Chapter 780

The second day of climbing was a bit easier than the first.

Not because the weather got warmer or anything like that. How could it get warmer when we were climbing higher into the sky? If anything, it got even colder.

The reason the climb became easier was simply because Damien and I had started to adapt, even if just a little, to the harshness of the extreme environment.

Even flying the same distance, we could save about 20% of our energy compared to yesterday.

They say humans are creatures of adaptation, right? I don’t know who said it, but it sure was true.

Though, the person who said that probably wouldn’t consider someone who started adapting to Antarctic-level cold in just one day as human.

Weak Earthlings. Can you feel the power of an otherworlder?

The people here are freaks who shoot fire and lightning from their hands and jump over city walls in a few leaps.

Anyway, thanks to that, we were able to step onto “Elpinel’s Fingertip” by that afternoon.

“The view’s killer, right?”

I grinned at Damien as I stood on a rock at the summit. It was literally a sight you couldn’t buy with money.

Excluding the World Tree, where the concept of height is meaningless, this was the highest point in the Sky Mountain Range, towering above everything else on the continent.

Is this what the world looks like from a god’s perspective? Beyond the blizzard and the sea of clouds, an endless world stretched out.

Mountain ranges jutting up like little bumps, majestic glaciers flowing, brown soil and green vegetation stretching beyond the white plains, and even castles and cities that looked as small as ants.

Everything in the world looked so small and tightly packed, as if you could crush it all with a single step.

It was a breathtaking view that made my chest feel wide open.

I smiled in satisfaction. One of the few things I liked since coming to this world was stuff like this.

In my original world, the entire planet was filled with forests of skyscrapers and ruins, so even if you flew around in a plane, you rarely got to see such a magnificent sight.

“…I feel like I’m going to die.”

Meanwhile, Damien, despite seeing such a beautiful view, seemed to feel no emotion at all, just shivering and complaining about the cold.

What a dry guy. It’s probably just his nature, so there’s nothing to be done about it…

…Well, maybe he’ll improve someday. Probably.

Anyway, since we’d made it to the top, I took the opportunity to look around and enjoy the view.

“See over there? That’s the eternal frozen tundra where the Beastmen live. Can’t believe they manage to survive in a place like that.”

To the north of the peak, there was an endless snowfield.

Beyond the mountain range lay the frozen land where the Beastmen’s kingdom, Baraykruz, was located.

The pure white plains, shining brightly under the sunlight, were dotted with villages and cities made of wood and ice.

But it wasn’t just Beastmen villages and cities that were visible.

Because of the distance, it was hard to make out clearly, but if you turned your head around, you could occasionally spot black masses and small, colorful furballs clashing like insects.

“Ha-shal-leur, that’s….”

“Yeah, probably Beastmen and monsters. There must be monsters beyond the Sky Mountain Range too. They probably don’t pop out as often as they do here, though.”

It’d be great if a few thousand of them popped out and wiped each other out…but that’s probably not going to happen.

Based on my memories from my previous life and the frequency of monster appearances, most monsters seem to prefer the fertile, vast central plains of the continent rather than these remote areas.

Yeah, the Empire’s territory.

Even though monster appearances are a global phenomenon, the reason other races don’t worry about them as much as the Empire does is because of that.

While the Empire is subjugating a hundred monsters, they’re only dealing with one or two at most. So, of course, they don’t feel a sense of crisis about monsters.

The Dwarves are a bit different, though…but I’ve never seen a setting where their country was on the verge of collapse like the Empire.

“And….”

Anyway, whether monsters eat Beastmen or Beastmen dismantle monsters, it’s none of our business, so I turned my gaze away from them and looked toward the western sky.

“See that pillar-like thing over there? That long line stretching across the horizon.”

Damien followed my fingertip and turned his head, looking at the Great Forest, which looked like a messy green algae bloom on the horizon.

“Yeah. I see it. It looks like some kind of rope….”

A rope?

That’s an interesting way to put it. Strictly speaking, it’s not a wrong analogy.

The massive cloud clearly visible from here, and the brown pillar connecting it to the green-covered land.

Maybe because nothing is visible above the cloud, from a distance, it looked like a ship had dropped its anchor into the cloud.

I knew what it was.

