Crunch!
The tree writhed and wrapped more tightly around Cha Seohu’s body, then began dragging him deep into the soil where its roots were.
“Urgh...!”
What would be better, whether this would actually work—there was nothing he could be certain of.
But if he just stayed still, he would be dragged into the dirt and eaten by some unidentified monster tree anyway. So he had to try something.
Having made up his mind, Cha Seohu hurriedly took an item out of his inventory.
A glass bottle filled with liquid appeared in his unbound right hand.
[Escape into Death]
A potion that allows the user to disguise themselves as a corpse. When the liquid is consumed, it lowers the user’s heartbeat to the limit and drops their body temperature, disguising them as a corpse. During this time, the user will necessarily fall asleep. (Duration: 15 minutes)
The moment he gripped the item, a status window containing its description appeared automatically.
'The user will necessarily fall asleep.'
Cha Seohu smiled bitterly after reading the last sentence.
'In this condition, I might fall asleep and never wake up.'
Even without the Cult Leader or the black tree, his vision was already dimming from the blood pouring out of the shoulder the sword had pierced.
Whether he drank the potion or not, his chances of survival were slim.
Holding the bottle, Cha Seohu bit the cap off with his teeth. The transparent liquid inside instantly turned a deep color.
The strange purple was obviously poison no matter how anyone looked at it. Cha Seohu raised his arm with the bottle in hand.
“Hey!”
There was no need to shout that loudly.
The Cult Leader, who had been watching Cha Seohu being swallowed by the tree with an enraptured expression from the very beginning, immediately noticed the bottle in his hand.
“You really don’t know me at all.”
“Mr. Cha Seohu?”
The Cult Leader’s expression froze over in an instant, and he asked in a wavering voice.
“What are you holding right now?”
“No matter how much I think about it, I really don’t want to give my body to a monster like this. Better to die cleanly instead. Don’t you think?”
The Cult Leader’s eyes flew wide.
His pupils shook violently at the sight of the small medicine bottle swaying lightly in Cha Seohu’s hand.
“...Put it down.”
The Cult Leader barely squeezed the words out, then shouted harshly.
“Cha Seohu! Put that down right now!”
“Fuck you.”
Sneering at the Cult Leader as he urgently rushed toward him, tentacles writhing, Cha Seohu drank the potion without hesitating any longer.
There was not much medicine inside the palm-sized bottle. Cha Seohu emptied it all in one gulp, threw the bottle away, and raised his middle finger.
That was his last memory.
His consciousness blurred at high speed, and an intense drowsiness washed over him. Cha Seohu did not bother resisting it and accepted the pull.
His arm dropped limply, and his head tilted as his eyes closed.
With his face already pale from continued blood loss, once his eyes closed and his body went slack, he looked like a perfect corpse to anyone watching.
“...No. No!”
The Cult Leader screamed and quickly approached, stretching out a hand.
He seized Cha Seohu’s body, already buried in the dirt up to below his neck and seconds from disappearing completely, and began pulling him upward.
“Fuck, fuck!”
Muttering curses, the Cult Leader frantically used both arms and his tentacles to try to drag Cha Seohu out.
“This will not do! Let go of him!”
Begging the tree as if pleading with it, the Cult Leader pushed away the thick roots holding Cha Seohu’s body and finally pulled him out of the soil.
Afraid the tree might target Cha Seohu again, he dragged him all the way to a spot some distance away, then looked down at him with a face full of pent-up rage.
Cha Seohu, pulled from the ground, was still silent.
His body was covered in blood here and there, and he was filthy after being buried completely in the black soil and dragged back out. But his face, with both eyes closed, showed no reaction at all and remained quiet.
The Cult Leader checked his pulse with a trembling hand.
Nothing.
He could feel nothing.
He was dead.
Truly dead.
After the Cult Leader had put so much effort into him, after he had staged everything and come this far, after he had tried to offer the finest life force to the divine tree—
This ignorant, stupid human had gone and died, ruining his entire plan.
“You piece of... trash...!”
Rage surged so violently it dyed his vision red.
The ruined plan was not the only problem.
He had nearly killed the divine tree itself.
Normally, it would not have mattered, but because of the light unleashed by that strange long-haired man, the divine tree had already suffered a tremendous blow.
At a time when even offering a clear, powerful life would not be enough to return the divine tree to health, feeding it a dead corpse?
