Chapter 284

Chapter 284

Although Zeon knew nothing about Kurayan, he had heard the word World Tree from the elves.

A gigantic tree that supported the world called Kurayan.

The source of all life, and the being the elves called Mother. But he had heard that when Kurayan perished, the World Tree had vanished completely as well.

“This is really the seed of the World Tree? I don’t feel anything from it.”

Squeee!

“Because it lost its power? It can be revived? How?”

Squeeee!

“You have to hold it?”

The baby whale nodded with the seed of the World Tree in its mouth.

Zeon could feel the baby whale’s anxiety.

It was worried that Zeon, the seed’s owner, might not allow it.

Zeon chuckled and stroked the baby whale’s head.

“Do it.”

Squeeee!

“Then yes, I mean it. Hurry and hold it.”

Squeeee!

The baby whale circled around Zeon’s body, delighted.

Claire did not know why the baby whale was flying around Zeon.

That was because she was too far away to hear the conversation between Zeon and the baby whale.

At that moment, the baby whale swallowed the seed of the World Tree it had been holding in its mouth.

FLASH!

A brilliant light burst from the baby whale’s entire body after it swallowed the seed of the World Tree.

A short while later, the light vanished, and the baby whale appeared again.

Outwardly, nothing had changed much.

Its size was the same, and its gentle gaze was the same.

Only the density of the mana it gave off was different.

A moment ago, it had been as light as cotton candy. Now it felt heavy, like compressed steel.

The baby whale swam around Zeon with much stronger movements.

Squeeee!

“It’ll take time to bloom? How long?”

Squee!

“You don’t know either. It’s fine. It doesn’t matter how long it takes.”

At Zeon’s words, the baby whale moved its fins excitedly, as if relieved.

Zeon watched it with a smile, then opened his mouth as though something had just occurred to him.

“Gaia!”

Squee?

“Your name. I’ll call you Gaia. What do you think?”

The baby whale nodded as if it liked it.

And so, the baby whale’s name became Gaia.

After enjoying Zeon’s touch for a while, Gaia cried again.

Squee!

“You want to rest? Where, in my subspace?”

Squeeee!

“Can you live there?”

Squee!

With a soft cry, Gaia suddenly vanished.

“Good heavens!”

Zeon looked at his right arm.

After Gaia took out the seed of the World Tree, he had immediately closed the subspace. In other words, it had remained closed the whole time. Yet Gaia had entered the closed subspace as she pleased.

That was not the only change.

The anchor of the subspace was changing.

Originally, his subspace had been enchanted into the Ultra-Heat Gauntlet. Because of that, he could not open it without the Ultra-Heat Gauntlet.

But now, the anchor of the subspace was moving from the Ultra-Heat Gauntlet to Zeon.

He did not know how this was possible, but now Zeon could open the subspace even without the Ultra-Heat Gauntlet.

He had become the complete owner of the subspace.

Its size had also expanded beyond belief.

The subspace, which had already expanded more than tenfold after Kaylee worked on it, had now expanded more than tenfold again.

It was large enough for several of Gaia’s mother, Moby Dick, to enter at once and still leave room.

It seemed Gaia had used some kind of magic.

Zeon shook his head and muttered,

“This is insane!”

He had prided himself on no longer being surprised by most things, but ever since meeting Moby Dick and Gaia, it had been one shock after another.

Zeon gave up trying to understand the situation any further.

Even now, he could feel Gaia resting inside his subspace.

That was enough.

Zeon turned and looked at Pabilsa and Kaylee.

The two were shedding hot tears while touching Archelon, who had recovered completely.

Archelon looked at them in perfect health, as if it had never been dying.

It had been a journey to save Archelon.

Even with Zeon’s help, he had thought the odds were not very high. But seeing Archelon miraculously survive like this left his mind blank, unable to think of anything.

Zeon’s gaze turned to Claire.

Claire was trembling, utterly terrified, at a loss for what to do.

She could not run away now, nor could she undo what she had done.

Having lost Lee Jung-ho, her protector, she was helpless.

If there had been even a monster nearby she could tame, it might have offered her some comfort, but Zeon had annihilated them all.

Claire had no choice but to tremble as she watched Zeon approach.

“I-I’m sorry. But I had no choice. They made me do it.”

“Why do you listen to them?”

“How am I supposed to live in Neo Seoul if I don’t? If I want to live in Neo Seoul, I have no choice but to follow his orders.”

“You were also the one who forcibly molted the Queen Ghost Dragonfly and took its wings, weren’t you?”

“How did you know that?”

Claire’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Was that also Jin Geum-ho’s order?”

“Yes.”

“What were the Queen Ghost Dragonfly’s wings taken for? And what is Moby Dick’s heart going to be used for?”

“I don’t know either. Only something called Heavenly Punishment......”

THUD!

The instant Claire mentioned the word “Heavenly Punishment,” her head snapped backward as if she had been shot.

An explosion had occurred inside her head.

Sticky blood flowed from Claire’s eyes, ears, mouth, and nose.

“I......”

Claire looked at Zeon with an expression of disbelief, then collapsed. Her breath had stopped.

Zeon looked at Claire’s face with a hardened expression.

“Did they place something like a curse on her without even her knowing?”

Zeon did not know exactly what mechanism had caused the explosion inside Claire’s head.

What was certain was that the explosion occurred the instant she said the word “Heavenly Punishment.” He could tell that Heavenly Punishment was some kind of trigger word.

“Heavenly Punishment......”

Zeon shook his head slightly and scattered his thoughts.

In any case, there was no truth he could learn from a word alone.

Zeon looked around.

