Chapter 43
[You are entering Floor 20 (EXTREME).]
Finally, the 20th floor.
To hunters, this floor was special.
Because on Hard, it's the gate to A-rank.
I'm sure others would feel different when they came here.
But I was different.
My mind was full of thoughts about the hidden piece.
According to the info I got from the Mage Gallery, the Floor 20 hidden piece was simple.
After defeating the boss, plant the Seed of Purification in its place.
Then a tree would grow there. Its appearance and effect were similar to a treant's.
A special fruit would grow on the tree, permanently raising stats by as much as 20.
“Tch, I can't settle for just that anymore.”
I have the Seed of the World Tree.
Even the name is different. The World Tree, no less.
Clearly, it couldn't even be compared to something like a Seed of Purification used by run-of-the-mill Hard-difficulty players.
“Come to think of it, I've gotten a ridiculous amount out of this thing...”
It was this thing that endlessly purified the vile miasma of the 10th-floor range.
On Floor 18, it resonated with the pendant and even opened the way.
Thanks to that, I learned about the origins of the dark elves.
I wasn't a researcher, so I wasn't interested, but...
Still, it did have the tiny side effect of turning my house into a jungle.
There was no way such a broken item would end with something as trivial as a fruit that only raised stats a little.
I didn't know what it was, but something far greater had to be waiting.
If it really ended after just a few fruits...
I would be very angry.
Then I might just erode the planted World Tree away again.
The elves' last hope?
It can purify the world?
Who cares?
If it's that precious, they should offer something equally valuable as compensation.
“Focus. Focus.”
It wasn't time to worry about the reward yet.
Today was the boss fight.
I remembered how every boss fight always brought something difficult.
On Extreme difficulty, nobody could predict what would happen.
One thing was certain, though.
Another especially troublesome enemy would show up this time.
I lightly tapped my head.
Chohogi, the little sand clone nesting in my hair, wriggled and poked its head out.
I had to raise this one safely.
If all the data I'd painstakingly trained over the last few days went to waste, I'd be pretty sad.
Chohogi would have to play a big role later.
“I wonder if keeping it coddled all this time won't just make it turn to crap...”
But I was still worried about throwing it into the boss fight.
I kept Chohogi on my head and watched the front.
“All right, let's get started.”
I got ready for battle in earnest.
I activated Desertification with practiced ease.
The jungle instantly turned into the sandy field that was my domain.
Next, I summoned nearly twenty sand clones.
Sand dolls shaped like me lined up on the desert floor.
Normally, controlling this many clones at the same time would be impossible.
If I tried, my brain would overload and I'd collapse like I did during the Floor 15 boss fight.
But now things were different.
Because I had the legendary robe I'd stolen from the mage-slaying young man.
“Artificial Mana Core Imbuement.”
At my command, magical circuits were etched into the clones' bodies.
Now these guys could think and move on their own.
Unlike Chohogi, which I kept active at all times, most of the knowledge it learned would evaporate every time it was summoned.
Still, some of it remained.
If I had to put it in numbers, about ten percent kept accumulating.
At the very least, they no longer tripped over their own feet.
“All right, let's go.”
The moment the clones scattered, the bushes all around rustled violently.
What soon emerged were countless enemies.
Dark elves armed with sharp swords and bows.
And the horrible monsters I'd met on Floor 19, twisted fusions of those elves and treants.
There were far too many of them.
It felt as if the jungle itself were vomiting them out.
Swoosh—!
An arrow flew from somewhere, aimed at my head.
But I didn't even blink.
There was no need to.
Thwack—!
A sand barrier sprang up automatically and deflected the arrow.
A perfect automatic defense system.
I smiled in satisfaction and gave the clones the order to attack.
“Charge.”
Before I'd even finished speaking, the sand clones all rushed toward the enemy line at once.
Twenty clones collided with dozens of enemies.
The sounds of weapons clashing rang out in every direction.
I stepped back and surveyed the battlefield.
I took care of any enemies the clones couldn't block by firing sand bullets.
With me supporting the clones from behind, the battle, though we were outnumbered, gradually began to even out.
But then—
The enemies I'd clearly defeated began wriggling back to life one by one.
They got back up, casually reattaching their blown-off limbs.
A perfectly immortal army.
“What is this?”
I panicked and sharpened my vision.
I could see mana pathways connected from the bodies of the fallen enemies.
Those paths extended into the ground like tree roots.
Roots leading to a single entity deep within the jungle.
“They're receiving life force from the boss... That's troublesome.”
At this rate, no matter how many I killed, it would never end.
So this was the difference with Extreme difficulty.
A near-infinite wave assault on a whole other level from Hard.
Trying to wage a war of attrition against an undead zombie army would be foolish.
I quickly came up with another method.
“There's no need to deal with these one by one, is there?”
I gathered all of the scattered sand clones together.
Then I gathered all that sand into one place and began shaping it into a gigantic form.
In an instant, a massive sand clone five meters tall stood before me.
I didn't stop there.
“Sand Barrier.”
A giant sand barrier, about the same height as the giant clone, rose from the ground.
I climbed onto the giant clone's hand.
Then I had its other hand push the giant barrier like a shield.
All preparations were complete.
“Break through to the very inside, smashing everything to pieces.”
At my command, the giant began moving its massive body.
Kwoooong!
The ground shook with every step the giant took.
I steadied myself as I swayed atop the giant's hand.
When the giant started running, a fierce wind blew.
