Translator: Ares

Editor Group: Liber Reverie

Kuooooooooooooo!

Dell Marcus felt irritated seeing the large tortoise-looking beast standing up.

For such a beast to be living below his feet, it was truly remarkable.

Above his shell, he could see nine large trees broken and crushed, each one of them being the Desire Trees the size of small mountains.

That was how large and overwhelming the size of this guy was.

The greatest problem was its condition.

Kuoooooooooooo!

Not sure what had made it so enraged, it was stamping its eight feet onto the ground in anger. Every time it stamped one of its feet down, the whole forest trembled before trees started falling.

‘Ugh…’

Dell Marcus gulped after seeing this scene.

It already took significant time for them to destroy those trees since the skin of the tortoise-looking beast was much thicker and stronger than the bark of the Desire Trees that they had destroyed. If that kind of monster were to go at them, there would be no hope. What was unfortunate was that probability seemed very high since it was actively slaughtering the lifeforms that were harming it.

“You… What did you do to create such a mess? What happens if that monster were to come at us?”

Hansoo shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, don’t worry. It won’t be us first.

“That makes no sense!!”

Hosang screamed after seeing the enraged beast looking frantically all around. If one were to break the spine of one’s back, then the person that caused the act should experience the same thing.

Hansoo shook at his remark.

“Not everything is that simple.”

“That… is a bit unusual,” Hansoo muttered after seeing the wailing beast.

—

There were a variety of ways that living creatures sought to survive in the world. However, not all living things lived solely for survival. Humans alone had various interests apart from survival. No, all organisms including humans had desires. Depending on the species, their desires might vary, but they all shared desires. Among that, the one that had a very particular desire existed.

<The desire to look into other people’s desires.>

Complete curiosity.

There were creatures that evolved in order to satisfy this curiosity. In order to read the desires of others, they developed an organ similar to a production plant in its body to satisfy that role. To attract others, the shell grew huge trees that were visible to anyone, which made it look like a safe location to build a shelter around.

There was a limit to the production when it was young. However, as it ages, it was able to continually add. Ultimately, it was able to create nine Desire Trees, which was able to lure in the organisms of others with desires. It listened to their desires, and in return, encouraged greater desires.

It wasn’t difficult to eat the bug-like creatures above, but it felt that there was no need to. It preferred the pleasantness of keeping them alive and listening to their desires. However, what if that joy were to disappear? What if all nine roots were gone? More importantly, what if an intense pain struck at it from the collapsing trees?

That was the moment where its serenity changed into rage.

That was why it stood to show the other organisms to reveal that reality.

Kuooooooooooooooooo!

It was relentlessly trampling all over the place, killing everyone in its path. What captivated the beast’s heart the most was rage. Until his nine trees grew back again, its curiosity could no longer be satisfied.

No, in fact, there was one more option of achieving that.

Direct intake.

It was to directly eat them.

If it were to capture the thousands to tens of thousands of organisms on top of its shell and digest them, it would be able to know all the remaining desires of the creatures.

Of course, it normally wasn’t a good option.

There was no reason to since if it were to spare them, they would create even larger desires. However, that means had now disappeared, so the story had changed.

Countless tentacles rose from under the beast’s shell as it began to look around.

—

‘Ugh…’

Dell Marcus couldn’t help but be disgusted seeing the tentacles ranging kilometers searching the area.

The thickness of the tentacles was the size of a person’s head.

The tentacles were extremely long as thousands of them unraveled throughout the forest.

Ssssssssss

Strange sensory organ sounds were heard as they whizzed past Dell Marcus and the rest.

To be exact, it went against all living creatures in the forest and not just the Adventurers.

Booooooooom!

Boom!

A few beasts were mercilessly caught by the tentacles and raised into the air.

Among them, there were the rhinoceroses, the ones that Dell Marcus had a very difficult time fighting.

Kuooooooooooooo!

The beasts stuck in the air resisted in vain.

Ruuuuuumble!

Kuk!

The tentacles with their intense pressure crushed the bodies of the animals in the air as they began to rush inside the large shells.

‘… I’m about to faint for real at this rate.’

Hosang gulped, seeing the frightening scene before him.

Soon, they wouldn’t be much different from the beasts that were currently experiencing such a torturous event.

