The World After the Bad Ending

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Kuuung! Kung!

The first floor of Magung, the gray forest.

A massive root, descending from the dark clouds, began to burrow into the ground of the gray forest here and there.

“What… what is that?!”

I heard Seron scream in shock.

Others looked equally flustered by the unexpected scale of it all.

But the real show hadn’t even begun.

I dashed out, quietly fixing my gaze on the center of the root.

Jeok!

Soon, buds sprouted from the center of the root, beginning to open.

Tuduk- Dook-

A thick liquid flowed out between the opened buds.

There, a monster that appeared to be a hybrid between a human and an insect, crafted from gray tree bark, emerged.

The monster spread its insect wings from its shell and began to dry them.

The moment it takes off properly, things are going to get incredibly messy.

So, we knew exactly what we had to do.

“Everyone, spread out and start chopping those roots as best as you can!”

“Are you crazy? You want us to cut that?!”

Seron was horrified, staring at the roots embedded in the gray forest.

Just looking at it, the thickness was absurd.

Naturally, it couldn’t be cut easily.

But we couldn’t just leave it be.

The True Nature of the Gray Forest.

The Forest Keeper absorbs all the spirit energy of the gray forest.

Once the energy is drained, the gray forest turns entirely gray.

This meant each step would sap our strength, turning it into a debuff zone.

“Feeling a bit unsure?”

Seron, who had been talking big about going down to Magung, flared up when I provocatively asked why.

“Who would be scared of that?!”

With a loud shout, Seron charged madly at a root.

Schiik!

As she pulled out her axe, flames erupted with a sound of ignition.

Given her advantage against the root, Seron would definitely be able to chop it without any problems.

“Aisha, you can do this too, right?”

“Of course.”

Aisha had already drawn her great sword and started swinging it around.

Known as Aisha the Iron Swordswoman, her strength was more than enough to deal with the root.

In fact, her eyes sparkled as if she had been waiting for a day like this.

“Poara, how many fire spirits can you summon?”

“I can call up to intermediate spirits!”

“That’s plenty. Don’t summon the lord yet. There will be a time when we’ll need it.”

“Got it!”

With an energetic reply, Poara manifested a fire spirit.

A giant fire lizard emerged behind Poara, opening its mouth and unleashing flames towards the roots.

“Saint!”

“I’m ready.”

In the meantime, SirMiel finished her prayer, reaching her hand up to the sky.

At that moment, a white light enveloped not just my body but everyone’s.

Vitality surged through us.

I felt my movements become much lighter than before.

It was the effect of the blessing bestowed by the saint.

Indeed, it felt as if my stats had inflated significantly, as expected of a saint.

‘With this…’

I kicked off the ground and dashed forward, quickly reaching the root.

Up close, it was enormous enough to resemble a baobab tree.

No wonder Seron was making such a scared expression.

‘Originally…’

This part would be a relatively easy event if Lucas was here with the protagonist.

With them around, dealing with the root would be a piece of cake.

Especially since Lucas’s flame of determination was the Forest Keeper’s greatest weakness.

But expecting something that wasn’t going to happen was pointless.

When all else fails, sometimes you just have to fight with your gums.

My hand rose, my fingers stood sharp like blades.

Thanks to my steel skin, my body became a natural weapon.

And with the saint’s blessing added on top, my body could now perform better than most ordinary weapons.

‘Though, not quite at the level of aura…’

I could still achieve sharpness on par with an ordinary famous sword.

Pugogogog!

My swinging hand tore into the root, digging deep.

The root’s strength wasn’t drastically different from regular wood.

So, maintaining my position, I raised my other hand.

My hand began to stab and tear at the root without restraint.

Like a mole digging through the earth.

In that moment, I transformed into a digging machine, unearthing the entire root.

As I recklessly tore through the roots, a break was visible outside soon after.

Still in the same position, I spun around and went back to tearing out the roots.

Tuduk, tudududuk!

