## Chapter 359 – Under the World Tree (3)
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Haven’t you ever thought about this?
Our ancestors, Australopithecus or Neanderthals.
What would their lives have felt like?
“Welcome in the name of the World Tree!!
This is our village!!”
Seeing that unfold before our very eyes, I couldn’t help but wonder if it was just my imagination that the academy flower garden in Groden Castle suddenly felt like a fairy tale.
Perhaps it was curiosity, or maybe she just wanted to play the part of a host who had unexpectedly received a guest.
I might be a monster too, but maybe they saw me as cute because I was with Rhea, who had saved them.
Realistically, from their perspective, Rhea, who shared food, would be more trustworthy than me, who just sat on her shoulder and watched.
Anyway, tightly embraced in Riel’s arms and surrounded by various elves, I was being introduced to their village.
A soft, mushy sensation from my carapace, and a pleasant forest scent wafting around…
‘Ugh… Moko… Snap out of it!!’
“This is my friend, Ruinea’s house!!
And over there is Auntie Dilunia’s house!!”
Seeing her meticulously introduce each elf’s hut, even though I didn’t know their names or faces, I figured the house introductions alone would take all day. I wiggled my legs, trying to get Riel to put me down.
[Could we see other places besides the houses?]
“Really? Then… um…
That’s the public toilet!!”
‘Gack!!’
Just as I was about to lose my grip on reality from that unexpected counterattack, which reminded me of the immutable truth that even beauties poop,
I suddenly looked up at the sky, my vision tilting due to my swaying body.
This place was, in a way, the center of the village.
Slightly shaded by a rather large tree, a cool breeze was blowing.
‘But it’s almost dead, isn’t it?
No leaves…’
[What is this tree?]
“This? The World Tree!!”
‘The World Tree…?’
They had been saying “blessings of the World Tree” and “welcome in the name of the World Tree” since earlier. Riel, her eyes sparkling as she called the withered old tree the World Tree, suddenly started telling me an old story, as if she sensed my doubt.
[Long ago, in a very distant past.
The elves, who loved peace and nature, lived in a lush forest, in harmony with nature.
But many terrifying monsters invaded, and the elves had no choice but to leave their beloved homeland.
Adults and children alike wiped away tears of sorrow and hardship as they left their cherished home and fled.
The children, exhausted to the point of not being able to walk any further, burst into tears, and the adults, who had been carrying heavy burdens, were also consumed by fatigue and despair.
The ruler of the world, the ‘World Tree,’ who had been watching them with pity, took pity on the elves and welcomed them to rest in its embrace.
The World Tree gave its sweet fruits to the elves who were starving from hunger, offered its leaves and branches to help them care for their bodies exhausted from endless refuge, and provided a cool shade where they could rest safely and comfortably, relieving their anxiety.
The loyal and cheerful fairy servants who lived inside the World Tree seemed shy at first, but soon they were laughing and chatting with them, creating a joyful time that allowed them to forget the sadness of leaving their homeland.
The elves thanked the World Tree and served its grace, and now, in this distant future.
We still live under the World Tree’s beautiful love?]
“Wow!!”
– Clapping!!
As the majestic and touching epic came to an end, the elves who had been listening around us looked ecstatic and thrilled, giving a standing ovation. I sighed inwardly once again.
‘Thinking about it, it’s a pretty plausible folktale, but is it really that much?
These guys… are they secretly cultists…?’
[So this is that World Tree?]
“That’s right!! Wonderful fairies used to live here too!!”
[And now? Have you ever seen them?]
“Now… actually, we haven’t seen them… but still…!!”
Well, in a sense, the World Tree is their local religion, so perhaps this folktale has great significance for them in the realm of faith.
But now, they were saying such things about a pile of high-quality firewood that was only large, and mostly tilted over, so there wasn’t much room to sympathize.
[I see. That was an interesting story. Really fun.]
“Right? It’s so romantic…♡
My great-grandmother used to tell me old stories.
My great-grandmother’s mother even danced with the fairies!!
I want to dance with a fairy under the moonlight too!!”
‘Great-grandmother…?
Then how many years ago was that story…?’
Riel, who was telling this story, her mother was already over 700 years old.
And it wasn’t her mother’s parents, or grandparents, but her great-grandmother.
I wanted to sympathize with her, but thinking about how my parents felt when they read fairy tales to me when I was young…
‘This is why it’s a problem.
Modern society rips out human sensibility by the roots…’
Conversely, it meant that the elves’ sensibility remained pure, even after living for so long.