Seeing Hosang slowly reaching for his sword on his waist, Hansoo muttered, “Don’t recklessly resist. It’ll just make it more curious.”

“…”

“Don’t be afraid. If you had used the Desire Tree as I taught you before, we will be okay for now.

The proof of Hansoo’s words was shown as the tentacles swept past the Adventurers as if they lost interest in them.

Kuaaaaaaaaaaaaang!

Kuoooooooooooo!

Ruuuuumble!

Countless screams and shrills could be heard inside the forest, but even those roars were temporary.

As if it had finished sweeping through the forest, the large beast made a strange cry before slowly moving its huge body to the north.

Seeing this, Hansoo nodded with a satisfied expression.

“Let’s see. We will be able to arrive quite nicely.”

“Crazy… Are you really trying to face those that traveled to the north?” Dell Marcus muttered with an exhausted expression.

It was clear where the beast was heading.

It was toward the location where Eres and the rest were.

All of them including Kangtae and Eres had not used the Desire Tree since they deemed it dangerous.

In other words, the only ones that had an interest were them.

There was no mistake that the tentacles were currently searching for trails of the people that had left for the north.

Hansoo nodded. It wasn’t certain that he would win. If he lacked strength, he just had to unite his with the others. If the two were to fight, he would be able to gain some profit and advantages. Even if this beast lacked the strength, just seeing their reactions and current strength was itself a benefit.

“I think they might have a hidden card…” Hansoo muttered, thinking about Clementine.

In fact, if he was determined, Clementine was totally able to monopolize this world. No matter how strong Eres and her comrades were along with the people that had come here 1 to 2 years after, their numbers were limited.

After installing filters in the Yellow Zone, he was able to succeed in growing a significant faction.

This had progressed for almost 15 years. However, none of those people were by Clementine. All of them were 1st or 2nd years of the first generation, and the latest being 3rd or 4th years.

‘If all of them had followed Clementine, to begin with, then it was uncertain… But even so, the numbers wouldn’t match.’

The purpose of those words meant one thing.

The ones that ascended did not unite but were doing some work elsewhere.

‘What is this guy possibly hiding?’

Hansoo coldly smiled before speaking out, “What are you doing? Let’s move.”

“…?”

Hansoo quietly chuckled seeing those Adventurers.

“We’re following it.”

Hansoo smiled, seeing the large beast walking away.

—

Kureeeeeeeeeung!

“… What’s happening?”

Eres had a suspicious expression, seeing the sudden trembles on the ground.

They had already entered far more inside than they had imagined. This hallway was longer beyond their imagination. However, to still be able to hear those trembles above meant that a large commotion was happening from above.

Keldian shook his head and calmed Eres’ curiosity.

“Let’s concentrate, Eres. We are not in a state to do anything anyways.”

Keldian touched the hallway. He wasn’t aware of what materials this hallway was made of, but it was clear that it was unusual.

None of their skills worked. Whether it was penetrating vision skills, communication skills, and even all sorts of teleportation and space movement skills, they were all prohibited in addition to inhibition of senses.

The only thing that was here was an open hallway. Other than that, for a Transcendent who used all sorts of skills and had the ability to cover several kilometers with their enhanced physical abilities, this corridor was a prison.

It was completely opposite of what he felt when he was outside in the white hallway.

The others felt similar, and their faces also showed quite a lot of frustration because of the lack of preparation for what might come out from the dark.

They felt as if their hands, feet, sight, and scent were all cut off.

Considering how the guys were able to inhibit their senses and abilities to their extent, it was clear that the guys that could attack them weren’t normal.

In this unknown, undentable facility, if the internal defense system were to operate, it would mean that all of them would be in danger.

Eres, seeing the expressions of everyone, nodded and began to walk once more.

She agreed that she needed to focus on the current task.

‘Yeah. It’s not like I can communicate outside…’

However, not everyone was out of touch with the outside.

The power to communicate beyond dimensions.

Taehee, who was walking in the back, accepted the information from the trembles of the small soul shards in her body.

Soon…

She slowly fell back to Clementine’s side and began to write something on his palm.

<We have captured all of the queen species, but there has been a variable.>

<What?>

Taehee wrote once more on his palm from Clementine’s question.

<… It’s said that Desire Return has woken up. It is coming here.>

“Truly… What a crazy guy,” Taehee bit her lips and muttered as she wrote.