“That’s the World Tree. The tree the fairies revere. Their god.”

The fairies’ tree god, said to have roots in the mortal world and branches reaching into the heavens, connecting the two worlds. That was the true nature of that brown pillar.

Whether the inside of that cloud was really the entrance to the heavens or not, no one could know without climbing up there…but at least the fairies believed it was.

“That’s…the World Tree?”

Damien muttered softly as he looked at the World Tree. His tone sounded a bit confused, like he didn’t know what to say.

“What, feeling some kind of awe or something now that you’re looking at the fairies’ god?”

“No, it’s not that…it’s just, how do I put this….”

Damien tilted his head repeatedly, looking at the World Tree with a face full of bewilderment.

Yes, he was glaring at it.

There was something resembling hostility in Damien’s eyes as he looked at the World Tree.

“Did your mouth freeze shut? If you have something to say, spit it out. Stop mumbling and being all cryptic.”

“No, it’s just…something feels off. I don’t know why, but when I look at that tree, my head feels hot, like I’m getting a fever, and my heart starts racing….”

It seemed even he couldn’t understand why he was feeling such hostility.

[Could it be…! No, it’s not like there’s no precedent, but even so, how could that be…?]

On the contrary, Hersela seemed to have realized something and let out a shocked cry.

‘What’s with the sudden outburst?’

[Don’t you get it? If your head feels hot and your heart races but you don’t know why, there’s only one answer. Oh my god, could Damien really…?]

It didn’t seem like she’d figured it out so much as she’d taken a wild leap in logic.

[He’s a lunatic who feels romantic feelings for a tree!]

‘What the hell?’

It wasn’t just a wild leap—it was a completely insane idea that made me blurt out an expletive without thinking.

Well, what do you expect? Crazy people say crazy things.

Damien, a tree hugger? That’s something you’d say about a guy who already has a perfectly good lover?

[I’ve heard that men who can’t find partners sometimes take trees as lovers to ease their loneliness…but who would’ve thought Damien had such tastes…!]

As if shocked by the revelation that tree huggers actually exist, Hersela ignored my cursing and continued her rapid-fire monologue.

[No…is that it? Is that what it is? Yes, now I understand. That woman was just a substitute. A human lover with green, leaf-like hair, standing in for a tree…!]

What kind of insane nonsense is this?

‘Where the hell did you hear that kind of crap? Who in the world takes a tree as a lover? Even the fairies wouldn’t do something like that.’

[It’s true. I’ve never seen it myself, but about seven years ago, Ja-han told me he saw it with his own eyes. An old, shabby slave from the west hugged a tree trunk and started stroking it….]

…Seven years ago, Hersela would’ve been twelve.

What kind of insane nonsense was Ja-han feeding a twelve-year-old girl? No wonder she turned out like this.

I thought Hersela’s twisted personality was because she didn’t have a mother, but now that I think about it, Ja-han’s influence might’ve been huge.

A bandit who can’t tell what’s appropriate to say raising a kid? No wonder she didn’t turn out normal.

‘That’s not it, so stop talking nonsense.’

I sighed and scolded Hersela, then turned back to Damien, who was still confused about his feelings.

“Forget your head and chest for now. Just think about this and answer me. What do you want to do with that tree?”

“What do I want to do with it? Hmm…well….”

After a moment of thought, Damien clenched his fist tightly and nodded with a look of realization.

“I don’t know why, but I want to smash it to pieces with my sword. No, it’s more than that. It’s not just that I want to smash it—I feel like I *have* to smash it….”

As expected, Damien harbored hostility toward the World Tree. Why that was, neither Damien nor I could understand.

Was it because he was the hero of the original story?

As a human hero, did he instinctively harbor hostility toward the fairies’ sacred tree, which was useless—or even an enemy—to the human world?

…Well, the reason might be unknown, but it wasn’t a bad thing. I felt the same way.

“You feel like you can’t allow such a tree to exist, that you have to destroy it. Something like that, right?”

“Yeah. That’s exactly it.”

“Alright? Then remember that feeling well.”

I lightly patted Damien’s shoulder and taught him the name of the emotion he’d just realized, after fear.

“That’s what hatred, disgust, and loathing feel like.”

The virtues of a warrior.