Worlds in Contact
There was a sad city that had no proper lord.
A city where the flags of seven families waved, but no one took charge.
It was a city where even parents who had lost their children cried breathlessly, but there was an office that was still lit well into the night.
"...I can't find it."
Gunther squinted under the dim candlelight.
He was currently focused on finding something as he opened a book that looked old.
"There's nothing that fits."
The thick book he was opening at that moment was called the Book of Exorcism, a book that recorded all the demons that had appeared in the history of humanity.
However, even as he looked at the book, which was no different from the treasure of the church, Gunther's expression showed no signs of calming down.
"...Is this a new demon?"
All strange things leave their traces.
It can change over a long period of time and can hide through intention, but its true nature cannot be concealed.
However, Gunther could only discover it after flipping through the last page of the Book of Exorcism.
The strange energy currently hanging over Moshiam is a new entity that has not been recorded in the long history of the church.
Kuuuuuung!
"Tsk!"
Gunther sighed as he closed the book, and at that moment, he stumbled and grabbed onto the desk due to the strong vibration he felt under his feet.
"Is it an earthquake?"
The office furniture toppled as if there had been an earthquake.
However, Gunther was more surprised by the strange energy spreading through the mist than by the vibrations under his feet.
"...!"
Gunther quickly opened the window and looked outside.
When he opened the window, the first thing that greeted him was the sharp sensation of the mist.
With that sharp feeling, Gunther could sense that something was wrong.
Kugugugugugung!
Gunther tried to quickly awaken the Holy Knights due to the sudden situation, but what soon unfolded was something that even left him spellbound.
"Majestic... exorcism?"
The darkest dawn before dawn.
In the distance, on the outskirts of the city, there was a column of light piercing through the darkness.
Although still pale and thin, the pillar that clearly reached the sky was the only bright beacon in a sea of mist.
***
"…!"
Although they constantly recited prayers, Pedro's eyes never left the two men.
A blond boy who wouldn't be happy even if he got into trouble with a humble beastman mage.
However, Pedro's eyes, gazing at the two, were not filled with anger, but only with a different kind of look.
'This makes absolutely no sense...'
Even for Pedro, the current situation was a series of incomprehensible events.
The strange tree that suddenly emerged from the ground was one thing, but what surprised Pedro even more was the pillar of light touching the sky.
"So, what should you do with me?"
This wasn't the retreat line that was supposed to extend so far.
However, the majestic pillar of exorcism now rising above the exorcism line was so tall and bright that it was beyond Pedro's imagination.
"This camp we're in is some kind of amplification camp! It gives strength to the person standing on the brink!"
Nibelun was equally puzzled, but the mystery hunter could still figure out what the camp they were currently in meant.
"However!"
"It's called cutting! That guy!"
As Pedro's prayers grew, the light of solemn exorcism became clearer.
Nibelun, realizing his role when he looked at the broken flask, quickly drew the hand seal and began to connect the divine light with a mysterious line.
"You can do whatever you want!"
A triangle where points and lines touch and lines and points connect.
And in the last corner where they connected, Vlad stood.
'Agh!'
The sword of the World Tree you hold heats up.
However, the heat wasn't pain, but just the cry of a shell about to break.
It wasn't just the city of Moshiam that was shaken by great tremors.
Vlad's world was also shaken by finding new boundaries.
'Isn't this going to be a big problem?'
Vlad was scared by the situation he faced both internally and externally, but that didn't allow him to let go of the sword he held.
Krrrrr!
Because the upside-down tree noticed the strange, and began to howl.
The Qliphoth tree, which turned mist into clouds and earth into sky, raised its sharp roots towards the column of light rising in the right direction.
"Vlad!"
"Idiot! Dodge fast!"
Pedro and Nibelun's urgent voices were heard among the prayers and incantations.
The world of divinity and mystery was inside, the approaching threat was real, and the only thing that could bring it down now was Vlad's red-hot sword.
"Damn it!"
The shadow of the roots is darker than darkness.
Vlad, seeing the beginning of destruction looming over his head, had no choice but to grit his teeth and raise his sword.
The completely dark world was something he wouldn't wait for until he was ready.
[…!]
That's why it's necessary.
Though I believed I had grown, I still felt uncomfortable.
[Bend the boundaries of the world! Let's support each other!]
"…!"
Vlad's world was shaken by the sacred and the mysterious on the edge of the limits.
A bubble hidden deep in the world finally began to surface.
The name of the world of which only traces remained was the voice.
[Add height to your world!]
My world is a point.
What you touched was the line.
So what was created was the cotton.
When they lean against each other, another world is created.
The child's world was always looking at the sky.
"Ugh!"
Following the advice of the voice resonating in his soul, Vlad's world slowly began to take shape.
