I didn't stop there—I kept rummaging through every tree root here, absorbing all the Dark Power contained within them, causing half of the roots to quickly wither away.
<
These roots must have originated from that giant tree… Which means there must be a huge amount of Dark Power waiting for me there.
I really wanted to rush over and feast to my heart's content, but I suddenly remembered that I still had a task to complete, so I had to put that intention on hold for now.
When I returned to where I had been earlier, I saw that the person I saved had already regained consciousness. He was sitting there, dazed, seemingly lost in thought, but the moment he saw me, he screamed and looked utterly terrified.
Oh come on, I'm the one who saved you!
Well, his fear is understandable since I'm currently in the form of a dangerous monster, and he had just woken up—weak and terrified.
Hmmm…
How do I tell him that I'm not dangerous…?
Not to mention, I don't even have a way to communicate with humans anymore, let alone do anything more than that.
Should I just kill him off…?
No.
I need information from him.
First, let's use [Appraisal] on him.
<
HP: 35/150
MP: 42/100
SP: 31/100
Attack: 67
Defense: 78
Magic: 32
Speed: 56
Hmm…
His stats aren't anything special, his appearance is average, and he doesn't have anything valuable on him…
Everything about this guy is normal, but the fact that he managed to show up here is what's abnormal. Clearly, with that level of strength, he couldn't possibly have achieved one hundred consecutive victories against the goblin and orc tribes to earn the right to enter this place.
Haizzz…
If only I had memory-reading abilities like Meradis.
Right now, I need to make him understand that I'm not dangerous and that I need him to provide more information about this place…
How should I do this…?
Ah!
I can't speak, but I can write!
I studied this a long time ago but never had the chance to use it. Now's the time.
Let's see…
I then used my two blade legs to pierce the ground and started etching out rough but legible lines that formed meaningful words.
The man, seeing that I wasn't attacking and was instead doing something on the ground, became slightly less fearful. He cautiously stepped closer to see what I was doing and was shocked when he realized I was writing.
I was trying to write the sentence: "Where are you from?" but the ground here was so hard that it made it difficult to carve out a complete sentence.
"Uhm… are you asking me something?" he asked cautiously.
Oh, he understood!
I nodded repeatedly.
"Uhm… you understand what I'm saying?"
I nodded again.
"Then… can you get me out of here?"
This guy sure asks a lot of questions!
I didn't respond and simply pointed to the sentence I had written on the ground.
"Oh, sorry. My name is Bazarin Nowan. I'm from the Sword Kingdom."
Huh?
Where's the Sword Kingdom?
It sounds unfamiliar, but I suppose it must be a large nation where swords are the main weapon, hence the name.
I wrote my next question on the ground: "How did you get in here?"
"I… I can't remember clearly. I was exploring a labyrinth with my group. When we reached the final floor, we found a stone gate. One of my teammates must have triggered something by accident, and all of us were sucked inside."
Oh.
So these stone gates aren't just limited to this one—they might be scattered all over the world…?
Still, in a gloomy and eerie place like this, overflowing with Dark Power, I doubt anyone would willingly enter.
I wrote my third question: "What happened after that?"
"After entering here, we were all separated. I've only managed to find one teammate since then, but he's already dead. There are also strange creatures roaming this place. While running from them, I accidentally wandered into the area near that tree and got captured."
So it's confirmed—everyone was split up upon entering…
But what's even stranger is that this place can forcibly extract the two other wills from my body and eject them, even though they aren't technically living beings.
According to what this guy says, the survival rate in here is extremely low, which makes me even more worried—especially since Seina and Suzu have no combat capabilities.
"What else have you discovered in this place?" I asked.
He scratched his head.
"I wandered around alone and eventually reached the deepest room. There, I saw an eye—with black mist swirling around it. Just looking at it filled me with an inexplicable fear, and I ran away immediately."
Hmm, that must be the eye I saw at the beginning. The swirling black mist is likely Dark Power. So the eye is absorbing Dark Power too?
Nai wa!
That means… I have a rival.
No way!
I can't let it consume all of it!
If I'm right, then the source of this Dark Power comes from that tree. It absorbs living beings from outside and transforms them into Dark Power through some special method, and the eye is using that to strengthen itself.
Wait a second…
This is bad!
