Chapter 94 …
[Hohoho… What is there for creatures with barely a hundred years of lifespan to be so greedy over?]
As I listened to that voice—echoing either inside my ear or somewhere deep within my mind—I began to agree with it.
Right. Human lifespan barely reaches a hundred years.
For beings that are nothing more than specks in the universe, struggling so desperately to take more of everything… it’s all meaningless.
Where there is creation, there is destruction.
Life comes empty-handed and leaves empty-handed—
…No, that’s not right!
I realized then that my consciousness was being eroded by the tree.
This is dangerous.
Remaining Time: 09:30
Staring at the window floating before my eyes, I struggled with everything I had to reclaim my sense of self.
But the whispers of the trees were stronger than ever.
[Oh dear, it looks like that little girl is trying to leave.]
[Little? At that age, she’s considered an adult among humans.]
[That poor little lamb will meet the same fate as the other slimes and succubi here.]
[Well, it’s not like it’s any different. They’re all the same in the end.]
As I listened to the trees murmuring inside my head, I looked at my body and Gang Sibang, spilled out from the container.
Right now, I was one of the trees surrounding them.
A tree rooted firmly into the ground.
But this wasn’t just any tree.
‘It’s a tree networked with the Divine Tree.’
I recalled what Gang Sibang had said earlier about the “Big Brother.”
[You mustn’t underestimate Big Brother. He’s someone who can control this entire place. He just chooses not to use that power.]
Then why doesn’t he use it?
Slimes were getting hurt. Trees were being cut down. Why?
[Because Big Brother believes there’s a natural order to everything. Fuck! I don’t fully understand his intentions either! Just accept it!]
Gang Sibang had spoken with a mix of resentment and reverence.
But now… I think I understand a little.
Everything has its natural order.
Is it really something to resent if Lee Yuji’s body dies here?
It was always meant to return to the soil eventually.
Maybe thinking of it as liberation from suffering, and properly concluding this life, is part of that order—
…These thoughts won’t leave my head. Damn it.
I don’t want to dieeeee!
Still trembling my leaves, I forced my way through the low hum of the trees’ voices.
[Then how do you talk to the Divine Tree?]
At my question, it felt as though all the trees turned their gaze toward me at once.
Trees… looking at me?
How is that even possible?
Trees can’t move.
Yet I could clearly feel something like a gaze.
No—more precisely, it felt like attention.
[What do you mean, talk to the Divine Tree?]
[What do you mean, what do we mean—]
Voices that were impossible to identify as male or female, old or young, answered.
[We are the Divine Tree.]
[We and the Divine Tree cannot be separated.]
[We are this space itself.]
We are the Divine Tree.
We are this space itself.
I couldn’t fully grasp it intellectually, but I understood it instinctively.
Because conversation with them worked like this.
Talking to them wasn’t like talking to others.
Their voices came from deep within my body, as if I were talking to myself.
No—maybe it was more accurate to say that before I even felt like I heard their words, I already knew what they meant.
I wasn’t exchanging sound with them.
I was sharing will. Intention.
We are connected.
We are us.
At that moment, my resolve to maintain my individual ego weakened.
This won’t do.
Following the instruction to stay as close to the slime as possible, I looked at Lee Yuji, surrounded by a group of men while clinging tightly to the slime.
The reason the men hadn’t yet managed to grab Lee Yuji was because of the succubus that had burst out of the container.
I saw one man retrieving a weapon from another container to deal with the succubus.
After killing the succubus, they would kill Lee Yuji next.
I realized it instinctively, and panic surged.
But this won’t work.
That’s not who I am right now.
Right now, I’m a tree.
I’m the Divine Tree.
I’m… not “me.” I’m “us.”
I decided to focus on that sensation.
And the moment I did, my vision expanded.
I could see and hear everything inside the cavern.
A single droplet of water falling from the ceiling.
Grass inside the cave swaying with a breeze from somewhere.
The fluttering wings of an insect that had wandered in by chance.
