The Possessor Mistook the Genre for 20 Years

39 – There Are Too Many Bad Ending Points.

I don’t know why a foreboding feeling never misses its mark.

Someone once said that the total amount of happiness is fixed, so if you’re unhappy now, you’ll be happy later. At this rate, each person would have to win the lottery three times to balance it out.

Unfortunately, there’s no lottery in this world, so it’s impossible.

Anyway.

‘So there wasn’t just one bad ending.’

Naturally, I thought there was only one bad ending, but that wasn’t the case.

Judging by the flow so far, it seems like this situation will repeat until the percentage displayed is fully filled…

So, how many more branching points are left?

Five? Ten? Maybe even more.

Just imagining it made my head throb.

Hoo-.

Franz pushed the thoughts in his head aside with a sigh.

First, he had to solve the problem at hand.

“Hera, are you okay?”

Despite his earlier thoughts, he was worried about Hera.

For the long-lived elves, calling someone a kin was practically the same as calling them family for humans.

Even if a close friend betrays you, the sting lasts a lifetime, so how much more shocking would it be to be betrayed by family?

Moreover, Hera was experiencing this for the second time, so it was understandable if she wished for the world’s end.

“Franz, could you tell me just one thing…?”

Hera’s gaze, which had been directed at the floor, slowly rose to meet Franz’s.

Her expression was painted with despair.

As if she might collapse at any moment.

“Why, why does this keep happening? Did I do something wrong? Please, tell me, Franz.”

“You did nothing wrong. You did nothing wrong.”

Franz knew better than anyone how much effort Hera had put in.

Joining the hero’s party and enduring all sorts of hardships, struggling to rescue elf slaves, everything was for the elves.

If she was at fault, then all the elves present would have to be considered sinners.

But understanding her self-reproach as a leader, he could only feel pity.

As he comforted Hera, Franz glanced at Eustia.

Come and comfort her too-, he meant.

Eustia’s eyes widened, and then she hesitantly approached Hera.

“That’s right. Hera, you did nothing wrong. It’s this world that’s bad. Whoever made it, really….”

“Thank you, Eustia….”

Impressive.

Franz was newly impressed by Eustia’s improved eloquence.

He hadn’t expected her to subtly criticize the goddess while comforting Hera.

Whether their comfort helped, fortunately, Hera soon calmed her emotions.

The despair that had colored her expression subsided, and life began to return to her eyes.

Now it was time to solve the problem in earnest.

“Hera, could you explain in detail what happened?”

“To get straight to the point, one of our kin was colluding with the cult. The state of the World Tree is entirely a result of that.”

I wasn’t particularly surprised, as I was already convinced it was the cult’s doing.

I was just angry at the cult for acting so recklessly.

Because of those b*stards, I’ve had to deal with a lot of troublesome matters up until now.

And thinking that I’ll continue to face more troubles because of them made my teeth grind with frustration.

We need to wipe them out completely.

As Franz was silently venting his anger, Hera continued speaking calmly.

“I only found out because our kin told me….”

Hera’s voice sank a little lower.

It seemed like she was forcing herself to say something difficult.

“He wanted to protect the World Tree, the Great Forest, and the elves. But to do so, he needed power, and his way of obtaining that power was a bit misguided.”

He had resorted to wrongful deeds to protect what was precious to him.

It was like distributing drugs to feed one’s family in modern terms.

I could understand his intentions, but I couldn’t condone his actions.

I just felt sorry that he was put in such a situation.

“So, where is that elf now?”

“Well….”

Hera’s gaze turned to the World Tree.

“He became one with the World Tree. He drank the blood of the demons and then took his own life.”

Franz sighed at Hera’s words.

Even though there was no other choice, it still left a lingering discomfort.

His actions were wrong, but his intentions were right.

“Hera, are you okay?”

“It can’t be helped. It’s clear that he was in the wrong. It’s just a bit bitter. If I had returned to the Great Forest a little earlier and corrected the wrongs, this wouldn’t have happened.”

