Vol 5 Chapter 33

Lucrecian stared intently at the scattered leaves, and as they began to fly towards him, he finally drew his dagger from his waist and lightly jumped down. At that moment, the BGM that had been flowing as if to stimulate tension suddenly intensified roughly.

During the brief time it took for him to land on the ground from the dizzying height, the giant leaves slowly passing by his side were also shown on the screen. At that moment, Kapros was surprised to see something unexpected.

'Is that...?'

Could it be that what he had thought were leaves until now were not leaves at all...!

Flap flap flap!

The swarms of unidentifiable things that had seemed to be riding the wind, no, not leaves, began to bare their small teeth and rush towards Lucrecian, changing direction in mid-air. It seemed they were not leaves but small bat-like monsters that looked like leaves. However, as Lucrecian lightly waved his hand once, many of them crumbled and disappeared in the air.

Taking advantage of this gap, Lucrecian landed stably and straightened up, extending his bent knees. The leaf monsters that had been scattered, almost filling the air with blackness, rushed in formation as if they had been waiting. However, Lucrecian, as if mocking the monsters, waited quietly and then, at the critical moment, vanished and reappeared several meters ahead.

While the leaf monsters were confused and in disarray, Lucrecian swiftly swung a small bottle he had been holding between his fingers. As blue powder seeped between the leaves, flames of the same color suddenly blazed up, engulfing the enemies all at once.

Screeeech!

Although terrible screams echoed, the fire that had coiled up like a snake along the leaves gathered like a long ribbon from the sky followed the fleeing ones to the end, eventually turning them to ashes. It was like watching flames consuming an oil-soaked rope.

Lucrecian watched until the blue flames completely disappeared, then spun around once as if pleased, and soon waved his hand provocatively towards the leaves floating in the air. The numerous leaves that had stopped in mid-air, trembling as if frightened by the blue flames, soon took the bait and began to fly in formation from all directions, as if to tear Lucrecian apart.

Kapros thought Lucrecian would use the small bottle in his hand again, but he didn't. His movements were incredibly light as he ran forward, dodging the rushing leaves like a loach. Occasionally, when he disappeared and reappeared in the air, he would emerge from a shadow several meters ahead, suggesting that this too was some kind of skill.

In front of Lucrecian, who was running while avoiding the leaves by repeatedly disappearing and reappearing with amazing speed, stood a tree so enormous that it blocked out the sky. Although the leaves were gone, leaving only branches, even that alone gave an overwhelming sense of grandeur incomparable to anything else.

When Lucrecian, who had lightly leaped as if not even out of breath, jumped to a certain range in front of the tree, suddenly a tree root as thick as a utility pole emerged, breaking through the ground. With a threatening sound that cut through the wind, the tree root lashed down towards Lucrecian like a whip. However, far from avoiding it, Lucrecian gracefully landed on top of it with butterfly-like movements, and while on the writhing root, he took out another small bottle and mercilessly sprinkled its contents downward.

This time, what was sprinkled was a bright yellow liquid. Surprisingly, as soon as the liquid touched it, the once solid root became mushy, and with just a light kick from Lucrecian, it crumbled, scattering debris.

Meanwhile, more long and thick roots emerged from the collapsing ground and rushed at Lucrecian, but he sprinkled the yellow liquid from the bottle onto his dagger this time and began to slash at them without fear. Every time the blade, glowing with an ominous golden light as if it had absorbed the liquid, cut through the branches like cutting radishes, the giant roots turned into rotten vegetables like the tree root from earlier and crumbled.

During this time, one of the attacking leaves finally succeeded in inflicting a wound, cutting through part of his face and body clothes, but Lucrecian paid no attention and leaped powerfully, opening the cap of a bottle that emitted green gas and sprinkled it on the leaves pouring down like flower petals scattered in the wind.

Hisssss... Whoosh!

As soon as the faintly dispersing green gas touched them, the leaves that had been pouring towards Lucrecian all hardened at once and fell helplessly downward. Taking advantage of this, Lucrecian put one foot on the giant tree trunk and was about to leap upward. His flashy fighting style, which seemed as if nothing could be his match, provided visual pleasure.

But then, suddenly, Lucrecian stopped in his tracks. At the same time, all the dynamic sounds that had been playing until then stopped abruptly, and someone's booming voice echoed deeply.

[ Human! Who are you to disturb the Forest of the Divine Beast? ]

Lucrecian's face, with his mouth exposed due to his torn face-covering cloth, was visible distantly through the screen. Although not clearly visible, the smile that always seemed full of schemes was apparent, confirming that this situation wasn't particularly troublesome for him.

'The Forest of the Divine Beast? Who says this place is the Forest of the Divine Beast?'

[ This is indeed the Forest of the Divine Beast! The domain of me, Grand Tulu! ]

'Well, that's...'

Lucrecian, who only tilted his head once at the rage-filled shout, clearly showed no sign of surprise.

'Since when did the Forest of the Divine Beast become a forest of death? Surely a divine beast isn't a monster that sucks the energy from all other living beings to grow its body.'

[ What did you say? ]

'Judging by your speech, you might have been a divine beast in the past, but now you seem to be nothing more than a monstrous tree infected with demonic energy.'

[ You... you insolent... Human. Who exactly are you? Who are you to insult me like this? ]

At the voice that barely managed to ask through its anger, Lucrecian grinned and flipped his dagger, gripping it in reverse.