Chapter 161 – The City of the Dead Divine Tree (1)

Unlike passing through a stable gate, traversing an original rift was no different from spinning a roulette wheel and landing on one of countless worlds.

Of course, the rift we passed through now was relatively stable, likely due to the roots of the Divine Tree, but the dizziness experienced when crossing the rift was incomparable to that of a gate.

Even I, who am strong against gate travel, and Zahina, were left disoriented.

If enemies had been lying in wait on the other side of the rift, we would have been in great danger, but fortunately, there were no enemies waiting for us at our destination.

Instead, what lay before my eyes was a fortress city enveloped by a giant, dead tree.

I had seen the roots of the Divine Tree covering the buildings of Manhattan Island, but it was hard to imagine the scene now unfolding before me based on that.

In the center of the city, a tree so tall it seemed to touch the clouds, surrounded by a massive fortress.

No, what made the city look like a fortress was not a stone outer wall, but part of the tree itself.

The rift had appeared near the city, outside the fortress.

The root connected to the rift was linked to numerous roots protruding from the ground beneath the fortress, and those roots were writhing like the one connected to the rift.

Withered roots, the fortress, and a giant tree with no leaves, soaring into the clouds.

The city of the Divine Tree, seen for the first time, was a grotesque sight I wouldn’t want to see even in my dreams.

Fortunately, the Divine Tree didn’t seem to notice our arrival through the rift.

The roots gradually calmed down.

We moved quietly, avoiding the roots.

The city made of the Divine Tree was enormous.

The tree’s body enveloping the city, the fortress, was wider than Manhattan Island and taller than its skyscrapers.

Of course, it still couldn’t compare to the tree in the city center that reached the clouds.

In any case, we had infiltrated such a massive city.

In truth, sneaking into a city made of the Divine Tree was not easy.

Although the Divine Tree was corrupted by miasma, according to Zahina, its power didn’t seem weakened, so sneaking into the city was no different from a bug, or even a bacterium, stealthily entering a living organism.

If I had been alone, I would have been caught the moment I set foot in the fortress, but I had Zahina by my side.

On Earth, she was a skilled mage who used various weak abilities, but back in her homeland, she was a great mage, far surpassing Yelena.

“Conceal, hide, rise.”

With each word she spoke, magic unfolded.

On Earth, the wind moved to hide my presence, but here, the air around me simply stopped.

Then, she and I became blurred.

It didn’t seem like an invisibility spell, but in any case, neither I nor others would be able to see us clearly.

With the final spell, she and I rose into the air.

Instead of stepping on the fortress made of the Divine Tree’s body and risking detection, we floated over it.

As we crossed the high fortress, the city’s panorama came into view.

Inside the massive fortress, most of the city was also made of the Divine Tree.

The city was built on the tree’s body, and all the landscaping was created by the tree’s branches.

Many buildings seemed to be part of the tree.

It was like an elf village from a novel, magnified hundreds, thousands of times.

However, unlike an elf village, the city was eerie.

No leaves grew on any of the trees or plants, and the branches and roots of the plants were all strangely twisted.

As a result, the city’s streets, landscaping, and even the buildings that were part of the Divine Tree had become distorted.

Like an illustration from a horror novel or a scene from a grotesque movie, the city was greatly warped.

Moreover, compared to the massive fortress, the city still had many empty spaces.

It seemed the city hadn’t been built long ago.

Still, there were places where we could land.

Zahina manipulated mana to lower us onto a mansion near the fortress walls.

A mansion not made of the Divine Tree, but built by the Divine Tree’s people themselves.

This house, made of ordinary wood and stone, posed no risk of being detected by the Divine Tree.

This house was much more eco-friendly than the houses on Earth or Ea, but it still felt more like a human dwelling than one made of the Divine Tree.

“These houses must have been beautiful once. What a pity.”

After landing on the roof, Zahina whispered softly as she looked at the twisted houses around us.

Indeed, in the past, houses made of the Divine Tree might have been preferable, but now, all I saw were grotesquely twisted houses.

In any case, we had entered undetected, so now we just needed to stay hidden and wait.

As I thought this, Zahina, who had been surveying our surroundings, spoke.

“There’s a better hiding spot a bit further away. We need to move there.”

I tilted my head at her words.

“This place seems fine…”

During our infiltration, neither the Divine Tree nor the undead had noticed our intrusion.