That thing has likely been here for who knows how long, which means it must have already consumed a huge amount of Dark Power. If I fight it now, I'll definitely lose.
The only option I have is to quickly absorb as much Dark Power as possible so I might have a chance—not only to survive, but to save the others too.
But there's another problem: absorbing Dark Power only increases my MP, letting me use more magic, but… I can't even use magic yet!
That makes it basically useless.
I need to find another way to gain more benefits from absorbing this power. Ideally, it should directly boost my stats—or maybe help me gain some useful new skill.
If I keep absorbing Dark Power, maybe I'll eventually acquire some beneficial skill.
With that in mind, I turned and ran toward the tree.
"Wait! Can I come with you?"
Oh right, I forgot about this guy. What should I do with him…?
Well, I am a good person after all, so I guess I can let him tag along. I turned back, nodded once, and then sprinted down the second path.
The roots along the path had already been drained, so now they were nothing more than withered branches—but the man still seemed absolutely terrified.
Whatever. I don't have time to worry about him.
After a short run, I arrived at the tree again. I could still see a bunch of cocoons hanging from its branches. First things first—I need to locate the spirit folk and rescue them.
Hmm…
There… and there… and over there.
After some inference, I identified a total of 17 spirits inside the cocoons. We're missing three, but being able to save seventeen of them is already a miracle.
Now then… how should I go about rescuing them all…?
If it were just one, I could do it like I did earlier, but with seventeen… I'm not sure whether the tree would get angry—or worse, I might end up alerting the eye deeper inside.
First, I need to assess the situation clearly.
I turned and asked the guy, "What's the eye's condition like?"
He paused for a moment, then replied: "When I saw it, it was closed, but I could still feel that it was alive. Also, there's a tree root connected to the eye. It looked like it was healing it, since I saw a few cracks on the eye itself."
Oh, so that confirms the eye is injured and is indeed relying on the tree to recover. These cocoons must be its food source. If I steal too much of its food now, there's a good chance it will wake up.
Hmmm…
This is tricky.
First, I need to run a few tests. Like—can the tree suddenly come to life? This is a fantasy world, so nothing would surprise me. I wouldn't even be shocked if it suddenly started talking, so I need to test things out first to ensure safety while I work.
I need to move quickly!
First, I tried slicing into one of the tree roots, and just like before, Dark Power kept pouring out. I took the opportunity to absorb it all while carefully observing my surroundings.
The tree showed no reaction, but the other guy had already been scared out of his mind. Well, it made sense—this was something terrifying after all, and if he got caught up in it, he'd be dead for sure.
Oh well, I'll just enjoy all this for myself then.
After a while, the root had completely withered.
<
Hmph...
Still no reaction at all.
Could it really just be an ordinary tree and not faking dormancy, waiting for me to get closer?
Guess I'll know after trying a few more times.
After that, I devoured the outer roots one by one and managed to increase my MP cap quite a bit.
<
<
Still no reaction??
I started moving closer. The closer I got, the higher the density and intensity of the Dark Power, which meant I could absorb even more. One point of power here could equal ten points from those outer roots.
I lost myself in the act of absorbing Dark Power and even forgot my mission to investigate.
No good.
I need to pace myself a bit!
I can't forget what I came here to do. The longer I delay, the higher the chance another spirit will perish.
<
By now, I could basically confirm that the tree wasn't going to suddenly wake up and attack me. I had already drained over half its roots and still hadn't heard a sound.
First things first, I should rescue the spirits, then proceed to absorb the entire tree. I believe the tree trunk contains an enormous amount of Dark Power with even higher concentration.
I jumped up and tried slicing open one of the cocoons with my blade leg, and immediately, several vines shot out, trying to keep the cocoon in place.
I didn't rush to fight back. I wanted to observe whether the vines had changed at all. As it turned out, they seemed slower, and their numbers had also significantly decreased.
Looks like draining the tree's energy had a considerable impact.
If that's the case, then all I have to do is keep absorbing the Dark Power and the problem will basically resolve itself!
I really am a genius!
I stopped trying to fight over the cocoons with the vines. Instead, I jumped down and drove my blade leg deep into the tree trunk, then pulled it out. A flood of Dark Power gushed out like a river, and I didn't let a single drop escape my mouth.