My long hair whipped wildly and jabbed at my eyes.
But soon, I had to regret my choice.
“Ah... Right. I had acrophobia...”
Five meters was much higher than I expected.
The moment I looked down, I got dizzy.
I was gripped by extreme fear.
I was the kind of person whose legs shook even at one meter.
“I, I'm losing it...”
I screamed and clung tightly to the giant's fingers.
That alone didn't make me feel safe.
I turned my feet into sand and rooted myself directly into the giant's palm.
But it was useless.
This was a psychological problem.
No matter how firmly I fixed my body in place, this maddening fear wouldn't go away.
In the end, I squeezed my eyes shut.
If I didn't look down, maybe it would feel a little better.
In a trembling voice, almost a wail, I gave the order.
“Just, just run straight ahead! Smash through everything!”
With my scream, the giant started running at full speed.
KWA-GWA-GWA-KWANG!
The huge sand shield smashed through everything in its path and surged onward.
Trees snapped, and enemies were flung away.
Beneath my feet, I heard the screams of enemies who hadn't managed to dodge in time.
I just kept my eyes shut and prayed that this horrible ride would end.
How long had we been running?
The giant's heavy footsteps finally stopped.
Once the terrible shaking that had been driving me mad disappeared, I let out a sigh of relief.
I slowly opened one eye.
And I gasped at the sight before me.
Deep in the heart of the jungle.
There stood a single enormous tree.
A tree so huge it seemed to pierce the sky.
Its trunk was twisted pitch-black, and black sap dripped from its bark like pus.
Its twisted branches stretched in every direction, searching for prey.
I knew at a glance.
This was the very tree I'd seen in the mural at the Floor 19 ruins: the Corrupted World Tree.
I was overwhelmed by the World Tree's grotesque appearance for only a moment.
The tree began to move.
Its massive body writhed, and dozens of black tendrils shot out.
The tendrils stabbed into the giant sand clone I was riding.
As if trying to suck out its life force.
But this was sand.
There was no way something like absorption would work.
Soon, the World Tree changed tactics.
The giant clone's body was instantly wrapped in the tendrils.
Cracks began to appear in the clone's hardened sand body.
Its power wasn't even comparable to that of the Floor 15 slime.
My clone was helplessly trapped.
From atop the trapped clone's head, I quickly prepared my next move.
I broke apart the sand barrier I'd been using as a shield.
Massive grains of sand swirled around me and gathered together.
I thrust my right arm straight out.
Using my arm as an axis, all the sand began to gather into the shape of a massive stake.
The very same technique that had finished off the Floor 15 boss.
But this time, the scale was different.
“Go.”
The giant sand stake plunged straight down from above, perfectly obeying gravity.
Swaaaaeek—!
The thunderous roar of air being torn apart shook the battlefield.
The stake pierced the exact center of the Corrupted World Tree.
KWA-JA-JA-JAK!
The giant tree split in half all too easily, like firewood.
Black sap sprayed out in every direction like a fountain.
Deprived of life, the tree split into two huge pieces and toppled to either side.
“At this point, it's not a World Tree anymore. It's just a slightly big tree.”
I slid down the giant's arm like a slide and landed on the ground.
I looked at the huge pit I'd created.
The sand stake hadn't just split the World Tree; it had driven deep into the ground beneath it as well.
And at the deepest part of that pit.
There was a giant heart-like core pulsing with black and red light.
Then.
From the split surface of the World Tree, black roots began writhing and stretching out.
They crawled toward each other, trying to merge back into one.
“Wow, it's insanely persistent.”
I clicked my tongue and snapped my fingers.
A single condensed sand bullet pierced straight through the center of the core.
BOOM!
The core exploded into pieces.
At the same time, the World Tree's regeneration stopped.
It was truly over.
I carefully took out the large bead.
The Seed of the World Tree that had climbed the tower with me all this time.
Without hesitation, I planted the seed where the core had been.
This was the one hidden piece that spanned the entire 10th-floor range.
A tiny sprout emerged from where I planted the seed, glowing with a dazzling green light.
A miracle happened at the same time.
The World Tree's remains instantly crumbled into black dust.
Far away, the dark elves and fused monsters also turned to ash and vanished.
“Ah!”
The sprout began to grow at an unbelievable speed.
Several clusters of trunks burst from the ground, smashing it apart.
I took a few steps back from that ferocious momentum.
The new World Tree grew into a massive tree in the blink of an eye.
The clear, pure mana pouring from the tree spread out and began purifying the corrupted land around it.
Then the pendant hanging around my neck began to shine.
[The Withered Leaf of the World Tree resonates with the newly born World Tree.]
[The Withered Leaf of the World Tree evolves into the Revived Leaf of the World Tree.]
[The item's grade has risen from 'Rare' to 'Epic'.]
The item's grade had increased.
But this world didn't even give me time to be happy.
Green mana began flowing out of the pendant.
The mana soon tore open space and formed a portal.
I could sense strangers on the other side of the portal.
Soon after, a group of people walked out of the portal.
“Elves?”
They were completely different from the dark elves I'd seen up to now.
Their skin was pure white and their hair was silver.
Pure elves, with no trace of corruption.
Seeing them, I muttered to myself.
'They only show up after the fight's over? Typical pointy-eared bastards...'
The elves seemed momentarily stunned by the scene before them.
They kept glancing back and forth between the newly reborn giant World Tree and me, standing proudly beneath it.
It was time to collect my reward.