Chapter 104

Kim Gun stood guard at the cave entrance, obeying Kim Jaehyun’s orders, but he couldn't shake a growing sense of regret.

"...This feels wrong."

The pitch-black interior of the cave seemed endlessly ominous.

"Should I go in after him?"

While Kim Jaehyun's abilities were undeniably extraordinary, they didn’t guarantee his safety. Even someone like Kim Dajeong, with her remarkable healing and blessing skills, required constant protection during battles.

"But still..."

Kim Gun couldn’t disobey Kim Jaehyun’s direct command.

"I’ll have to trust him and wait."

Turning his head, Kim Gun was momentarily struck by the surreal beauty of the forest. The setting sun bathed the endless trees in an ethereal, dreamlike glow.

He glanced down at the vast forest below, gauging its height instinctively—a skill honed through years of flight.

"...About a kilometer tall?"

That meant the tree he was perched on rivaled mountains in height.

And he wasn’t even at the tree’s summit.

"If I include the very top, it’s over two kilometers."

Considering that even South Korea’s Jirisan and Hallasan didn’t exceed two kilometers, the sheer size of this tree was absurd. Its massive trunk was so thick that, from a distance, it resembled a mountain planted at the forest’s center.

A thought crossed his mind.

"Could it be connected to that tree?"

The enormous tree near Jagalchi Market came to mind—a tree that had grown so rapidly it now dwarfed even apartment buildings.

"Didn’t they say it was being nurtured by Jaehyun’s grandfather?"

The idea was unsettling.

"Could that tree, once fully grown, also create a forest filled with man-eating trees?"

The thought alone was terrifying.

"...No, that can’t be. Jaehyun’s family wouldn’t allow such a thing."

Kim Gun shook his head, dismissing the possibility.

At that moment, as the twilight faded into darkness, the forest was completely engulfed in shadow.

And then—

"...What?"

The forest seemed to be reborn.

"What’s going on...?"

A sinister energy rippled through the trees.

Kim Gun's instincts screamed that something was terribly wrong.

A chill ran down his spine.

He turned toward the cave and froze.

"!!!"

Beasts born of shadow poured out from the cave’s darkness.

"Argh!"

Reacting instinctively, he leaped into the air just as—

Boom!

The cave erupted, spewing darkness.

Kim Gun flapped his wings and steadied himself midair, staring in shock at the scene below.

"What in the world...?"

Then he remembered who had entered the cave.

"Jaehyun!"

As night descended and shadows consumed the forest, monsters emerged from every direction.

The retainers, led by Yoo Han-gil, were forced into battle without warning.

But these weren’t ordinary retainers—they were battle-hardened veterans.

Bang!

Yoo Han-gil ceased using his clairvoyance and drew his gun, firing at a shadow beast.

However—

"Kyahhh!"

The bullet pierced the creature’s forehead, but it had no effect. The monster charged forward, unharmed.

This was a rare occurrence for Yoo Han-gil, whose precision attacks almost always proved effective.

Then—

Fwoosh!

Flames erupted, engulfing the shadow beast and reducing it to ashes.

"Over here! Everyone, gather here!"

Not all attacks were futile. Abilities like Nam Ji-ho’s pillar of fire were devastating to the shadow beasts.

And—

Slash!

Ha Dong-geon, Kang Deok-su, and Oh Eon-ju—the retainers with the most overwhelming combat power—cut through the shadow beasts with ease.

Their shared advantage?

Their bodies were enveloped in radiant light.

The source of that light was Kim Dajeong’s blessing skill.

Seeing this, Kim Dajeong shouted,

"Blessing!"

A brilliant light spread to all the nearby retainers.

"Now, attack! You’ll be fine!"

As she predicted, the retainers’ attacks, enhanced by the blessing, began to affect the shadow beasts.

Bang!

While ranged weapons like guns still couldn’t harm the creatures, melee weapons imbued with the blessing tore through the shadows with ease.

"Keaaak!"

With their combined strength, the shadow beasts began to falter.

Although the monsters were immune to physical attacks, their methods of attack—biting and scratching—were relatively weak. They barely left scratches on the retainers, whose levels far surpassed ordinary humans.

However—

"Kyahhh!"

The real problem was the sheer number of beasts.

No matter how many the retainers defeated, new shadow creatures continuously emerged from the forest’s darkness.

Yoo Han-gil, using his clairvoyance to assess the situation, called out,

"We need to move! The farther we get from the central tree, the slower they spawn!"

With a clear direction, the retainers rallied.

"Run!"

"Rise!"

At Kang Deok-su’s command, fifty Steel Knights emerged, forming a wall against the shadow army.

"Blessing!"

Kim Dajeong cast her blessing on the Steel Knights, imbuing their halberds with radiant light.

Slash!

The Steel Knights became an impenetrable defense, annihilating the shadow creatures as the retainers sprinted toward their destination.

While shadow beasts still blocked their path—

Flash!

Kim Ga-young’s Light Arrows split into dozens of shards, slicing through the monsters ahead.

Meanwhile—

"Rooooar!"

Amid the chaos, a crimson-eyed bear rampaged through the shadows.

Crash!

