There was a sorrowful city with no rightful owner.
The flags of seven families fluttered, but the city remained unclaimed.
It was a city where even parents who had lost their children cried silently, yet there was one office still illuminated by fire deep into the night.
"...I can't seem to find it."
Günter frowned beneath the dim candlelight.
He was currently engrossed in searching for something while flipping through an old-looking book.
"There's just nothing that fits."
The thick book he had opened was called the "Old Book of Evil Beings," recording all the evil beings that had appeared throughout human history.
However, even as he looked through the book, which was no different from the church's treasure, Günter's expression showed no signs of relaxation.
"...A new evil being?"
All extraordinary entities leave their traces.
They may change over long periods or be concealed through intention, but their essence cannot be hidden.
However, it was only after Günter turned the last page of the Old Book of Evil Beings that he realized the peculiar aura looming over Mosiam was a new presence not recorded in the long history of the church.
Kooooom-!
"Huh!"
Günter gasped as he closed the book, clutching the desk as he staggered from a sudden tremor beneath his feet.
"An earthquake?"
The items in the office rattled as if an earthquake had struck.
However, Günter was even more startled by the eerie aura spreading through the fog than by the vibrations under his feet.
"······!"
Günter hastily opened the window and peered outside.
The first thing he encountered upon opening the window was the sharp sensation of clinging fog.
Feeling as if the weather had turned sour, Günter sensed that something was amiss.
Kugugugung-!
Günter had hurriedly attempted to rouse the Holy Knights at the sudden turn of events, but the unfolding scene was enough to leave even him momentarily dumbfounded.
"Solemn exorcism······?"
In the darkest hour just before dawn, there stood a pillar of light piercing through the darkness at the edge of the city.
Still faint and thin, yet undeniably reaching the sky, the pillar was the lone beacon shining in the sea of fog.
※※※※
"······!"
Though his mouth continued to recite prayers without pause, Pierre's eyes remained fixed on the two figures before him.
A lowly beastman mage and the brash blond lad, not even worth chewing out.
But in Pierre's eyes, there was no anger, only a sense of bewilderment.
'This is utterly absurd······.'
For Pierre, the current situation was a series of incomprehensible events.
The sudden emergence of a peculiar tree from the ground was surprising, but what truly shocked Pierre was the pillar of light reaching into the sky.
"What do you expect me to do about it!"
This was not the exorcism formation expected to reach this far.
However, the magnificent pillar of exorcism that was now rising was so tall and shining that it was beyond Pierre's imagination.
"We are standing within a kind of amplification formation! It channels power to those standing at the edges!"
Nebelun was just as bewildered, but as a mage pursuing the mysteries, he could discern the significance of the formation beneath him.
"But!"
"It's Vera! It's him!"
As Pierre's prayers intensified, the light of the exorcism pillar became more distinct.
Nibelun, who looked at the broken jar and realized his role, hurriedly traced the hand seal and began to connect the divine light with a mysterious line.
"Just as you were doing before!"
The point touching the line, the line connecting to the point, forming a triangle.
And at the last corner where they converged stood Vlad.
'Ugh!'
The sword of the World Tree he held grew hotter.
Yet, this heat was not pain, but rather the cry of the shell about to break.
The massive vibration reverberated not only through the city of Mosiam but also through Vlad's world, encountering the new boundary.
'Isn't this going to be a big problem?'
Vlad was suddenly terrified by the events unfolding around him, but he couldn't let go of the sword he held.
Krrrraaaa---!
The upside-down tree, sensing the anomaly, began to wail.
The tree of Qliphoth, which turned fog into clouds and ground into sky, reached its sharp roots toward the pillar of light rising in the correct direction.
"Lord Vlad!"
"You idiot! Hurry and strike!"
Pierre and Nibelun's urgent voices were heard between the prayers and the spell casting.
The world of the sacred and the mystery existed within, while the impending threat was in reality, so the only being capable of facing it now was Vlad, with his sword ablaze in blue.
"Damn it all!"
The shadow of the roots is darker than the darkness.
Vlad, seeing the beginning of destruction looming over his head, had no choice but to grit his teeth and raise his sword.
The pitch-black world approaching did not wait for him to be ready.
[······!]
That's why he was needed.
Even though I believed I had become an adult, I still felt awkward.
[Fold the boundaries of the world! Let's lean on each other!]
"······!"
Vlad's world was shaken by the borderline divinity and mystery.
A bubble hidden deep in the world finally began to rise to the surface.
The name of the world of which only traces remained was the voice.
[Elevate your world!]
My world is a dot.
What touches yours is a line.
And what is created is a plane.
When those come together, another world is formed.
The boy's world was always looking at the sky.
"Ugh!"
Following the advice of the voice that resonated with his soul, Vlad's world gradually began to take shape.
A triangular pyramid created by folding divinity, mystery, and Vlad's world along the contact surface.
