Chapter 369

Chapter 369

Insane!

That was the only word that came to Levin’s mind.

That was how astonishing the sight before his eyes was.

For a tree to be carbonized meant it was already dead.

For new leaves to sprout from a tree burned and crystallized under high heat and pressure was impossible.

Even in a world where unexpected miracles appeared often enough not to be rare.

The laughter vanished from Levin’s face.

He reached toward the sprout and asked,

“Is...... this real?”

Smack!

At that moment, Briel slapped Levin’s hand away with her palm.

“Ow!”

“Are you insane? What were you going to do if you touched it wrong and died?”

“Then this is real?”

“Yes! It’s real. A true sprout born in the desert. The will of this tree made the sprout bloom.”

Briel’s voice was trembling.

Elves were a race of the forest.

They were beings born in the forest, and beings who returned to nature in the forest.

Naturally, they loved forests more than anyone. But Briel had never once seen a forest.

Because she had been born on Earth and raised in the desert.

Even with the authority of a High Elf, she could not make a sprout bloom in the desert. Far from raising trees or grass, she had no choice but to adapt and live in the dry desert.

Because of that, this was Briel’s first time seeing a newly sprouted leaf as well.

“Ah......!”

Briel pressed her forehead against the tree.

She closed her eyes and tried to commune with the tree.

Communing with a dead tree was impossible, no matter how much of a High Elf one was. Yet astonishingly, she could feel a faint will from the carbonized tree.

A will that insisted it would make a sprout bloom.

“You were fighting all this time.”

Drip!

Tears flowed down Briel’s cheeks.

“H-hey! Are you okay?”

“I need to look at the other trees.”

“What?”

Before Levin could stop her, Briel examined the other trees. Following her and looking at the trees, Levin had no choice but to be greatly shocked.

Sprouts were rising from the other trees too.

All at once, as if they had made a promise.

The strength left Briel’s legs, and she sank down where she stood.

The Dark Elves reacted the same way.

“Good heavens!”

“H-how?”

“A forest is being born here.”

Though their skin color was different, Dark Elves loved forests too.

Thanks to their warlike nature, they had adapted well to the desert, but even so, they had always longed for a forest.

Not only Briel and the Dark Elves, but any elf would have been unable to look at this sight without shedding tears.

Zeon asked Go Du-won,

“Is what’s happening now related to Har?”

“It would be better for you to see it with your own eyes. Come with me into the depths of the forest.”

“I’ll take Briel too.”

Zeon pointed at Briel, who was still pressing her forehead against the tree and shedding tears.

“Do that.”

“Thank you. Briel!”

As soon as Go Du-won gave permission, Zeon called Briel.

Briel wiped away her tears and approached Zeon.

“Mm! Why?”

“Say hello! This is Uncle Go Du-won, the master of this Black Forest. Everyone abandoned this forest, saying it was dead, but he protected it to the end with his daughter.”

No sooner had Zeon finished speaking than Briel bowed deeply to Go Du-won.

“Thank you! For protecting it without giving up. The children are all thanking you too.”

“Did the trees tell you that?”

“I can feel their emotions.”

“You’re just like my daughter.”

“Your daughter?”

“Yes! Har said the same thing. She said these children’s will remained, that someday they would make new sprouts bloom. So she always spoke to them and treated them as if they were alive. Then, a little while ago, sprouts began blooming from the dead trees like this.”

Briel was considerably surprised by Go Du-won’s words.

What Har had accomplished was an incredible achievement even High Elves could not accomplish. No High Elf would be able to make sprouts bloom from carbonized trees like this.

If that had been possible, the High Elf village would already have turned into a forest.

Zeon and Briel followed Go Du-won into the depths of the Black Forest.

Inside the Black Forest, the carbonized trees stood so densely that sunlight could not enter even at midday. Because of that, it was shaded and felt especially cool.

Go Du-won looked around and said,

“In the past, because of the Bomb Bees, we didn’t even dare think of entering this far. It’s thanks to you that we were able to come this deep. Thanks to that, our territory expanded greatly, and the people who had been living scattered here and there gathered here again.”

“You mean the people who were fighting the monsters earlier.”

“Yes! They are the Goya Clan, like me. They had scattered because of the Bomb Bees and then gathered again.”

“That’s fortunate.”

“It’s thanks to you.”

“I didn’t do it to receive thanks.”

“Even so, it’s something worthy of thanks.”

At Go Du-won’s blunt words, Zeon wore an awkward expression.

Briel looked at Zeon with a puzzled expression.

“What are Bomb Bees?”

“They’re creatures that charge at enemies and self-destruct the moment they see them.”

“They’re vicious.”

Go Du-won joined their conversation.

“Those creatures had occupied the depths of this forest, so we couldn’t even dare approach. The reason this forest has recovered life even this much is thanks to Zeon.”

“Come on......”

“It’s there. Har is there.”

At that moment, Go Du-won stretched out his hand and pointed into the deep forest.

Where his finger pointed stood the largest tree in the Black Forest.

Like the other trees, it had been carbonized black, but its size and girth were on an entirely different level.

The tree was so massive that they had to look up for a long time to see its end.

At the base of the enormous trunk was a foreign white object.

It was round like a ball, looking like a huge cocoon.

Zeon asked,

“You’re saying this is Har?”

“It is Har. Do you remember the egg that had been hanging from the Queen Bomb Bee?”

“Yes! I think you said it was a Spirit Egg?”

“That’s right. It started glowing, and then became like that. Har is inside it right now.”

