Chapter 190 – The Thousand-Year Tree
A five-colored light flowed out from the Witch’s Garden. Watching the scene, I smacked my lips.
A happy dream…?
What kind of dream would I have?
Given my current situation, I was curious about what happiness even felt like.
“That kind of thing makes me jealous.”
“You’re jealous of being hypnotized?”
“They get to have a happy dream, don’t they?”
The Witch’s gift.
It would have the effect of loosening the mental strain that had been pushed to its limits from long days of escape and battle.
Isn’t there something like hypnosis therapy?
In my case, I couldn’t even experience it if I wanted to because of my mental barrier. That was the only regret.
“You sure have a death wish.”
“…What?”
Elder Medeia, who had come to a stop, stared at me.
A wrinkled old woman gazing at me with a blank expression—it was terrifying. It felt like the opening scene of a horror movie.
“Do you not understand what it means in this world to be swayed by another?”
She lightly tapped Lily’s forehead with her staff. Lily’s expression crumpled into one of distress, her eyes welling with tears, as if she were having a nightmare.
Then, with another tap on her forehead, she started giggling.
That jealousy I just felt… I take it back.
“I have lived the longest among these people. That means I’ve seen the most deaths. Among them were those stronger than me, those more terrifying than me. But in the end, they all died.”
“…How?”
Medeia let out a bitter smile and tapped her head.
“The mind.”
“…The mind?”
“You don’t always need physical strength to kill. If you break the mind, that’s enough. Even those who are called absolute beings, even the Lords of Divine Names, they all succumb to it, whether by their own will or by the will of others. They eventually collapse on their own. It’s like a dagger you can’t see or feel.”
“The mental strength to withstand the mass hypnosis of Orta… You don’t seem to realize how incredible the ability you possess is. The higher you go, the more you will come to understand—just how much of a threat that ability is to others.”
She turned away coldly.
I had spoken carelessly and got nothing in return.
My [Third Mental Barrier]… Maybe it was an even greater ability than I had thought.
I strolled quietly through the forest.
It felt like I was out for a walk amidst the lush scenery.
“Where are we going?”
“There’s a cabin of mine nearby.”
“Before that, let’s head to the Ghost Forest first.”
“The Ghost Forest?”
“There’s something I need to show you. It’s important.”
She nodded, then tapped her staff against the ground.
Suddenly, tree roots shot out from the earth and grabbed both of my ankles.
Before I could even ask what was happening, I was sucked straight into the ground.
“Uaaaahhh!”
I was dragged at tremendous speed before suddenly being dropped into a world of gray.
…When did this happen?
I hurriedly got up and looked around. Pale, hazy figures wandered the area, pausing as they noticed me.
Faint, tattered beings in wretched states.
Sensing my presence, the ghosts rushed at me like ravenous beasts.
What kind of bullshit is this?!
“H-Hey, old lady!”
I clenched my fists and shouted in desperation.
At that moment, the ghosts stopped.
Then, slowly, they began to back away.
Their gazes weren’t on me but on my hand.
…Ah. Keros.
The Guardian of the Forest.
As soon as he came to his senses, Keros gagged as if he was suffocating—then sank his teeth into my finger.
“Aagh! Hey, you little shit!”
I threw him to the ground.
He landed with a thud, rolled over a few times, and then looked up at me with a betrayed expression.
His eyes screamed: I saved you, and you choke me and throw me away?!
“Well, why the hell did you bite me?”
“Kuang!”
Keros, enraged, lunged at me with his front paws stretched out—but a tiny Hunting Dog was hardly a threat.
I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, and he immediately started flailing like a rabid dog.
A snack would’ve been the best solution at a time like this. I should remember to carry some next time.
“Keros, you’re awake.”
Even the mad little Hunting Dog seemed to fear Elder Medeia.
As she approached with a calm air, Keros quietly curled up under my legs and sat down, tail tucked between his legs.
I grabbed him by the scruff again and shook him.
Straight to the point.
“Hey, spit it out.”
“…?”
“I told you to leave at least one intact.”
At Wailing Hill, when we raided a secret hideout, we had managed to secure an intact cursed doll.
A moment later, something nearly two meters tall suddenly popped out of Keros’s small mouth.
As soon as the Van Dyke puppet was revealed, Elder Medeia immediately reacted.
“…This.”
“Take a close look. You, of all people, should immediately recognize how dangerous it is.”
She lifted her staff, and tree roots wrapped around the Van Dyke puppet, suspending it in midair.
Without a word, she examined the cursed doll.
The deep crimson seal imprinted like a brand on its cloth.
The collection of souls drenched in blood within it.
After a while, a faint groan escaped from Medeia’s lips.
She waved her staff, and the cursed doll was tossed into the midst of the gathered ghosts.
“Uhhuhuhu—”
“Ehehehick!”
Their reaction was grotesque.
The ghosts immediately backed away from the doll, putting distance between them.
They were afraid.
Medeia began chanting an incantation over the cursed doll.
The doll trembled violently under the spell, then soon crumbled into ashes.
Watching this, Medeia’s expression turned grim.
“Whose work is this?”
“Rengua Field.”
“The Lord of Divine Names?”
“That’s right. He’s a dark shaman with a talent for manipulating souls. He knows a witch’s weaknesses better than anyone.”
“Weaknesses… Yes, that does seem to be the case.”
The crimson seal imprinted on the cloth had repelled Medeia’s spell multiple times.
Being a construct made of sorcery, it had a natural resistance to it.
Moreover, the spirits trapped in the doll—souls steeped in blood—were akin to the spectral remnants of mass murderers.