Even in this perilous dungeon.
‘The World Tree…’
I wondered where the elves really came from.
According to the legend, it seemed like they had just arrived here by chance.
Then what was the difference between the elves living in this dungeon and the elves who might exist outside?
‘It’s all so mysterious…’
As I looked up at the old tree that the elves called the World Tree, I suddenly felt like I was reminded of the past when I was talking with the ‘Woman.’
Someday, I would become an ultimate giant tree, incomparable to any other tree.
At that time, I might become the ‘World Tree’ as described in that story.
I would have countless colony members in the giant tree trunk, bring all the females in the world under my control, and create an almost infinite harem led by them.
Then, wouldn’t I be able to fulfill my lifelong wish that I couldn’t achieve in my previous life? Her gentle smile, with a playful expression, subtly reassured me. That smile was once again passing through the quiet waves of my memory.
‘Should I try spreading a World Tree religion later?
Then it might be advantageous for me to dominate their ideology later…’
I didn’t want to die again, and I wanted to meet her again someday.
I had been running so hard, and now I was in a crisis again.
‘I need to get out of here first.
Get out of here… and I’ll become the World Tree!
I can try being the World Tree once, can’t I? Right?’
Renewing my resolve, I felt the day slowly darkening and was able to return to the village hall surrounded by the elf girls.
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“The important thing is to first know what the opponent is.”
‘The Art of War, huh? Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.
First, we need to know the enemy, and we need to know ourselves.’
As expected of a skilled hunter, Rhea was focusing on identifying the prey.
I thought so too, so as our thoughts aligned to some extent, I looked at Rhea and nodded my body in delight.
“So… Son…? What did you say?”
‘It’s nothing.
As Rhea said, I think we need to know who the opponent is first?’
So, in the end, we needed to know who the enemy was, what monster was targeting this village. Our gazes were focused on the elves gathered here.
“Ehehe…? I don’t really know?”
“We’ve never seen anything like that…
My dads and uncles have hunted a lot, so…?
Maybe they know…?”
Of course, I didn’t have any particular expectations, but the answers of “I don’t know” that came out so naturally were probably a basic option that made me grab my forehead again.
“Did… those who were protecting the village see anything?”
“Um…”
When Riel looked at her fellow elves with an unsure expression at Rhea’s question, the other elves shook their heads in unison.
As if the words “mysterious predator” suited it, the fact that the monster that caused this chaos didn’t leave even a single trace was subtly pressuring us.
Since we didn’t know the enemy, I thought we should at least know ourselves. I started writing diligently on the floor, analyzing our current situation.
[About 80 male elves – all missing
About 70 female elves – all alive
About five female elf hunters – all alive, malnourished.
Combat-capable personnel – ‘Rhea’]
‘What kind of freezing analysis is this!!
It means Rhea has to take care of the opponent alone!!’
If only my main body was here, then I could have mobilized the colony members that I had worked hard to rebuild after the dungeon incident to help Rhea.
‘I barely managed to restore the ones that died back then, but I can’t use them when I really need them…’
The giant Kernel Worm was a road roller-class heavy equipment falling from the sky.
The small Kernel Worms were also living booby traps that swam underground and interfered with the opponent’s movements, and the loach variants that differentiated from them had absolute power in sexually torturing a woman’s vagina and uterus.
In addition, the spiders, which had now differentiated into quite a few varieties, essentially harvested the female’s body fluids.
There was the Tortura variant, which had grown as big as a bull and had the physical strength of an otherworld summoning device (truck).
Or the Toxonate variant, which could use various enhanced poisons and had become more versatile, and had been quite active in exterminating the monsters during the dungeon incident this time.
But the important thing was that all those wonderful guys were in another world beyond.
I couldn’t return to my main body either, and was trapped in this small spider’s body.
As I was frustrated and trying to squeeze my head, at that very moment.
‘But there must be a way to help…
Yeah… Surely, anything is fine, so I…’
“Are you alright, my husband.”
I felt my legs leave the ground and my body lifted up, and soon I felt a soft sensation of being embraced from my back.
“The fact that my husband thinks of me so much is truly delightful.
I too am your bride who can do anything for my husband…
A hunter is never hunted, so don’t worry too much?”
Rhea, gently smiling as she cherished the small spider in her chest, seemed to calm my impatience a little.
“Rather, the arrogant one who turned me into an enemy…
Will have to prepare to be ruthlessly hunted…”
Soon, the thrill of the hunt overflowed from Rhea’s voice, and a quiet tremor was transmitted from her chest.
