Chapter 85 – Forest of the Dryads (6)

[Lloyd H.K.: It was huge. Its mana was tremendous as well. I could feel how powerful it was, even though it was far away.]

[Prince Altania: Isn't it just a big creature? I think I could take it...]

[Yasunori Akira: Why don't you go over there then? I would've gone myself if I was nearby. Oh well.]

It’d been a long time since any hero entered the chatroom. It’s been quiet since Shino Rendu’s death. The silence was broken when a new elite monster was discovered, and now the heroes were excited in a different way.

[Lee Shin-Woo: Is the monster so powerful that even you wouldn't face it, Seniors?]

Lee Shin-Woo spoke in the chatroom while cutting down the branches of said powerful monster. He’d been fighting the Tree Golem for a few days now, and he was getting bored. That was why he entered the chatroom to increase the effectiveness of his training!

[Erian Ruparte: We don't know since we haven't gotten close and personally ascertained its level. However, if it truly was spawned in the 'Melting Forest', one of the renowned areas of the Empire...]

[Ethan Cruz: Heavens. You're talking about that forest in the northwestern outskirts of the Empire, right? Once you enter, your gear will melt right away while you won’t be able to do anything. And let’s not not even go into what’ll happen to your body.]

[Prince Altania: Hmph, a forest? It’s simple then. I just need to use my special fire magic from afar and burn it to a crisp!]

Erian snorted at his arrogance.

[Erian Ruparte: Unfortunately for you, Sir Altania, I believe there's a strange energy protecting the forest. You probably won’t be able to burn a single tree unless you completely eliminate that energy.]

[Prince Altania: What? A stronger force can overcome a weaker force.]

[Erian Ruparte: What I'm saying is that it'd be difficult for you, Sir Altania, as there's quite a bit of that energy there.]

[Prince Altania: Ugh...]

[Lee Shin-Woo: What do you mean by a strange energy...?]

She was definitely talking about the Dryads, but Lee Shin-Woo feigned ignorance! He was like a wide-eyed newbie saying, ‘Oh, there’s a place like that? I wouldn’t even dare go there!’ Erian was quite pleased as she offered further explanation.

[Erian Ruparte: I believe they're corrupted spirits. They were known as Dryads in my world. If they are Dryads... It's quite a miserable and depressing situation. Dryads treasure all trees, and love all living beings indiscriminately...]

"So what you're saying is..."

[Kuaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!]

At that moment, the Tree Golem seemed to have had enough of this slow-paced battle and cried out loudly. Thousands of tree branches surged into the air and fused into one! The resulting giant tree hammer slammed into Lee Shin-Woo and Jin with the precision of an arrow. Startled, Jin quickly got out of the way.

The hammer hit the ground with a ‘kwang’ before transforming into an immense concentration of Acid Poison and splattering everywhere. The potent acid Ethan Cruz had said would melt any equipment swept through Lee Shin-Woo and Jin simultaneously.

[You are hit by the High Rank Acid Hammer! Intermediate Acid Resistance reduces the damage by about 60%!]

"Gah... I really want to stop doing this! I did enough... Shin-Woo, we can stop now, right? Right?"

"Bear with me a bit more, Jin. We can't stop now!"

For a brief moment, Lee Shin-Woo’s armor was completely melted, as well as half of his limbs. The same had happened to Jin. Although Lee Shin-Woo’s Acid Resistance was now at intermediate level 9, he still took a significant amount of damage from the poison. Such was the power of the Tree Golem.

"I can't, I'll die. I'll really die. See you on the other side, Shin-Woo..."

"You won't die. Don't worry."

Lee Shin-Woo meant what he said. Hastily, he activated Regeneration to restore not only his own melting body, but Jin’s as well. He was able to do so because Assimilation had reached intermediate level 5!

[Erian Ruparte: That acid is too powerful for us to endure, and will not only melt through metal, but our flesh as well. Even a great mage would have to sacrifice their skin and muscles to block the acid. You must not recklessly approach the forest.]

