Chapter 221
Chapter 221: I Truly Dare Not Anymore
The moment those words fell, Gulton threw open its abyss-deep maw, filled with rows of razor-sharp teeth.
Its head tilted back toward the sky, and it let out a furious roar.
Beneath that roar, the Divine Tree Yadh did not cower.
Around its heart, vines slowly began to stir and rise.
The spines along them began spinning in reverse—faster and faster—until they were rotating at a speed so frenzied they left afterimages.
Like dozens of sharp, flexible drillheads, they swept down in full force toward Gulton's eyes.
Hideous mouthparts split open, straining to sink deep into Gulton's body.
Against an ordinary enemy, such an assault would have been devastatingly effective.
Yet the opponent it faced was the Calamity of Fire—the most purely distilled fire-energy in existence.
The moment it sensed the incoming threat, Gulton didn't even bother to dodge.
It stood there, brazen to the extreme, letting the vines coil and twist toward it.
Almost the instant the mouthparts were about to bite into its body—
Boom—!!
Terrifying magma erupted across its body. Towering pillars of fire shot into the sky, and golden-hued lava poured down over every inch of it. The lava armor grew more vivid and radiant than ever, brilliant with golden light, layering endless stripes across its form.
In that instant, it was as though several savage beasts had materialized out of nowhere atop Gulton's body, bursting outward with overwhelming momentum—terrifying, as if they would incinerate everything in their path.
【Lava Form】
When a World Boss enters its 2nd phase, even the gods cannot intervene.
The vines tore through the scorching heatwave of distorted space and surged straight toward Gulton's face.
In that moment, they finally made contact with Gulton's body.
They embedded themselves into the Calamity of Fire's magma-drenched form, and green energy began flowing steadily inward through the vines.
But almost the instant they made contact, the vines snapped sharply back.
The mouthparts had caught an inextinguishable flame that traveled along the vines, burning relentlessly into the Heart of the Divine Tree Yadh itself.
When magma and vines clashed, the magma won without question.
At the mouthparts of the vine, the emerald-green energy gathered together—then was spat outward in a single violent burst.
Gulton's body shuddered. One massive foot lifted, then slammed down.
Instantly, the ground trembled. Ten-thousand-foot walls of magma erupted from the earth beneath its feet, rising in a solid barrier that blocked every trace of the green energy.
The collision triggered a catastrophic, earth-shattering explosion. The colossal magma wall was torn to pieces.
The blinding green light scattered and faded. Gulton remained completely unscathed.
The Calamity of Fire's thick arm—from which magma flowed constantly—slowly lifted, carrying a devastating blast of searing heat, suspended in the air—then dropped with full force.
The air warped. Intertwined with surging flame, 2 flame-wreathed blades drove hard toward the heart.
Vines wound around each other, forming an enormous green shield—skyward in scale—that hung before the heart, bracing against the erosion of those flame blades.
Bang!
Blazing temperature and crimson radiance detonated completely. A monstrous shockwave carrying scorching heat struck the heart head-on.
The green shield had a gaping, visible hole melted straight through it.
The massive heart pounded and pounded, convulsing continuously.
It was injured.
Watching the great heart's HP bar drop by a chunk, Viktor shook his head.
Not with contempt—only with a calm, level voice, saying the most straightforward thing there was to say.
"I once defeated an opponent similar to you—yet many times stronger."
"Both of you are nature. Yet you fall far short of it."
It was a Level 60, 6th-Tier Boss—yet the pressure the Divine Tree Yadh exerted on him was nowhere near what the Calamity of Wood, Druga, had once been.
"Then again, that makes sense."
Abruptly, Viktor gave a faint smile.
This time, within that smile, there was finally a trace of contempt directed at the Divine Tree.
"The power you carry was borrowed from nature's children."
"How could you ever compare to nature itself?"
Upon hearing Viktor's words, the heart seemed to understand something. The vines hanging in the sky ceased their swaying.
Then, once more, it beat—strong and forceful.
Thud—thud—
Like a great drum, it sounded without pause.
As if performing some intricate and profound ritual.
Dense natural energy answered the summons, converging toward the heart of the Divine Tree from all directions.
Viktor simply watched in silence as it strengthened itself, both hands tucked in his pockets.
"Still trying to resist."
"Very well."
He extended one hand and snapped his fingers.
Gulton began to move.
It was as though everything around them had become the interior of a volcano. Magma clung to the entire space. The earth began to tremble.
Fire stones broke loose from Gulton's body, fell to the ground, and sent cascades of lava sparks splashing upward in layer upon layer.
The temperature surged violently, carrying with it an all-consuming breath of destruction.
Beneath this terrifying presence—
Only a single voice rang out, clear and resonant through the space.
"End it, Gulton."
Roooaar—!!!
A roar erupted. Natural energy was torn from the ground—wrenched from the very core of the Divine Tree!
