Translator: Ares

Editor Group: Liber Reverie

‘Anyway… Not bad. Don’t you think those devils will retreat later?’

Hansoo smiled as he looked at his remaining memories in his head.

They took away all the human memories that were dear to him, or, to be exact, all human memories that he had cherished.

In other words, all that was left in his memories were based on fighting.

Of course, the memory was a bit dull and boring. However, there were some good benefits to that.

It meant that he wouldn’t be guilty about crushing those who remained in his memory.

Oddly enough, all the guys that he needed to destroy remained intact and clear in his head.

This was one of the reasons why Hansoo was in a good mood from the intel given by Hosang since he could clearly remember all of the people that this guy was talking about.

‘No wonder they were trying to stay so close to Desire even as far as risking their lives.’

He continued to listen to the explanations provided by Hosang.

“So, to sum it up… Presently, all the other eight Desires are divided into eight different forces.”

Though Hosang spoke informally, Hansoo didn’t really mind at all.

After forcingly making him his slave, it would be pointless to squeeze his organs just to make him speak more politely.

Of course, if he were to utilize Pandemic Blade to squeeze his organs, he would become more obedient. However, Hansoo was reluctant to make such wasteful actions.

What he needed was a hunting hound, not a pet that learned how to obey.

‘Regardless… It means that there is not one group that has more than one Desire in their hands.’

It turned out that the forces that were divided from the number of Desires were indeed diverse.

There was even a case where up to five 4-Star Transcendents were divided into one team to guard the tree.

And like this tree, there were cases when 4-Star Transcendents fought separately in their own groups as well.

However, there was something in common; there were no 5-Star Transcendents remaining. Hansoo understood why.

‘Clementine would never leave such a useful card behind.’

This wasn’t bad news for him anyways.

If there were 5-Star Transcendents, he would’ve had to be more stealthy and continue to raise his strength, but if there were none left, then he wouldn’t mind taking direct action.

There were a total of three variables that he had to consider.

First, it would be Clementine’s force that was leading the charge in front.

Second, it would be the beasts of the Abyss that had settled in the forest.

Lastly…

‘The guys that will come up soon.’

If the ones ascending from below were armed properly, they would become a truly powerful faction.

Even if someone was a Transcendent, there was none that could stubbornly push his way through against such large numbers, especially if there were Transcendents among that group.

Of course, controlling that group would be an entirely different problem, but if they were to ascend, then he could definitely turn the tide of this match.

Therefore, he needed to be prepared before this happened, for what he abhorred was being played in another person’s hand.

‘Not bad. There are lots of guys that I need to topple… And if I keep fighting, I should get stronger along the way. Hmm, let’s see. Who should I start with?’

Though he still had memories, he must have truly changed a lot from his previous life since the circumstances were entirely different from before.

‘There should be some that are already moving,’ Hansoo muttered.

If he were to deal with eight forces one by one, it would take quite a while. However, that wouldn’t happen since they were already moving to attack one another.

‘You’re quite lucky.’

Hansoo clicked his tongue as he looked at Hosang.

Mediocre strength and mediocre talent. If such a guy was eating the tree, he would soon be buried under the roots of Desire by stronger, more tenacious guys.

It was because he subordinated under him, he was able to preserve his life.

‘I’m basically keeping you alive. By the way…’

While Hansoo was in thought, Hosang spoke to Hansoo, “If you’re going to go, go from the northwest. John Nice and his wife are the weakest there.

‘Though they are stronger than me.’

Mr. and Mrs. Nice.

The two married each other once they both reached 4-Star Transcendent.

In the Orange Zone, they had fought tooth and nail, but afterward, they had married and life had never been so good.

After decades of fighting together, their combination attacks were art itself.

Hansoo smiled and nodded.

“Great. Let’s hurry and go.”

The moment Hansoo raised from his seat…

Boooooooooom!

“You crazy bastard… You can’t get too close!”

“This is off-limits!”

“Let go!”

From the ruckus outside, Hansoo and Hosang both frowned.

—

Booooooooom!

Karl Akus, who sifted through the gaps between the trees, soon settled on a tree with a delighted expression.

‘We’re here. We’re almost here!’

Boooooooooom!

Karl Akus blocked the attack that targeted his back and quickly approached the base of the tree where a flash of light briefly occurred.

This was the place where his wish would be granted as long as he put his hand on that tree.

It was the wish that he so long wanted.

‘Eron… Just wait a bit longer!’

It was when Karl Akus had almost arrived at the base of the tree and was about to put his hand.

“Hmmm… It seems like I need to save some of the essences for now.”

Hansoo’s voice could be heard from behind Karl Akus.

Then…

Squeeze.

“Uhhhhhhhk… Ahhhhhhhhhhk!”

Karl Akus let out a shrill of pain as he could feel his heart and mind and even all of his muscles being squeezed as if it would melt at any moment.

It was as if a fire was blazing throughout his body, leaving no room to spare throughout his body.

The pain that Hosang endured from before was now what he was experiencing.

‘Uhhhhhhhhk…’

However, in comparison to Hosang, Karl Akus was a bit different.

Karl Akus still had a desire that he had yet to fill.

It was to revive the woman, Eron.

From his estimation, he knew that the amount of essence needed wouldn’t be small to revive her. No, it was certain that he needed a significant amount.

However, it would be an overestimation to think that Hansoo would spare the amount of essence needed when he was preparing for war.