With each swing of Oh Eon-ju’s berserk bear’s massive paw, the shadow beasts burst like balloons.

As Yoo Han-gil had indicated, the farther they moved from the central tree, the fewer shadow beasts appeared.

However, their relief was short-lived.

Boom!

Darkness descended from the sky, blocking their path.

"...What now?"

The retainers stopped, looking upward at the ominous figure descending before them.

The night sky was filled with black owls, their presence suffocating.

At their center was a massive shadowy mass, a swirling vortex to which the owls converged.

The shadowy column blocking the retainers’ path was but one of the tendrils extending from that ominous sphere.

Grooooan—

The writhing mass pulsed, and then—

Shaaah!

A colossal pair of wings unfurled.

The shadow coalesced into the form of a giant owl, its wings spreading with ominous majesty.

Swoooosh!

Each flap of its massive wings unleashed a gust of overwhelming pressure that tore through the forest.

“Ugh!”

Craaaack!

The violent winds uprooted trees, breaking them like twigs and forcing them to bow in the direction of the owl’s wingbeats.

As the shadowy sphere solidified further—

Fwoosh!

A spear infused with black energy flew toward the sphere’s core.

Boom!

The resulting explosion sent another wave of shock and fury through the forest.

"Kiieeeek!"

The owl screeched, and its piercing cry reverberated across the darkened forest.

“Attack with everything you’ve got!”

At Ha Dong-geon’s command, a second spear soared through the air, ripping through one of the giant owl’s wings.

With their composure regained, the retainers launched an all-out assault.

Thud! Crack!

The Moon brothers, Mun Ji-hoon and Mun Sang-hoon, targeted the owl’s legs, while—

Boom! Fwoosh!

Nam Ji-ho’s fiery pillar erupted between the beast’s legs, setting it ablaze.

“Raaaargh!”

Using Mun Byeong-ho’s assistance, Oh Eon-ju leapt onto the shadow owl’s head, slashing at it with her claws.

Screech!

The shadow beast's form tore apart, its fragments scattering into the air.

However—

Hum—

Darkness converged around the beast once more, reabsorbing the fragments and rapidly regenerating its wounds.

The black owls circling overhead swooped down, merging with the giant shadow, healing it even faster.

Despite their best efforts, the retainers’ attacks were undone as quickly as they were dealt.

In the midst of their struggle, a commanding voice rang out.

“Everyone, move aside!”

Kim Ga-young’s voice drew everyone’s attention.

Woom!

She stood with her bow drawn, a massive arrow of light nocked and aimed at the shadow beast.

The arrow, over two meters long and as thick as a cannon barrel, radiated blinding energy.

Then—

Thwang!

Kim Ga-young released the arrow, unleashing a brilliant beam of light that illuminated the entire forest.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The arrow obliterated the shadow owl’s upper body, eradicating it and the black owls surrounding it in a single, devastating strike.

Thud!

Exhausted, Kim Ga-young collapsed to the ground.

But the reprieve was short-lived.

Groooan...

The light that had cleansed the sky faded, replaced once more by encroaching darkness.

The forest resumed its grim activity, birthing shadow creatures anew.@@novelbin@@

"...Unbelievable," Mun Ji-hoon muttered, his expression one of despair.

Yoo Han-gil’s voice cut through their daze.

"This is our chance! We need to move farther away from the central tree—now!"

The retainers snapped back to attention and prepared to retreat when a shout broke through.

“We can’t just leave these people behind!”

It was Lee Seong-min.

True to his role as a doctor, he had been tending to the unconscious individuals who had spilled from the ruptured growths during the battle.

Even amid the chaos, he risked his life, using healing energy to save them.

Lee Seong-min’s instincts, honed through a lifetime of walking the line between life and death, wouldn’t allow him to abandon those in need.

However, good intentions don’t always yield good outcomes.

"Leave them! Hurry!" Yoo Han-gil shouted, grabbing Lee Seong-min’s arm.

"I can’t do that!"

"Get it together! If we stay here, we’re all going to die!"

Unlike the retainers who had long lived under Kim Jaehyun’s protection, Yoo Han-gil was a recent addition, still hardened by the realities of survival.

"Move!"

Just then—

"Wait!"

Lee Seong-min broke free and ran toward a half-destroyed growth, its sticky digestive fluid oozing out.

Yoo Han-gil scowled, his frustration evident.

"Do whatever you want," he muttered.

In peacetime, such compassion might have been admirable.

But in a battlefield like this, it was a liability—a danger not only to the compassionate individual but to the entire team.

Every unconscious person Lee Seong-min saved was nothing more than dead weight, jeopardizing their survival.

"If we save them all, we’re all going to die," Yoo Han-gil thought grimly.

Just as he was about to abandon Lee Seong-min to his fate—

Rustle...

The forest began to move.

Crack! Creak!

"What the...?"

Yoo Han-gil froze as roots erupted from the ground, skewering the shadow creatures.

In an instant, the surrounding monsters were swept away.

As Yoo Han-gil stood slack-jawed at the sight, a voice called out from behind.

"Are you Jaehyun’s friends? What’s going on here?"

The one who had saved them was Lee Bong-yeol, the guardian of the World Tree and Kim Jaehyun’s maternal grandfather.