The world of Vlad rising towards the sky was like the shape of a tree.
Kraaa-!
The light of the exorcism pillar, which had reached the sky, began to narrow rapidly.
Like a cluster of light forming at the apex of the triangular pyramid.
But as it narrowed, the sharpened light still hung on the tip of Vlad's sword.
"Hmph!"
Bearing a weight heavier than a mountain, Vlad swung his sword with all his might.
All he needs is just a little advice and encouragement.
Anyone can swing it correctly if they are in the right position.
"Aaaah!"
A thin line following the path of the sword.
The light that touched the sky created a powerful semicircle over the city of Mosiam.
Kraaaaa!
A trajectory that begins with divinity, is led by mystery, and is drawn by possibility.
The tree, which was completely upside down, only stretched out its pitiful roots towards the approaching sword.
Squelch-!
Dark red rain was falling above the cemetery of the awakening city.
Though everything was turned upside down, the flowing blood was still pouring down to the ground.
※※※※
"······What in the world."
Günter, who hurriedly arrived at the cemetery with the Holy Knights, was speechless when he saw the scene before his eyes.
The entire cemetery was filled with dark red blood.
The ground he trod upon, the gravestones he saw, everything was painted a deep red. The only words Günter could utter were one.
"What in the world happened here, Sir Vlad?"
"Dunno."
The still-rising sun faintly illuminated the remains of the exorcism circle.
And there lay three people, collapsed.
Among them, Vlad, who bore the heaviest burden, lay with a subtle expression, facing Günter.
"We found the culprit."
"What culprit?"
"The one who took the children."
Günter turned his head in the direction indicated by Vlad's fingertip.
There stood a tree, partially split.
It looked like a centuries-old tree.
"······Is it breathing?"
However, Günter couldn't help but frown at the sight of the tree.
Even now, the tree continued to exude a strange energy, enough for all the Holy Knights present here to feel it.
"Tsk... What a fool."
While all the Holy Knights were mesmerized by the tree of Qliphoth, Bishop Pierre came crawling over with his exhausted body and quietly whispered in Vlad's ear.
"They say the ancient swordmaster wielded his sword with the will of God, yet you couldn't even handle the divine energy of a mere bishop."
"······."
While he was relieved that the tree was cut and he was alive, Vlad's subtle expression couldn't be helped.
"It's gone into hiding again, so it won't be easy to fish it out this time. What do we do now?"
"Just shut it."
Beside the roots still oozing blood, there was a deeply ingrained bloodstain.
At the end of the blood stains, which seemed to have been pulled by something, there was a hole whose depth could not be determined.
That deep hole that people were afraid to even look at was also the place where the upside-down tree had crawled up from.
"······Hmph."
Vlad, staring at the hole, closed his eyes as if he couldn't help it.
Though the tree was missing and Pierre beside him was muttering, Vlad decided not to rush.
[Well done. It's your first time, and you did this much.]
Vlad can't hear it again now, but the encouragement from the voice that still lingers in his ear clearly told him that he did a good job.
After quietly reflecting on the sound, Vlad nodded and stood up.
The morning sun rising was lingering on Vlad's blond hair.
※※※※
There was a forest older than the empire's history.
Specifically, it was the forest bordering the central region, which connects the northern Utman Barony and Dobrechti.
Like a line drawn with a fingernail, the forest precisely divided the two regions, so vast and deep that even adventurers hesitated to enter.
"Ah······."
A woman's deep sigh was heard from a crumbling mansion in the middle of the place.
The woman, who was looking towards the north with the rising morning sun, was folding her hands together without even being able to wipe the tears from her eyes.
"Who could have harmed my children? They haven't even been born yet."
They were seeds barely sown through legitimate deals.
Her gaze towards the north was filled with an inexplicable sorrow.
It resembled the look of a mother gazing at her injured child.
"This won't do. I have to go by myself."
Though she stood there, her toes didn't touch the ground.
As if tethered somewhere, her hovering toes refused to acknowledge the existence of the ground that living beings must tread upon.
"You'll come with me, won't you? There, in the north, not only are my children but also what you desire."
The collapsing mansion was full of people who were dead, refusing to die.
Among them, there was one whom she cherished the most.
"There's a dragon there. The dragon you intended to kill."
"······."
A man slowly opens his eyes at her whispering words.
However, the reason he opened his eyes was likely not because of her invitation to go together but because of a single word that reached his ears.
"······Dragon."
"Yes. A dragon."
The man's voice, heavily cracked as if he had not spoken for a long time.
However, even though it was uncomfortable to listen to, the words he uttered were clear.
The man opened his eyes at the word dragon.
Those eyes, covered by pure white hair, were gray-white eyes that contained no light.
[T/L: You can read more chapters and support me here: - https://ko-fi.com/revengerscans ]