Surely, hiding in this mansion and waiting would have been fine, but Zahina shook her head.

“No. The miasma is moving. If we stay here, we’ll be discovered soon.”

No sooner had she spoken than elf zombies, undead members of the Divine Tree’s race, began to appear on the quiet streets.

And in the distance, near the giant tree in the city center, bat-like creatures began to fly into the sky.

Creatures that looked like bats but were too large to be ordinary bats.

I had only heard rumors about them, but after recent events, I knew what they were.

“Vampires…”

With the undead scouring the ground and the sky patrolled by giant bat-like vampires, the risk of being discovered was indeed high.

I nodded in agreement with Zahina and began to follow her.

Instead of flying high with magic, Zahina and I moved low and fast between ordinary houses, quickly traversing the city.

Zahina, heading for a hiding spot, led me to an unexpected place.

She guided me from near the fortress walls we had crossed, circling around to the city’s front, where the massive main gate was located.

Carefully jumping over buildings to avoid the undead and evading the bats’ search, we finally reached the main gate.

The gate we arrived at was one of the few ordinary structures in this otherwise extraordinary city.

The gate was built of stone, with iron bars and a portcullis, resembling a medieval castle gate.

There was no moat, so no drawbridge was visible, but the gate was connected to watchtowers and guardhouses, and inside, there was a stone guardhouse.

Zahina didn’t stop and slipped into the guardhouse.

I followed her, entering the building through a small window on the second floor.

The stone building connected to the gate was, as expected, a guard post.

Inside, equipment worn by the guards hung on the walls, and their weapons were stored on weapon racks.

The equipment and weapons still gleamed.

But neither Zahina nor I were interested in them.

Zahina, knowing I was following, continued to move inside the building.

From the second floor to the first, and then to the basement.

Strangely, this building’s basement was made of stone, not wood.

“The gate and this building are made of stone from the ground down to the deep basement.

To withstand external attacks, especially fire magic, the city’s gate was built of stone.”

As if sensing my curiosity, Zahina explained to me.

According to her, the city’s gate and this building were constructed in a way unique to this city.

As I had felt, this gate was modeled after the gates of our world.

“After the Demon Army retreated and the gate to Ea was established, the children of the Divine Tree feared that the Ea people might invade this world.”

As Zahina spoke, I couldn’t help but wrinkle my nose.

To worry about an invasion while cooperating to fight the Demon Army.

It was a cold, rational thought, typical of the elves.

However, the elves’ fears weren’t unfounded.

From what I’ve seen, whether from Earth or Ea, humans would invade another world at the slightest opportunity.

“Although it was the Divine Tree, most of the city was made of wood, so at least the gate was built of stone to block fire attacks from Ea’s mages.”

Zahina continued, speaking of her own race as if they were strangers.

Her tone wasn’t much different from usual, but it was a far cry from the proud tone of the elves, and slightly different from her past tone.

“But just changing the gate and leaving the rest of the walls as they were would have been pointless.”

However, as she continued, I couldn’t respond.

“Still, thanks to that, we’ve found a place to hide. This basement has a magically reinforced prison. It’s cut off from the outside, even from mana, so the Divine Tree and the other undead won’t be able to find us.”

As she finished speaking in a calm tone, we were faced with rows of prison cells.

Cells with iron bars.

At first glance, the cells looked like they would shatter if I punched them, but sensing the mana, I realized this prison was no ordinary place.

The mana here was cut off from the outside, making it nearly impossible to draw mana from outside.

Inside, using magic would be nearly impossible.

Of course, as a knight, I could probably escape, but for the mage-filled Divine Tree race, escape would be difficult.

Indeed, staying here would make it hard for anyone outside to find us.

Of course, it would also be hard for us to know what was happening outside, but we would still be able to detect the signal Yelena would send.

After crossing the rift, message magic and other communication methods were cut off, but once Yelena turned the rift into a gate, the Divine Tree wouldn’t remain still.

The city would surely shake, and that would be our cue to move.

With this positive mindset, we began to wait in the prison.

Although my spatial expansion pouch was full of gold, we still had enough food for a few days, and Zahina, being a great mage, could easily create enough fire to cook inside.

We rested comfortably, waiting for the signal.

Two days later, as expected, the ground shook, signaling the arrival of the message.

We, who had been waiting, headed out of the prison.

At that time, the children of the Divine Tree, coming to purify the city, were approaching, but Zahina and I were unaware of this.