A triangular pyramid created by bending divinity, mystery, and my world along the contact surface.
Vlad's world, ascending towards the sky, began to take the form of a tree.
Craaack!
The majestic light of the archangel, reaching the sky, began to quickly diminish.
Like a halo of light formed at the highest point of a triangular pyramid.
However, the light, which sharpened as it narrowed, still hung from the tip of Vlad's sword.
"Aaah!"
Vlad, burdened with a light heavier than a mountain, swung his sword with all his might.
What we need are words of encouragement and very small pieces of advice.
If you're in the right place, anyone can handle it correctly.
"Aaargh!"
A thin line following the path of the sword.
The light that reached the sky passed through the city of Moshiam and powerfully created a semicircle.
Kaaaaaaaa!
A trajectory that begins in divinity, is guided by mystery, and is drawn by possibility.
The tree, which was completely upside down, only extended its pitiful roots towards the approaching sword.
Whoosh!
Over the city cemetery at dawn.
There fell a rain of dark red color.
Everything was upside down, but the flowing blood fell to the ground.
***
"...What the hell is this?"
Gunther, who hurried to the cemetery with the Holy Knights, was speechless when he saw the scene before his eyes.
A cemetery filled with dark red blood.
There was only one thing Gunther could say about the ground he walked on, the graves he could see, and everything painted in bright red.
"What the hell happened here? Lord Vlad."
"Well."
The bursting copper light still dimly illuminated the remaining retreat line.
And three people collapsed there, gasping for breath.
Vlad, bearing the heaviest burden among the three, lay down and greeted Gunther with a truly subtle expression.
"We found the culprit."
"What culprit?"
"The criminal who took the children."
Gunther turned his head to follow the direction indicated by Vlad's finger.
Then what he saw there was a partially split tree.
It was a large tree that looked like it had grown for a hundred years.
"...That?"
But Gunther couldn't help but furrow his brow as he looked at the tree.
That tree, still spitting blood, emitted such a strange energy that all the paladins present could feel it.
"Cough... Ha. This idiot."
While all the knights were absorbed in the Tree of Qliphoth, Bishop Pedro, dragging his weary body, quietly approached Vlad and whispered in his ear.
"The old master of the sword wielded his weapon with divine will, but it seems you can't even bear the divinity of a single bishop."
"…"
He was glad he had cut down the tree and fortunate to be alive, but it was inevitable that Vlad was making a strange expression.
"Now that it has hidden again, it won't be easy to bring it to light this time. What are you going to do now?"
"Just shut up."
There was a dark bloodstain next to the root still spewing blood.
At the end of the bloodstains, which seemed to have been torn 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 where all the upside-down trees had climbed.
"…Hmm."
Vlad, staring at the hole with anxiety, closed his eyes as if he had no other choice.
He didn't reach the tree, and Pedro beside him was trembling, but Vlad decided not to worry.
[Good job. This is your first time, but it's enough.]
He couldn't hear it again now, but the breath of the voice still lingering in his ear clearly told him that he had done a good job.
After silently reflecting on the sound, Vlad nodded and got up.
The rising sun of this morning rested on Vlad's blond hair.
***
There was a forest older than the history of the empire.
Specifically, it is a forest that borders the central frontier area where the northern Barony of Utman and Dobrechi meet.
The forest, dividing the two areas as if scratched with a nail, was so wide and deep that even adventurers were reluctant to enter.
"Ha..."
The deep sigh of a woman echoed from a ruined mansion in the middle of the place.
The woman, gazing northward with the morning sun rising, clasped her hands without even wiping away the tears forming at the corners of her eyes.
"Who the hell dared to intimidate my children? These are children who haven't even been born yet."
It was a seed barely sown through a fair transaction.
Her eyes, looking northward, were filled with powerless sadness.
It was like the gaze of a mother looking at her wounded child.
"I can't do that. I have to go see for myself."
She was clearly standing, yet her toes wiggled as if they hadn't touched the ground.
Her toes, floating as if tethered somewhere, rejected the existence of the earth that living beings must tread upon.
"Will you come with me? In the north, there is everything, not only for my children but also for whatever one desires."
The crumbling mansion was filled with people who were dead but not dead.
But even among them, there was someone she loved most.
"There's a dragon there. The dragon you tried to kill."
"..."
The man slowly opens his eyes as he listens to her whispered words.
However, the reason he opened his eyes was probably for a single word he heard in his ear instead of her telling him to go with her.
"…Dragon."
"Yes, a dragon."
The man's voice was very hoarse, as if he hadn't used it in a long time.
However uncomfortable it was to hear, the words spoken were clear.
A man who opened his eyes at the word "dragon."
Those eyes, covered in pure white fur, were whitish-gray eyes devoid of light.
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