Moby Dick had vanished without a trace, and Archelon had evolved to an even higher level.

It had originally been a Grade B monster, but now it had become Grade A.

The majesty of Archelon as a Grade A monster was tremendous.

It looked especially more frightening because of the horns that had grown from its shell and forehead.

Around Archelon, the corpses of the monsters that had gathered to target Moby Dick were scattered everywhere.

He could also see the corpses of the Gray Ogre, Crimson Drake, and Giant Spider. But what Zeon was concerned with was not the corpses of the monsters.

It was the black shadow stealthily approaching the monster corpses.

The way it crawled while wriggling made it look almost like a leech.

It was lowering itself flat and moving stealthily, thinking it was avoiding Zeon’s eyes. But it could not deceive Zeon’s senses.

“So you survived after all.”

Zeon walked toward the wriggling black shadow.

The black shadow, which had been trying to secretly make contact with the Gray Ogre’s corpse, flinched in shock.

The black shadow rippled like water, and a human face suddenly protruded from it.

“Pantshi!”

The face wearing a startled expression belonged to Pantshi.

Just before being destroyed by Zeon’s Sand Gehenna, Pantshi had attempted to fuse with the black sea anemone’s core.

It had been his will to die together if he was going to die.

His attempt brought about an unexpected result.

He had fused with the black sea anemone, Bessie.

Thanks to that, he had barely survived the explosion. But Bessie had lost all its power, leaving only its core.

At this rate, he would merely become food for another monster.

Because of that, Pantshi had to take a risk.

He planned to absorb the corpses of the Grade A monsters Zeon had slaughtered.

If he secretly absorbed the three Grade A monsters, he was certain he would possess even greater majesty than before. But his secret attempt was immediately discovered by Zeon.

Pantshi spoke urgently.

“W-Wait! Spare me. If you let me live, I’ll swear loyalty to you.”

“I’m not so desperate that I need a monster’s loyalty.”

“Eek!”

The moment Pantshi was about to convulse, a pure white flame rose before Zeon.

It was a flame created by the Ultra-Heat Gauntlet.

The pure white flame was so dry it felt cold instead.

Pantshi’s face turned deathly pale when he saw it.

“Don’t do this. I only did it because I wanted to live......”

“If that was the case, you should have stayed hidden quietly.”

Zeon answered coldly and flicked his finger. Then the pure white flame moved like a living creature and attached itself to Pantshi.

The flame, only the size of a palm, expanded hundreds of times the instant it caught on Pantshi’s flesh.

“Aaaargh!”

Pantshi’s desperate scream rang out inside the flames.

He rolled across the ground and tried to put out the fire burning his body, but it was useless.

That was because the flame Zeon had created was no ordinary fire.

“Hell Fire!”

All the authority contained in the Ultra-Heat Gauntlet had been concentrated into the pure white flame.

It was truly the flame of hell.

Because Pantshi had fused with Bessie, his life force had also grown stronger.

That only increased his suffering.

An ordinary human would have died the instant Hell Fire touched them, but because of Bessie, Pantshi had to feel the blazing flames for a long time.

His pain ended only after his body had completely vanished.

Only after confirming that Pantshi had disappeared completely without leaving even a single speck of ash did Zeon let out a quiet sigh.

“Hoo!”

To be honest, killing Pantshi had not been difficult at all. Pantshi had become so weak that Zeon could have killed him at any time if he wished, so sparing him would not have mattered.

But if someone like that was left alone, he would inevitably return as future trouble.

Killing someone properly when one had the chance was better for peace of mind.

Finally, Zeon searched through the monster corpses.

He would not have spared a glance for Mana Stones from other monsters, but Mana Stones from Grade A or Grade B monsters were different.

The Gray Ogre, Crimson Drake, and Giant Spider were all monsters that were not often seen.

The Mana Stones that came from them were certainly just as special.

Fortunately, all three contained large Mana Stones.

Among them, the one that caught Zeon’s eye was the Crimson Drake’s Mana Stone.

It was a fire-type monster, like the Red Dragon’s Eye embedded in the Ultra-Heat Gauntlet.

Of course, it could not compare to a dragon, but it was still a monster of the same type.

Perhaps because of that, the Mana Stone that came from the Crimson Drake was also a deep red color.

“It contains the fire attribute.”

Mana Stones containing an attribute like this were quite rare.

A Grade A monster’s Mana Stone was even rarer.

If he sold it in Neo Seoul, it would earn an enormous sum.

“I’ll deal with this later, depending on the situation.”

Just then, Gaia, who had been inside the subspace, popped out without warning.

Squee!

Gaia stared intently at the Mana Stone in Zeon’s hand.

The sight was cute enough to make him chuckle.

“Why? Do you want to eat it?”

Squee!

Gaia cried as though saying yes.

Gaia had inherited four attribute spirits from her mother.

For Gaia, a Mana Stone containing a monster’s attribute was extremely precious food.

Knowing that, Zeon threw the Crimson Drake’s Mana Stone to Gaia without hesitation.

Like a puppy, Gaia snapped up the Mana Stone in her mouth, delighted, then returned to the subspace.

He had unexpectedly lost a precious Mana Stone, but he did not feel it was a waste at all.

After gathering the remaining monsters’ Mana Stones and even the Gray Ogre’s club, Zeon smiled.

Now it was time to return.

Conveniently, an excellent mount was waiting right before him.

Zeon immediately climbed onto Archelon.

“Let’s depart.”

“Where shall I take you?”

“Neo Seoul.”

“I’ll escort you there as safely as possible, sir!”

Pabilsa answered with a laugh.