That explained why the ghosts were terrified.
A being resistant to witchcraft and capable of moving freely through the Ghost Forest.
However, if their numbers were small, they wouldn’t pose too great a threat.
"At Least a Hundred."
“At least a hundred?”
“There could be even more.”
“That’s ridiculous. These puppets aren’t something you can mass-produce like cookies. They require an enormous number of sacrifices.”
“They can gather as many sacrifices as they need. After all, their leader is Kamel Blazer, Lord of Blyer.”
“…Hmm.”
“He has the backing of a dark shaman group called the Nest of Shamans. If they decide to mass-produce these cursed dolls, they can manufacture a large number in a short period.”
In the story, around five hundred Van Dyke puppets led by dark shamans invaded the Ghost Forest.
The forest was breached in less than a day, and the Van Dyke puppets immediately advanced toward the heart of the Ordor Forest, where the witches' village was located.
“No matter how many they have, as long as they’re inside the forest, we can handle them. Even if all of Tobaron came at us, it’d be the same.”
“That would be true… if the Millennium Tree were still intact.”
“…What do you know now?”
“I already told you—the Ghost Forest will be destroyed. Do you not understand what that means?”
There was only one reason Kamel was sending an army of Van Dyke puppets to attack the village.
The core of the Ghost Forest—the Millennium Tree.
“Kamel knows how to break the Grand Hex cast upon the Millennium Tree.”
“…!”
The Dagger of the Corrupted Dead.
The moment that dagger was driven into the Millennium Tree, the tree would lose its power, and the Ghost Forest would vanish.
Medeia’s expression sharpened, turning fierce as if she were about to attack me.
“How do you know about the Grand Barrier?!”
“There is no such thing as an eternal secret. Both Kamel and I are aware of it.”
If the Millennium Tree loses its power, the witches’ greatest fear—the one energy they despise the most—will flood into Ordor Forest.
Magic.
The source of power exclusive to mages.
And after that…
“Demtor will move.”
A one-sided massacre would follow.
“Demtor will only act once the Ghost Forest disappears. That’s why we have to stop Kamel before he can lay his hands on the forest.”
I quickly sketched a rough map on the ground.
A single fortress blocking the crucial passage between Ordor Forest and Tobaron.
Elletor Fortress.
Pointing at the fortress with my finger, I said:
“We have to stop him here. And…”
I looked up at Elder Medeia and spoke my final words.
“The only ones who can defend this place… are the Hunters.”
“Uaaaaaaahhh!”
I screamed once again.
The only difference this time was that I wasn’t the only one screaming—Keros was howling alongside me.
Right.
Both Keros and I were once again being dragged underground by tree roots, tunneling through the earth to some unknown destination.
What was this, some kind of Earth Escape Technique straight out of a Japanese ninja manual?
Why did every single mode of transportation in this damn forest involve digging tunnels?
This old hag really had a bizarre hobby.
The only silver lining was that it was fast.
“Ptooey! Ptooey!”
“Grrraaaang!”
“Agh! Stop biting me, you little shit!”
I had held Keros too tightly during the trip, and he had turned into a full-blown rabid dog again.
As I wrestled with him, gripping his snout to keep him from gnawing my fingers off, Medeia finally appeared.
She looked exhausted, perhaps weighed down by the conversation we had in the Ghost Forest.
Meanwhile, Lily was sleeping with a dumb grin on her face, and Medeia—apparently irritated by this—tapped her forehead again.
Once again, Lily’s face crumpled, and she started sniffling.
This old hag had a mean streak.
Medeia plucked a single strand of Lily’s hair and handed it to me.
“Take this.”
“…Why are you giving me a hair strand?”
“The barrier leading to the village can only be passed by witches. Without this, you’ll be thrown back into the Ghost Forest. Keep it on you.”
With that, she leaned on her staff and walked forward at a slow pace.
Through the dense woods.
And then—just like that—she disappeared between two trees.
Lily, who had been following her, also vanished.
When I turned to look at Keros, he was staring at me… with Lily’s hair in his mouth.
…So that’s why he had been so suspiciously quiet.
Clicking my tongue, I took a step forward.
“We’d better wrap this up and leave the forest before I go insane.”
Hallucinations, hypnosis—this place was mentally exhausting.
And then, the world changed again.
The Witches’ Village, nestled in the heart of Ordor Forest.
I stopped in my tracks.
Cabins built under a massive tree, dozens of them in sight.
A small stream flowed between the enormous roots, and vibrant, colorful flower fields surrounded the area.
“…Damn.”
Seeing such a lively and peaceful village, I couldn’t help but curse under my breath.
It was my first time laying eyes on this place, yet… it felt familiar.
Because I had seen it in my dreams—in that massacre.
This village was the final battleground for the witches.
The vast flower fields, the wooden cabins… everything would be burned to the ground.
The witches, dragged out by mages, would meet their end, hanged beneath the burning Millennium Tree.
My gaze slowly lifted.
Even craning my neck all the way up, I couldn’t see the top of the colossal tree before me.
From the witches’ small cabins to their very sanctuary of survival and peace…
The Millennium Tree—their only refuge.
As I took in the entirety of the tree, I blinked.
Something felt off.
I rubbed my eyes and looked again.
[…An interesting place.]
Even Retonicalus found the Millennium Tree intriguing.
And I agreed.
But more than interest, I felt a sense of unease.
“…Why does it have an aura?”
A divine halo surrounded the Millennium Tree.
The mark of a Lord of Divine Names.