After Zeon left, Har had apparently lived with the Spirit Egg for a full eight years. Whether she slept, rested, or worked, she had never once set the Spirit Egg aside.

Everyone who had entered the Black Forest told her to give up already, but every time, Har said,

“This child is alive. I can feel it.”

In truth, she treated the Spirit Egg as though it were a living being.

At the sight of Har like that, many people shook their heads. Some even said Har had gone mad.

But Har paid no attention to their words and cared for the Spirit Egg. Then, a few days ago, this change occurred.

“As soon as Har and the Spirit Egg became a cocoon like that, monsters attacked.”

From then on, each day had been hell.

At first, lower-ranked monsters nearby swarmed in.

Driving away the lower-ranked monsters was not particularly difficult. But as time passed, stronger monsters from farther away began attacking. And today, things had reached the point where high-grade monsters like the Armored Gorilla and Saber-Toothed Tiger attacked.

If Zeon and the Dark Elves had not arrived in time, the Black Forest would have fallen into the hands of the monsters.

As if possessed by something, Briel approached the white cocoon.

Go Du-won tried to stop her.

“Child! Wait......”

“Briel is a High Elf. She’ll be all right.”

“A High Elf?”

“Yes! You can think of her as something like the spiritual pillar of the elven race. If anything, she’ll help Har. She would never harm her.”

“Is that so?”

Go Du-won nodded with an expression of understanding.

In the meantime, Briel approached the cocoon and carefully placed her hand and forehead against it.

Zeon and Go Du-won quietly watched Briel close her eyes and commune with the cocoon.

They did not know how much time passed.

After communing for quite some time, Briel finally opened her eyes. A gentle auspicious glow lingered in them.

Her eyes, faintly tinged with gold, even seemed mystical.

The golden auspicious glow soon vanished, but the mystical atmosphere remained.

Briel opened her mouth.

“Har unnie is all right, so don’t worry.”

“She is?”

“Mm! She just can’t move because this is an important moment.”

“An important moment means, perhaps......?”

“A spirit will be born soon.”

Briel answered with a bright smile.

In that instant, the strength left Go Du-won’s legs, and he dropped to his knees.

“Finally......”

His shoulders were trembling faintly.

Briel placed her hand on Go Du-won’s shoulder and continued speaking.

“Unnie said to wait just a little longer. She said to hold on a little longer......”

“Hold on?”

“More monsters will come, aiming for the spirit. Creatures far larger and stronger than the monsters we saw earlier.”

At Briel’s words, Zeon nodded.

“So that’s how it turns out. It’s the same as with Gaia.”

“Mm! If they devour a spirit, they can grow.”

“The sprouts growing from the dead trees must be because of the spirit’s influence too.”

“The moment the spirit is born, this place will no longer be dead land. Trees will grow, grass will cover the earth, and greenery will spread.”

Even Briel did not know what kind of spirit would be born. But she knew one thing for certain.

Everything was difficult only at the beginning.

Once the first gate opened, what came after would be much easier.

If the first spirit was born on Earth, the possibility of the next spirit being born would rise.

“Is it different from Gaia?”

“Gaia isn’t a pure spirit. Gaia is the first child born after a Kurayan spirit fused with a whale to survive. Gaia’s birth probably influenced Har unnie’s spirit. I’ll only know the details once Gaia comes out, though......”

Gaia had fallen into deep sleep to digest the Reaper’s Scythe. At present, there was no way to know when Gaia would awaken.

“Then we need to protect this place from monsters until the spirit is born.”

Zeon reached a conclusion.

Zeon and Go Du-won came out to the edge of the forest and soon gathered the Dark Elves and the people in one place.

“Mm!”

“Ahem!”

The two races, gathered together in one place for the first time in their lives, could not mix well and drifted awkwardly around one another.

Neither Zeon nor Go Du-won thought the two races could harmonize at once.

They had kept each other at a distance and held one another in check for a long time. Opening their hearts and mingling all at once was impossible from the start.

After looking around for a moment, Zeon opened his mouth.

“Lady Floa!”

“Speak!”

“Did you see it?”

“If you mean the sprouts, yes. To think a miracle was happening in this dead forest. It’s truly astonishing!”

“It isn’t merely a miracle.”

“What do you mean?”

“It is a miracle created by the persistence and will of a child born between a human and an elf.”

“Wait! Then you’re saying a half-elf created this miracle?”

Floa and the Dark Elves looked at Zeon with expressions of disbelief.

Like other pure elves, Dark Elves also tended to look down on half-elves.

At first, Briel had also looked down on Mandy, a half-elf. But after spending time getting to know her, she acknowledged her.

Likewise, the Dark Elves and humans here needed that same time and experience.

“A spirit is about to be born in this forest.”

“Is...... that true?”

“Yes!”

“Ohhh!”

In that instant, Floa and the Dark Elves all knelt to the ground at once, as if they had made a promise.

Just as Briel had shed tears, thick drops of tears fell from their eyes too.

“When the spirit is born, this forest will come fully back to life.”

“A forest....... Good heavens!”

The elderly Dark Elves covered their faces with both hands and sobbed.

Unlike the young Dark Elves, they remembered the deep greenery of Kurayan. Because of that, their longing for a forest was incomparably intense.

Floa said to Zeon,

“Can we live here too? Can we be accepted as residents?”

“That decision is not mine to make. It belongs to him.”

Zeon pointed at Go Du-won. Then Floa approached Go Du-won, knelt on one knee, and said,

“Master of the forest, I ask you. Please accept our clan as residents.”