Ch#207
* * *
Holy Power overflowed in the canyon.
It was the power of the World Tree, the origin of the world and governor of all life on the surface.
"Tie......"
As the Underworld monsters vanished, Tese tan, who had collapsed to the ground, curled up his body.
He pressed one hand to his tattered shoulder to staunch the bleeding and swallowed a groan.
When he raised his head, he saw Tie in the distance.
His daughter was giggling face-to-face with the monster peering down at her.
"Not the child......"
Tese tan reached out one hand toward the ground.
He began crawling across the battlefield covered in corpses with all his remaining strength.
Dark red blood trails followed the path he took.
"My daughter, no."
Was it fortunate?
At least the dragon that had threatened the child had retracted its claws and teeth.
Yet he could not relax.
"Give me... the child......"
No matter how far he crawled, Tie only seemed farther away.
Each time he crossed rocks, dirt, and corpse remnants, his speed slowed.
Tears flowed from his wide-open eyes.
Immense pain surged as the wound tore further.
But that was nothing.
Compared to the terror of not being able to hold his child in this moment.
Compared to that anxiety.
It was then.
"......My lord."
The dragon muttered toward the child.
Tese tan unknowingly halted his movements.
Then, an unbelievable sight unfolded before his eyes.
A massive ring of light formed around the child and the dragon.
From the ring, shaped like intertwined gold and dark blue light, unidentified mists began to emerge one by one.
'Souls......?'
While Tese tan struggled to comprehend.
"Necromancer King."
"Servant of death."
"The Lord of the Underworld calls."
The souls that appeared began whispering in hundreds, thousands of voices.
Tese tan thought amid the daze threatening to claim his consciousness.
'Lord of the Underworld?'
It was a term he had heard before.
Precisely, from a secret Church document once leaked to the Northern Continent.
He recalled the contents of the document he had memorized and burned himself back then.
[In ancient times when the world came into being, 'life' and 'death' contended.]
Both life and death were absolutes.
With the two absolutes in opposition, the world could no longer persist.
In the end, the two absolutes forged a pact of balance.
The 'Ancient Covenant' to allow life and death to harmonize and rule the world.
Fresh blood trickled from Tese tan's mouth.
However, separate from his faltering heartbeat, his mind steadily recalled the rest.
[The Lord of the Underworld declared, "Master of the blooming one. While you flourish, I shall support you from the depths of the forgotten land."]
What the Lord of the Underworld declared was the separation of the two worlds.
It was a lord-vassal relationship he had voluntarily proposed, a declaration of alliance.
The World Tree, receiving dominion over the surface, extended six branches above the earth.
She distributed them to the Great Spirits who served her, granting them governance over all surface life.
Meanwhile, the lord of the Underworld ruled the afterlife.
But a problem arose.
With the world divided into two, death and life could no longer influence each other.
Yet life flows to death, and death to life, in an eternal cycle.
The Lord of the Underworld pondered and reached a conclusion.
He would create his proxy and loyal servant, bestowing upon him the name 'Necromancer King'.
The Necromancer King was the representative of the Lord of the Underworld.
He was also the guide who governed death and led all souls to the Underworld.
As one who traversed the surface and the Underworld, he received the love of the World Tree as well.
The testament to the pact between the two worlds.
The proof of harmony.
The passage.
That was the Necromancer King.
"Necromancer King."
"Proxy of the lord."
The souls multiplied.
They swirled around Astie and Lucarion, repeating the same words.
Tese tan's head drooped to the ground.
With one cheek pressed to the blood-soaked earth, he gazed at Astie.
'Astie......'
His heavy eyelids blinked slowly.
Due to his injuries?
Combining the recalled information grew increasingly difficult.
Why had the souls appeared in the canyon?
Why did they repeat the same words?
Who among the monster and the child did their 'Necromancer King' refer to?
"We shall become blades for the one who reigns over our lord, the origin of all spirits."
"We shall shed blood for him."
A long breath escaped his lips.
The child he could not reach was laughing.
As if delighted by something, she let out clear giggles toward the dragon before her.
'Should I feel relieved?'
At least in this moment, the child seemed safe.
But as the last color drained from Tese tan's face.
Kaboom-!
The sky flashed, and the surroundings darkened.
Tese tan slowly turned his body.
Thick raindrops began falling one by one from the gathered storm clouds.
Beyond them, something was visible.
"Aura of the tree......"
"Find it."
"Find it."
"Track it to the end."
At first, he thought it was mere fog.
But it was no ordinary mist.
Insect-like monsters the size of human fingers were swarming into the canyon.
As thousands—no, tens of thousands—of wings spun, the area was instantly shrouded in ash.
"The Underworld is open. The aura of the Necromancer King is felt nearby."
"Find it."
"Search."
"Search."
Protruding eyes scanned the surroundings.
Seeing the poison dripping from the air, Tese tan clung to his fading consciousness.
All the vines and grasses on the cliffs were withering rapidly.
He knew.
If those monsters discovered them, it was death.
He might already be a dead man, but
"......Not Astie."
His young, small daughter.
He had to protect the child no matter what.
"Astie!"
With superhuman strength, he began crawling across the ground again.
With sensation gone from one arm, he propelled forward using the intact side.
"Astie-!!"
The dragon holding the child turned its gaze first.
Its red eyes bore a fear similar to what Tese tan felt.
Time seemed to flow slowly, like an illusion.
Within it, the dragon muttered.
"......Must protect."
Tese tan gasped ragged breaths.
A little farther, and he could reach the dragon holding Astie.
The dragon looked to the sky.
"But how......"
The souls busily swirled around him and the child.
"Our lord is in danger."
"We must flee."
"He pursues."
The distance was now down to about three steps.
One more reach, and he could finally grasp Astie.
Lucarion looked down at Tie in his arms.
"A place to flee, hidden from his eyes......"
In that instant, as Lucarion agonized, the World Tree's seed glowing in Tie's heart caught his eye.
He drew a short breath.
"......If I use this power, perhaps."
The next moment, Tese tan seized Lucarion's ankle.
At the same time, scales erupted across Lucarion's body.
One second later, an immense explosion of light engulfed the canyon.
The blinding brilliance contracted to a single point, then
Bang-!
spread across the entire canyon, turning the world white.
Tese tan's eyes snapped open.
"......Deputy Commander?"
A cheek gleaming under streetlamp light.
Green eyes filled with worry gazed down at him.
With small hands, Tie shook the body of Tese tan lying on the ground.
"Deputy Commander, you okay? Does it hurt?"
Messy hair.
The child fretfully placed a hand on Tese tan's forehead.
"A cold......?"
He slowly drew a breath.
The moment his eyes opened, fragments of lost memories flooded his mind.
The pieces were forming a single picture.
A familiar landscape, familiar voices.
The child's face, warm hands, the name always called with the same expression.
"......Tie."
A groan barely escaped his lips.
Tie tilted his head.
Tese tan pulled the child into a tight embrace.
Tie's eyes widened.
"Sorry, sorry......"
At the following voice, the child hesitantly looked up.
Tears streaming down Tese tan's cheeks fell endlessly onto the back of Tie's hand.
"So vivid, yet...... why."
Tie froze momentarily.
The child stared at Tese tan silently for a while.
Then, softly parting his lips without a sound, he called.
"......Dad?"