This stuff was absolutely nourishing!
I just kept eating... and eating...
The more Dark Power I devoured, the more I noticed that some of the upper branches started shaking, some even showing signs of snapping off from lack of nutrients.
Hahahaa.
Keep it coming.
<
Who knows how long passed, but I continued to devour every last drop of Dark Power that leaked out. The tree wasn't in great shape anymore—it had shrunk to half its original size. A few cocoons had even fallen off because of that.
I had the other guy check the contents of the cocoons, but most didn't contain anything I was looking for. When I did find a spirit, I immediately returned them to the Virtual World to restore their vitality.
So far, I'd rescued eleven spirits just by sitting here and feasting on this delicious power.
<
Nai wa!
I actually got a skill.
But… what does it even do?
Huh??
Hmm??
It doesn't seem to do anything??
Maybe it's a passive skill or one that converts stats like some of the others I have...?
I'm not sure, but since I got it through absorbing Dark Power, I figured if I kept going, I'd eventually discover its true ability.
<
<
Nai wa!
So that's it.
Exactly what I needed.
If it can convert into stats, then it'll make me way stronger.
That's truly amazing.
As I was happily indulging myself, a sudden chill ran down my spine, making me shudder and look up toward the path ahead.
There was a path up ahead, and one of the tree roots extended deep into it. I could guess that it led to the eye.
I must have eaten too much and disturbed it. But that sensation earlier was just a fleeting moment and disappeared quickly, so the eye probably hasn't fully awakened yet.
I think it's time to stop. I've already rescued all seventeen spirits, so I should focus on finding the others next.
I turned around to check on the guy and saw that he had already fainted without me noticing. Looks like even a single glance from the eye was too much for him.
Well, I'll just leave him here. The tree was already nearly dried up thanks to me, so it shouldn't pose too much danger anymore. After that, he'll just have to fend for himself.
I've done all I can as a good person. I still need to save my friends.
So I marched straight into that path. In the meantime, I tried locating Seina, Suzu, and Meradis again, but there were no results.
They seemed to be in some isolated area, which was probably why I couldn't sense them.
On the way, I noticed several strange plants—like a vine with an eyeball, a flower with a mouth, and even a clump of moss with thorns...
They all looked creepy and dangerous, but I later discovered they each contained a small amount of Dark Power. Not as much as the tree, but every bit adds up.
So along the way, I took the liberty of clearing out everything that contained Dark Power. Not just the plants, either—some unusual rocks also held small amounts of Dark Power.
Swallowing them all was the best option.
No danger in sight yet, but for now, I've eaten my fill and reaped tons of benefits.
Then, all of a sudden, I sensed a creature entering my Sensing range, getting closer and closer.
I stopped and readied myself for battle, but what appeared was pretty odd—it just looked like a regular puppy. Tiny body, average face, gentle smile…
Everything seemed fine, right?
I got a bit closer and it just wagged its tail at me.
Kind of adorable, honestly.
But when I got within five steps, [Prophecy] suddenly activated, showing me a vision of an enormous mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth.
Without hesitation, I leapt back as far as I could—right in time to hear a vicious snap in the air.
Looking up, I saw that the once-cute creature had transformed into a monster with a massive mouth, though its body remained tiny.
Playing the innocent act now, huh??
How sneaky!
I tried to restrain it with my Spider Silk and Paralyzing Evil Eye, but my threads were nothing to that massive mouth of its. Still, it was momentarily stunned by my Evil Eye, so I took the chance to Flash in front of it and sliced across its face with my blade leg.
The creature roared and staggered back.
I had aimed for its eyes, successfully blinding it. Then I shot more threads to bind its legs and charged in, spinning midair to cut it clean in half—gracefully, I might add.
I really am talented.
After the fight, I went to examine its body, but didn't find anything special. It was just a normal living creature.
I thought everything in this place had Dark Power in them, but I guess not.
I was also pretty hungry, so I decided to roast up a nice dog meat meal.
When I said earlier that I was full, that was just spiritually, okay? My stomach has been completely empty this whole time. This is actually the first time I've eaten real food since coming here, so don't judge me.
Ewww...
Tastes awful.
<
Might be the worst meat I've ever had.
I forced myself to finish it so as not to waste food, then continued down the path ahead.