Amid all those sounds and perspectives, what was happening to Lee Yuji and Gang Sibang felt no bigger than a tiny dot.
[Divine Tree.]
I spoke while maintaining that sensation.
[You are not my child.]
Only then did the Divine Tree answer, piercing through countless voices.
That voice felt like wind—and like thunder.
[Yes. I am not a tree.]
At my reply, the wind inside the cave seemed to grow stronger.
Was the Divine Tree angry?
No.
The Divine Tree doesn’t feel anger.
What it had felt over hundreds of years was only impermanence.
Countless people had prayed before it, rejoicing or despairing when their wishes came true—but all of them eventually passed by and disappeared.
How did I know this?
No idea.
I couldn’t explain it, but I could vaguely feel all the memories the hackberry tree had accumulated over a long time.
And it seemed that wasn’t one-sided.
As if reading my memories, the hackberry tree spoke.
[I know what you desire. But I have no interest in human life or death, child. Do not suffer so much. Life does not go as you will. There exists an unavoidable order in the world. In your death… and in your parents’ deaths as well…]
Mid-sentence, the hackberry tree’s voice weakened.
Something cracked within it.
Its composure shattered, and a violent disturbance threatened to burst forth.
Why?
Why all of a sudden?
I didn’t know—but this was my chance.
[I know the world doesn’t move by human will.]
Maintaining this state, I observed everything in the cave as closely as possible.
I focused again.
“Hey, you bastard, deal with that succubus first!”
“Hehehe, so cute. I love you, Minai!”
“You crazy fuck, snap out of it!”
The buzzing voices of humans.
A man raising his weapon toward the succubus.
[Just like we can’t stop that succubus—who’s been trapped here so long—from dying, we can’t make everything go our way.]
When one man was charmed by the succubus’s mental attack, another struck her with a sharp axe-like weapon.
The brutal blow bent the waist of the succubus, who still wore the form of a human woman.
Kweeeeeek!
The trees trembled.
The sound of death echoed through the cave.
My heart pounded violently.
I felt the bodily fluid falling from the succubus hit the ground.
I—these trees—we—had witnessed countless deaths here over a long, long time.
Powerless. Unable to do anything.
Endless rage welled up inside me.
A rage I had felt before.
The rage born when people are not treated as people, when life is not treated as life.
[But isn’t that death also the result of someone’s will? Someone’s malice is cutting that life short.]
[I think human will is powerless. But at the same time, I believe will is what allows humans to keep living.]
Lee Yuji and the tree—those two egos subtly connected.
I was a tree, and at the same time, I was Lee Yuji.
It was a strange experience.
Even when I had become Luru, or Gang Sibang, my identity as Lee Yuji had always felt dominant.
But now, the tree’s heart—so easily assimilated into other life—wrapped around me.
This wasn’t my ability.
It was the tree’s.
Our power.
[It’s okay if nothing changes because of will. Will has meaning simply by existing. And even more so if it’s a good will standing against violence and malice. My father and mother didn’t die in vain. Through their deaths, they proved their will. That will came to me. And I live to pass that will on to someone else. Will may be powerless, but does that mean it’s meaningless? Answer me. Where is your will, Divine Tree?]
The hackberry tree gave no answer.
For a long while.
…Did I fail?
The moment I thought that—
The wind blew.
A cool breeze brushed past my leaves, refreshing.
At first, it was a gentle wind, but it grew stronger, shaking the leaves.
Still, it felt good.
No—there was even an indescribable thrill.
Branches swayed, making it look as though the trees were wildly waving their hands.
Like an audience applauding after a long speech.
Like an athlete warming up before a long-awaited match.
And then, all at once, they stood up.
As if all their roots were connected—as if those tangled roots had become countless legs—they kicked off the soil and rose.
Even me.
“…!”
[You resemble your mother, child.]
The Divine Tree’s voice echoed in my ears.
[This is the second time someone has sought will from me. Then it is my turn to answer. Go. My children.]
At the same time, the trees transformed into druids and advanced toward the men—
Like a perfectly trained army.
