, Serene's eyes widened as though she'd been caught off guard, but she quickly nodded in resignation.
"...That is correct. We knew of the destructive fate awaiting the World Tree. And we moved to prevent it. In truth, we did manage to... prolong its life, at the very least. But the growth of its power far exceeded our expectations."
"...I see. That must have been tough."
"...Weak human, being light about it, indeed."
She'd known and yet couldn't do anything about it... Well, I supposed that happened.
It was only natural to feel detached. I wasn't involved in this incident. Call me cold, but whether Yggdrasil fell or not, it didn't really concern me much—I was based in the Imperial Capital, after all. This time I'd stumbled into it because I'd come to cure Luke's curse, but if not for that, I never would have noticed the World Tree's crisis and would have been relaxing peacefully in the Capital.
The phrase "abnormal occurrence at the World Tree" certainly had a menacing ring to it, but I didn't really understand what specifically was so dangerous about it.
The reason people were always telling me I lacked a sense of urgency was partly because I simply didn't understand.
Standing in for me, Citry—whose intuition was always sharp—cheerfully continued.
"We Spiritfolk don't have lifespans as long as yours, but in exchange, we carefully record and verify every path we've walked. To my knowledge, this planet's civilization has repeatedly faced destruction and rebirth countless times. As for the previous civilizations, we can only infer from the Treasure Halls that manifested—nothing concrete is known. Not even what happened at the very moment civilization fell..."
Clyus gulped audibly. Everyone was captivated by Citry's story.
She'd always locked herself in the library reading books since forever, but Citry really did know a great deal.
And somehow, the conversation had taken a rather ominous turn... but why did Citry look so happy about it?
"And I believe Klye-san is thinking the same thing—but based on what Serene has told us, I'm hypothesizing this: the people of Yggdrasil have already witnessed the end of the World Tree once before—witnessed what happens when Mana Material reaches saturation. Wouldn't you agree?"
I—I hadn't been thinking anything remotely like that... She really did force me into things at every opportunity.
Normally I would have denied it immediately, but right now I wanted to hear Serene's answer.
I looked toward Serene, and our eyes met. Those impossibly transparent, calm pale-green eyes—like a mirror. They reflected my vacant expression back at me.
Our eye contact lasted only a few seconds before Serene gently looked away with a natural motion. I prayed that Citry's guess was wide of the mark, but that reaction told me everything.
I looked toward the World Tree, which had apparently become a demonic zone. The first time I saw it, its sheer size and the ceaselessly falling leaves had given it an air of mystery—but after hearing the story, it now felt downright ominous. Funny how that worked.
After a wait of several dozen seconds, Serene finally opened her mouth.
Her voice, laced with resignation, was enough to send a chill down even my spine—and I'd been told just moments ago that I completely lacked any sense of crisis.
"You are correct. The collapse of the World Tree is not merely Yggdrasil's problem. The World Tree is the source of all Ley Lines, and entities manifesting within it are limited in number. We, the people of Yggdrasil, once witnessed it manifest within the World Tree—and now it has manifested again. We call it this: the beginning of the world's end. The place where a calamitous god is born—[Origin Temple]. Not immediately, but if this continues, then before long, the shadow of the god born from the World Tree will destroy this world's civilization."
This had turned into something absurd. All I'd come to do was cure Luke's curse. Between the curse incident, the Key of the Earth incident—this world had way too many dangers.
Regardless of whether Serene's words were true or not, this time I really couldn't just ignore it.
Something had to be done, but honestly, this was more than I could handle. This was an Ark-level case.
"How long is 'before long'?" I asked.
Whether I was thinking of countermeasures or gathering forces, I needed time. If the world ended, curing Luke's petrification became a moot point.
Serene took a deep breath and, her face pale, answered.
"Not long at all. According to the records passed down, the god's descent follows a process. The site has appeared—as soon as Mana Material accumulates, it will manifest. Yggdrasil's projections say less than two hundred years—no, it might fill up in just a hundred years!! We must act with the worst-case scenario in mind!"
"!? ...Y-yeah, you're right."
A hundred years... Right. Come to think of it, you guys were long-lived, weren't you?
Being told the world would end in a hundred years sounded pretty dire, but I wasn't going to live that long anyway. Liliz and the others might survive through Mana Material's power, but there was no way I could.
Whether this counted as a silver lining, I didn't know, but I'd calmed down slightly. I dusted off my hands with a couple of pats and scanned the area around me.
"...For now, panicking won't help. I have a contact. Even if it's a hundred years, there's still time—so let's start by focusing on curing Luke's curse."
Once we got back to the Imperial Capital, I'd dump this on Ark.
Time to report in.