[Yasunori Akira: Haha, it certainly is intriguing, but you can't throw away your life just because you're curious.]

Amid the chorus of his seniors’ differing laughter and advice against entering the ‘Melting Forest’, Lee Shin-Woo had completely healed his body. Jin, who was unable to finish this fight, sighed and asked Lee Shin-Woo about his progress.

"...What level is your Regeneration?"

"Intermediate level 7."

"It got up by 5 levels!"

"Well, we've both melted so many times..."

Lee Shin-Woo was overflowing with mana since he could absorb a portion of the acid by converting it. All his mana went into Regeneration, and through repeated use on himself and Jin, the skill grew quickly.

Skills would always grow quickly in extreme situations. An objective spectator would see their situation as miraculous—they've been fighting a seemingly unbeatable foe and have somehow endured it for three whole days!

[Erian Ruparte: I don't know how that monster was created, but the only thing we can do is either wait for it to calm down... Or wait for it to leave the forest.]

[Lloyd H.K.: Lee Shin-Woo, weren't you in the area? Are you ok?]

[Lee Shin-Woo: I'm okay. I took Senior Erian's words to heart and went in the opposite direction. However, even I can see its head from where I am. It's quite frightening.]

[Yasunori Akira: ...Don't overdo it, Lee Shin-Woo. You’ve been growing rapidly even now. You said you’ve passed 2,500 stats total?]

[Prince Altania: You monster. I have to get to level 7 before you catch up.]

[Lloyd H.K.: You're in the west, right? Found any dungeons?]

[Prince Altania: Ah, I dunno. Stop acting like you're concerned about me and enjoy dating that granny elf!]

[Erian Ruparte: Granny? Granny!? What did you just say, Sir Altania!?]

Ah, the chatroom was filled with his lies! Lee Shin-Woo would feel bad about lying even more, so he stopped listening to his seniors and left the chatroom. Over the past three days, the Tree Golem's body had shrunk significantly, and he could see it from head to toe without moving his gaze.

It’s shrinking because I’ve been cutting its branches.

No matter how many branches he’d cut, though, its main body remained intact, and the smaller it got, the sharper and toucher its branches became.

Lee Shin-Woo had given up on cutting all of its branches, and was in the middle of weeding out its weakest ones with his three flying axes. That, however, might become impossible soon.

When that happens, I'll have to take down the main body.

Since they'd been fighting the Tree Golem for three days, Lee Shin-Woo already knew all of its special characteristics. He was also aware of the difference in stats between them. Lee Shin-Woo and Jin's teamwork was good enough to overcome that stat difference, filling in the gaps Rebellion couldn’t compensate for.

He would make his move the moment his Acid Resistance reached high rank. He would cut it down and burn it to a crisp! Lee Shin-Woo made the decision silently, but something unexpected happened before he could realize his plan.

[Ah... Ah.]

"Hmm?"

Lee Shin-Woo had yet again cut down the branches the Tree Golem shot out to attack him. His axe technique was flawless, and he absorbed as much of the acid it spewed out as he could. That was when he heard something that made him flinch. He thought he had heard it wrong, but he hadn’t.

[How is this... possible?]

"Huh!?"

At the center of the Tree Golem's body, where countless screams originated, one of the voices suddenly changed into that of a young girl's. And then a portion of the incoming branches froze midair! Lee Shin-Woo watched in shock as the small but distinct voice of a girl continued.

[Ah. In the end... In the end, we ended up like this...]

[Gguaaaaaaaaahk!]

[Don't come!]

[Die...! Please die...!]

Her lilting voice was accompanied by the other old womens' voices, which made it sound even more eerie! Cutting down the attacking branches, Lee Shin-Woo yelled, "Have you gotten a hold of yourself now?"

He acts like he had always planned to awaken the Dryads! Jin thought with disbelief.

Lee Shin-Woo was always ready to drop into an act most appropriate for the situation, which was why he could respond so quickly. The Dryad didn’t suspect a thing because of how natural his acting was.

[I remember everything. You haven't attacked us once since entering the forest. You’ve been protecting us to the end, even going so far as to risk your life...!]