Staggering pillars of fire lit up everything in sight!
Scorching heat swept outward, enveloping all creation!
***
Outside the Divine Tree, flame and magma came gushing out of the Divine Tree and cascaded onto the deep earth below.
Wild winds rose, fanning the flames back to life, burning relentlessly through the Divine Tree.
The Elves who had been praying watched the Divine Tree sink into boundless agony, and their hearts were equally seized with anguish.
Vinia bit her lip, eyes filled with humiliation as she turned to Cocotte:
"Cocotte Yadh, you are one of our own—an Elf of our people."
"Why—why are you just standing there, watching the Divine Tree Yadh be destroyed?"
Cocotte looked at Vinia with calm eyes and said evenly:
"Destroyed? No, of course not."
"Only so that we—so that the Elves—so that the Divine Tree—may be reborn."
She raised her head, sweeping her gaze over the Elves gathered below.
They were still praying—praying beneath flames that raged like a natural disaster.
Both hands clenched into fists, as if they were clasping tightly to some gossamer thread of hope.
They were willing only to pray. They didn't dare stand up on their own, to resist, to stop it.
Vinia could not understand what Cocotte was saying.
She wanted to say something else—to refute Cocotte's words.
But then, the entire Divine Tree Yadh flickered with a strange luminescence.
It pulled every Elf's gaze toward it completely.
As if answering some mysterious summons, their eyes shone with an eerie, frenzied light.
The Elves rose one by one to their feet, and a voice rang out from within the crowd:
"The Divine Tree is in danger—the Divine Tree needs us!"
The moment those words sounded, every Elf seemed to awaken all at once, eyes blazing with fanatical light.
They were like devoted followers of a cult—utterly fervent.
"The Divine Tree needs us—the Divine Tree needs us!"
Those words spread through the ears of the Elves like wildfire.
Vinia remained one of the few Elves still clearheaded among them.
The Divine Tree's strange movements had not drawn her in. Her companions' words had not moved her in the slightest.
She stared around herself in shock—staring at the kin who had fallen into frenzy:
"You all—no, what on earth is happening?"
Cocotte crossed her arms:
"Still haven't figured it out, Vinia?"
"As a High Priestess whose lineage has protected the Divine Tree for generations—do you not even understand what the Divine Tree Yadh truly is?"
As she spoke, Cocotte raised her arm.
Within her palm, a faint phosphorescent glow was drifting away toward the interior of the Divine Tree Yadh.
That was natural energy—the sign of the Divine Tree Yadh forcibly drawing it in.
Cocotte closed her palm, severing on her own the connection between her natural energy and the Divine Tree Yadh.
"I can control this power freely. But what about you all?"
In that moment, Vinia looked down at her own palm.
The same thing: within her palm, a thin wisp of green light was piercing through the crimson flames, slowly drifting toward the interior of the Divine Tree.
And she could not stop the power inside her from flowing away.
She turned to look at her companions again—and found that from each of their bodies, a faint light was streaming out steadily, pouring into the Divine Tree in an unbroken current.
Witnessing this, Vinia felt her faith crumble, just slightly.
The Divine Tree Yadh—was forcibly absorbing their energy?
The Elves had been born from nature's nurturing. They were themselves a form of intensely pure energy.
And once that energy was entirely gone…
"As for what happens then—I don't think I need to tell you."
Cocotte's expression carried a trace of pity as she looked at Vinia and the other Elves.
Vinia turned and went back, stretching out her arms—as if trying to completely block the path of those Elves pressing toward the Divine Tree's interior.
"No! Don't go—"
These fools—what were they doing!?
Did they want to throw their lives away like this!?
But a death wish cannot be held back. From the very beginning, the belief instilled in every Elf had been that the Divine Tree superseded all else.
They didn't even know that what they were doing was walking to their deaths.
All they knew was that in this moment, the Divine Tree needed them.
Those Elves still naively believed that as long as they saved the Divine Tree, their lives would return to what they had always been.
Under the shelter of the Divine Tree, the Elves had long since lost any sense of crisis—or any independent thought of their own.
They even ignored the orders of Vinia, the High Priestess, and pressed stubbornly onward into the Divine Tree's interior.
Beneath Vinia's despairing gaze—
Bang!
A single sharp sound rang out abruptly.
Countless Elves were drawn by that sound. The frenzy began to recede by degrees, and their gazes slowly regained clarity.
There, at the base of the Divine Tree, Leon had raised one arm—in that hand, a black handgun.
The pitch-black muzzle pointed directly at the sky.
White smoke drifted lazily from the dark barrel, rising toward the sky.
The next second, that black muzzle swung with precision—and aimed directly at them.
Leon's emerald-green eyes fixed on them without a shred of emotion.
A cold voice followed:
"Anyone who takes one more step forward—"
"This thing will be going through you."