She was talking about what had happened before.

Hera’s brother and childhood friend had sold the elves into slavery, and Hera had corrected that.

In the end, the seeds of evil they had sown were still tormenting the elves.

Franz had nothing particular to say.

No matter what he said, it would just be the words of an outsider.

And she probably wasn’t expecting a response anyway.

He must have just wanted to lament his situation.

“I’m sorry for telling you this. It seems I’ve only dampened the mood further.”

Hera said with a smile.

It was obvious she was trying to act cheerful, but I decided not to pay attention to it.

It was a problem that time would solve eventually.

But the real issue was what to do about that….

Franz stared at the World Tree, lost in thought.

If it were a matter of cutting it down with magic, it would be very simple.

It could be done in just a second, swoosh-.

But that’s not what Hera and the elves wanted, was it?

They wanted the World Tree to return to normal.

That’s why he brought Justia, but the situation was much more serious than expected, and he was worried if she could handle it alone.

Franz’s gaze shifted from the World Tree to Justia.

“Justia, can you purify that?”

“Well, I’m not sure. I think we just have to try.”

Well, giving up after coming this far didn’t make sense either.

As she said, we had no choice but to give it a shot.

“Then let’s get started.”

We had to finish it before the situation got worse.

As Franz took a step forward, Hera and Justia followed behind.

A bean bun without beans, a hero party without a hero, began to move.

‘Will it attack?’

Since even an ordinary tree had moved, the World Tree might launch a full-scale attack.

And that prediction was spot on.

As they got closer, the branches of the World Tree attacked at an incredible speed.

Snap-.

When Franz snapped his fingers, a round dome-shaped shield enveloped the three of them.

Boom-!

The branches hit the shield, shattering the silence of the great forest with a thunderous roar.

As expected of the World Tree, it was a power that ordinary branches couldn’t produce.

Not only that, the red liquid that flowed from the broken branch melted the surrounding grass as soon as it touched the ground.

Ssssss-.

The smoke rising and bubbling looked just like an acidic solution.

The unexpected attack was a bit surprising, but it wasn’t really a problem.

I was simply amazed that a tree could do such things.

The three of them took one step forward, protected by magic.

The branches whipped against the shield mercilessly, but the shield didn’t even get a scratch.

It felt like raindrops tapping on a window.

Then it happened.

Suddenly, the ground seemed to wriggle, and sharp thorns sprang up from the ground one after another.

However, the thorns stopped before they could even touch the shield.

“I want to be of help too.”

It seemed that Hera was using the power of the Spirit King.

“Just don’t overdo it.”

There was no reason to stop her if she wanted to help.

Honestly, with this level of attack, it didn’t really matter whether Hera helped or not, but if it made her feel better, that was enough.

‘But is this really the end?’

Franz was a bit suspicious of the situation.

Wasn’t this the World Tree, which had enough power to sustain such a vast forest?

Yet, the only attacks it made were with roots and branches, which didn’t make sense.

But it was better for Franz if his suspicion wasn’t resolved.

If things continued like this, purifying the World Tree didn’t seem too difficult.

Franz hoped his suspicion would remain just that as he moved forward.

The closer they got to the World Tree, the more intense the attacks became, but there was nothing special about them.

Still, only the roots and branches were hitting the shield.

It seemed things were going well.

Maybe the law of the conservation of happiness was real.

The three of them finally arrived in front of the World Tree.

“Justitia, please.”

Justitia nodded, knelt down, and brought her hands to her chest.

As she began to recite the prayer, a golden divine power started to spread simultaneously.

It was then.

‘What is that?’

Suddenly, Franz saw something strange.

It was a flower bud.

A flower bud had formed on the branch of the World Tree.

The flower bud soon bloomed into a single flower.

The moment he saw it, an alarm started ringing in Franz’s mind.

Because mana began to condense in the ominous dark red flower.

Soon, the condensed mana shot out in a single line.

Towards Franz and his party.