"I couldn't harm you Dryads, the protectors of this forest! I didn't know how I should save you, and this attempt was nothing but a fool’s act...!"

"Bleh."

Jin retched at Lee Shin-Woo's despicable attempt to deceive the Dryads, all the while deftly avoiding the flying branches. He'd become skilled enough that he could dodge them in his sleep.

[That mysterious ability of yours to absorb the curse... I see. That is the reason why I’m able to regain my sanity, however briefly... It must be why you haven’t lost yourself even after becoming a skeleton as well.]

"Yeah, you're right."

This all happened because of Jin's ability to absorb the curse! Lee Shin-Woo acted calm and responded to the prompt, but was actually astonished on the inside. Then again, they had fought the same opponent for three whole days, with Jin being in contact with the nearby mana the entire time, so the revelation made total sense.

Lee Shin-Woo decided he needed to look further into this in the future. He had thought it was just a skill that would revive Jin, but this was proof that there was something more tremendous hidden within Jin's skill.

[Thank you for your efforts and care. However, it's much too late now. We didn’t expect to get this corrupted...]

"..."

[I have a shameless request for you, who risked your life to protect us Dryads. Could you please listen to me?]

She had a request right after regaining sanity? It must be urgent. If not, she must have already developed a great trust in Lee Shin-Woo for ‘protecting’ them. Either way, it was all thanks to Lee Shin-Woo’s Acting.

[Is it...too much to ask?]

"...No, go ahead."

Lee Shin-Woo felt conflicted, but ultimately nodded in agreement. The Dryad sounded happy when she explained her request, like she had foreseen his answer.

[Please seek out General Dana Von Etliber. She should be safe from all of this, as she's loved by countless spirits. Please tell her where we are... And please give her this.]

Suddenly, something shot out of the Tree Golem’s torso and landed before Lee Shin-Woo. Lee Shin-Woo cut through the branches without much difficulty to pick it up. It was a crystal radiating a pale green light.

[Spirits' Spring Key Fragment]

[A precious artifact made of pure mana that is owned by only the world's spirits. The spirits would only give it to someone they approved of, sometimes as a token of friendship. Using this and a few other materials, you can open a passageway that allows you to enter the Spirits' Spring.]

"This is..."

[You just need to give that to her. As soon as possible... If you do that, she'll take care of everything. And with that, our kind will somehow...]

Her tone seemed brighter. Like she had just let go of a heavy burden. There was no way for the Dryad to know that Lee Shin-Woo would have access to the crystal’s information as a hero.

[Please find her. Hurry! There's no hope for us. I'll lose my sanity soon; please run while I can still maintain control over the Tree Golem! Run away and give Dana Von Etliber...!]

"Hey. Hey!"

Lee Shin-Woo called out to the Dryad with a sincere and smooth voice like that of a Skeleton Knight, but she didn’t respond; she couldn’t. She had exhausted her energy to stop the Tree Golem.

As he expected, his Acting leveled up at that moment.

[Acting is now Lv13! Who are you an ally to, and who are you an enemy to? Perhaps you yourself do not know the difference anymore.]

'Shin-Woo, what do we do?'

Jin used his connection to Lee Shin-Woo to communicate silently with him.

Lee Shin-Woo replied seriously, 'Let's act like we failed to run away and take it down like we originally planned to. She's withholding information from us on purpose.'

'Yeah, you really are the worst.'

'Can't you just call me the winner of our battle of wits?'

They acted as though the Acid Poison had prevented them from escaping; in the end, the Dryad wailed and told them to run away before losing consciousness.

Lee Shin-Woo had been worried that the crystal she gave him would disappear as well, but thankfully, it didn’t. After making sure that it was safe, Lee Shin-Woo smiled in satisfaction and raised his axe once more.

"Shall we begin training again?"

"Let's give it a rest, you demon..."

Jin weakly replied, but moved as Lee Shin-Woo wished. Truthfully, he didn't want to finish off the Tree Golem yet, either! There was still some time before the battle would come to a close.