And on top of that, one that had just taken poison and would still have toxins left inside?
The divine tree would certainly be unable to endure it and wither away.
“......”
The Cult Leader’s gaze turned toward the tree.
The grand sight it had once presented, stretching large and tall in majestic splendor, was nowhere to be found.
All its leaves had fallen away, leaving only dry branches standing emptily, and black sap flowed like blood here and there from the cracked trunk.
The roots crawling out from the soil and writhing looked pitiful, as if they were begging the Cult Leader to save them.
“...Cha Seohu.”
The Cult Leader stared expressionlessly at Cha Seohu, who had not only ruined his precious divine tree but had even tried to kill it outright.
There was no longer any burning rage visible on his face.
Instead, deep, bottomless hatred filled it.
“I will use your corpse somehow. Whether I peel off your skin and stuff you, or cut off your limbs and feed them to insects, I will make you suffer even in death.”
The Cult Leader’s tentacles moved toward Cha Seohu as he muttered in a low voice.
That was when—
Something sharp flew through the air, sliced that tentacle off with precision, and embedded itself in the ground beside Cha Seohu.
As the hazy black dust scattered, the figures who had rushed into the greenhouse were revealed.
“Hunter Cha Seohu!”
Kwon Taehyuk, spotting Cha Seohu collapsed on the ground, called his name and urgently sent the other blades floating behind him flying toward the Cult Leader.
Clicking his tongue, the Cult Leader had no choice but to retreat and avoid the attack.
The Cult Leader, who had been staring at the dead Cha Seohu with hatred, quickly swept his eyes over the condition of the newcomers.
'Four S-ranks!'
Excluding J, who was being carried on Yoon Jeha’s back, the Cult Leader counted them and burst into laughter.
“Ha, hahahaha! Mr. Cha Seohu, wake up and look at this! Look at the Awakeners who came running to save you!”
Ecstasy returned to the Cult Leader’s face, which had been filled with dry hatred.
“This is exactly why I call you stupid! Cha Seohu, the ones who came to save you will now become fertilizer in your place!”
They were not quite like Cha Seohu, but he could feel extremely dense life force from them.
On top of that, they were rare S-rank Awakeners, and there were four of them. It might be difficult to return the divine tree to its previous state with this much, but it would be enough to treat its wounded body.
That was enough. If the divine tree could be treated again, everything that had happened today would disappear.
His own body, which had lost much of its regenerative power, could be restored as much as he wanted once the divine tree recovered. He could start over!
“I have learned a great lesson. I will handle this batch of fertilizer very carefully so they are not damaged.”
Without stopping his laughter, the Cult Leader charged, tentacles writhing.
Kwon Taehyuk barely avoided the tentacle that came flying toward his shoulder and shouted to Ryu Sunghyun.
“Take Hunter Cha Seohu first!”
Ryu Sunghyun nodded and lifted the collapsed Cha Seohu into his arms, while Yoon Jeha laid J down in the laboratory and provided support.
“What the hell is this disgusting bastard?”
When Yoon Jeha swung her sword, crimson flames blazed up. Even as the scorching fire burned his tentacles, the Cult Leader’s expression did not change in the slightest.
“Ah, yes, move more. Run more! Show me your life force!”
“What the fuck is wrong with this perverted bastard?”
Yoon Jeha, horrified and looking as if she wanted to vomit, cut down the tentacles and spoke to Kwon Taehyuk.
“If you got Cha Seohu out, deal with him just enough and fall back. We don’t have time to be doing this here!”
Kwon Taehyuk agreed.
Cha Seohu’s condition, which he had checked before Ryu Sunghyun took him, was far too bad. Even at a glance, he had lost too much blood, and his face was far too pale.
'Don’t tell me... No. No. That can’t be.'
At the ominous premonition that suddenly came over him, Kwon Taehyuk bit his lip.
When Kwon Taehyuk and Yoon Jeha began striking away the tentacles and showed signs of retreating, the Cult Leader’s eyes flashed.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
He could not lose the only lives that could heal the divine tree.
The Cult Leader was about to draw on the last of his strength to stop them.
That was when the black tree suddenly trembled violently.
Then the center of its enormous trunk split open in a long vertical crack, and golden light burst from within.
“Ah?”
The Cult Leader stopped fighting and stared blankly at the tree.

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