He could fulfill his own desires, and if needed, make the necessary weapons and potions that were useful in the upcoming war as well.

If he were to let go of this opportunity, Eron wouldn’t be revived since there wouldn’t be any essence left.

“Ahhhhhh… AHHHHHHHHK!”

Squeeeeeeze!

Karl Akus let out a large shrill due to the compressed pain that reverberated throughout his body. However, he continued to move forward to raise his hand onto the Desire tree.

Hansoo, who was monitoring the situation, looked at him with a horrified expression.

‘That that…. That crazy bastard.’

He had experienced it himself, so he knew better than anyone else how much suffering and pain would follow, yet he kept moving despite the pain.

Soon…

Ruuuuuuuuumble!

The Desire Tree trembled crazily before something began to fall as if it had received Karl Akus’s wish.

Simultaneously…

Ruuuuuumble!

The seed soon began to take on the form of a human at an incredible speed.

Ttuk!

In an instant, the seed split in half, and inside that seed, a woman-like figure began to fall.

Hosang, seeing this, let out a curious expression.

‘What the hell. Why is it so fast?’

In the past, he had wished for women to play with, but even then the seeds hadn’t opened up as quickly.

However, the seed had already begun to blossom.

Hansoo, seeing this, began to smile.

‘Yes. The Desire Tree needs to be at this level at least so that it would be useful.’

He had to show the others anyway just how meaningless it was to revive a dead person.

Then…

“Ughhhhhhh…. Ahhhhhh! What the heck! What is this?!”

Everyone was able to see clearly the woman that dropped from the Desire Tree which Karl Akus caught in his embrace.

“You can’t sleep? Come here. You can sleep if you do this.”

The girl in his embrace busily touched Akus’s cheek and chest.

‘… Is that Eron?’

Hosang frowned after seeing the woman’s appearance.

Of course, he would know since up to a while ago, they had been fighting crazily as they ascended the seven zones.

There was no way that they did not know each other’s circumstances.

There was no mistake that the girl who was in the embrace of the fully-armored Akus was Eron.

It was the guy’s wife that had died in the Green Zone.

‘… She truly has the same appearance as before.’

Hosang mumbled as he saw Eron’s appearance.

Her outer appearance was fine. No, it was rather the same, even the armor and weapons as well.

However, the moment he saw her, he knew that the girl was not Eron.

Rather, it could be said that it was a puppet that was made to be like Eron.

The evidence was that it continued to repeat the same actions that it was programmed to.

It was repeating it blindly.

Karl probably realized the moment he received her, which was why he was screaming.

Hansoo mumbled as he looked at Karl Akus.

‘Of course, the human that was created by the Desire Tree from your memories wouldn’t be human.’

There was a limit to how a person fully understood another person and that included family.

The woman was made from good memories and appearance. However, even the memories itself was lacking.

Since his desire was so great, it had been borne quite quickly. However, that was the extent of it.

In the end, it couldn’t create the same human.

“… So it is impossible to revive a dead person.”

Hansoo nodded at Hosang’s remarks.

“It could create something similar.”

It may be possible to create a new human being that was moderately modified in the first place. It could be possible to have the human being possess a similar personality without any memories to his satisfaction since the appearance was similar, to begin with.

If there was more essence available, it would be more than sufficient to do this in this case.

‘But that’s also a problem.’

Hansoo looked at Hosang and spoke, “Do you know why this is known as the Desire Tree?”

Hosang hesitated from that remark. Come to think of it, he was not the one that gave it its name.

‘Who named it again?’

After momentarily rummaging through his memories, he soon remembered who had given the tree its name.

<Desire Tree. Yes. This is a fitting name for this tree.>

Clementine had stated one sentence, in which the tree’s name had become Desire Tree.

It was because Desire Tree suited well with the trees, and above all else, Clementine had decided as such.

Hosang who finally recalled gnashed his teeth and spoke, “Do you think I’m a fool? It fulfills desires so it’s called the Desire Tree.”

Hanso chuckled from those words.

“I thought of it like that as well.”

“…?”

With a questioning look, Hansoo spoke to him once more, “It is not called the Desire Tree since it fulfills desires.”

No, it was rather the opposite.

“It’s called the Desire Tree since it stimulates desires.”

Hansoo stroked the tree as he muttered.

This tree stimulated desires and greed, which caused one to not monopolize one to fight for one, and those who had one to realize that one wasn’t enough. Then, those guys would aim to monopolize two trees. Once a person had two, that person would want three and so forth.

In the end, a conclusion could be reached.

One had to take it all.

Taking it one step further, those with great desires and greed would sacrifice people to replenish its essence.

‘Come to think of it… I don’t think I really need to go there.’

Hansoo muttered as he looked at the direction northwest where the John Nice couple were at.

—

Ruuuuuuuuumble!

“Uhhhhhhhhhk. Why… We had followed you.”

Thousands of bodies were scattered under the tree where the tree was soaking up the essence from the corpses.

Everyone there were the people that followed the owner of the tree, the John Nice couple.

The number was many and even their talent was good.

They had even eaten the poison that was made from the Desire Tree, so there was no chance of betrayal.

However, as if they were trying to create something, the John Nice couple shook their heads and muttered, “… Our child is not coming back to life.”

“… It seems that we are still lacking.”

An eerie madness pervaded their eyes.

‘We need another tree.’

In addition, they needed something to replenish the essence of the trees.

They turned their heads toward the southwest direction.