Before long, the middle section connecting to the ground was hollowed out.

Around the roots, remnants of the torn roots were scattered everywhere.

There was no time to catch my breath.

As soon as I confirmed that the root had completely been ripped out, I kicked off the ground once more and raced ahead.

Then I reached out again towards the next root.

I summoned all my strength to begin cutting through each and every root.

Jeok! Kuuung!

In the distance, the sound of a root snapping echoed.

Others were also supporting the effort, it seemed.

We clearly weren’t the protagonist party.

But just because we weren’t, didn’t mean we couldn’t do our part.

‘If we can stop the Forest Keeper, we can take the most number of people into the next act in this scenario.’

Even without Lucas, the most valuable player.

We just needed to bring more students to fill that gap.

‘To lead a bad ending to a happy one.’

We would utilize any means necessary.

“Senpai!”

As I severed another root, Aisha’s voice resonated.

In the path where Aisha was charging out, I spotted another root.

There were no other roots in sight.

All had been smashed by everyone’s desperate effort.

With my hand still at it, I started running again.

Despite the strain on my arms from digging so fervently, I was still alright.

Aisha spun her body and began to rotate her great sword.

Again, my hand was granted the cutting power granted by my steel skin.

Ching!

Aisha’s great sword and my hand struck simultaneously into the root.

The two of us began to rip at the root with reckless abandon.

Without hesitation, the remnants of the torn root scattered around us.

The great sword and my hand blazed a path through the roots.

After a while of digging, Aisha and I burst out from between the roots simultaneously.

Tududududuk!

The remaining roots failed to withstand the force, collapsing as they were torn apart.

Aisha and I rolled out amidst the fragments of the roots.

We dashed away as fast as we could to avoid the area that had turned gray.

“Ugh, my arm’s gonna fall off!”

I saw Seron running towards me, axe on her shoulder.

Her red hair was smeared with remnants of the roots.

It was proof that she too had been desperately cutting through the roots.

“I burned all the roots!”

Poara cried out as she rode in on the fire lizard.

I quickly scanned my surroundings.

Fortunately, not all of the gray forest had turned to a gray area.

This meant we had successfully thwarted the phase of the Forest Keeper’s emergence.

But the battle with the Forest Keeper was just beginning.

Kududukudukuduk!

The Forest Keeper at the center of the root began to rise, severing the roots connected to it.

Originally, it should have been much larger from absorbing the spirit energy of the gray forest.

However, thanks to how quickly we had dealt with the roots, it hadn’t grown that large.

This meant it had been weakened.

“Saint, could you pass some blessings to Poara?”

“Not a problem.”

The saint immediately complied with my request.

He began his prayer.

“Poara.”

“Yes, yes!”

“Prepare the Spirit Lord and unleash it at maximum power the moment my blessing is granted.”

“Uh, can I really do that?”

Poara asked with a confused expression.

She was worried it was her trump card, and wondered if she could actually use it like that.

Of course, it’s fine.

“Yeah, give it your all.”

Listening to my words, Poara nodded with a serious look.

“What do you plan to do?”

I answered Seron and looked up at the Forest Keeper.

“O God, may you please accept the prayers of your lamb.”

In the meantime, SirMiel finished her prayer.

Though we were in Magung, her prayers reached the heavens.

Before long, a fierce light from the sky poured down onto Poara.

All of Poara’s abilities surged explosively.

The Spirit Lord existed beneath the deity’s level.

This meant it could receive the deity’s protection better than anyone else.

As a result, the deity’s blessing led Poara into a realm she could never have reached on her own.

Due to the concentrated power, Poara began to sweat profusely as she clasped her hands together.

At that moment, spirit energy gushed from Poara’s body like crazy.

A halo began to appear above Poara.

“Wowaaah!”

“This is incredible!”

Seron and Aisha gasped in awe as they felt the flow of power.

The wind picked up.

The gust was so powerful that we could barely keep ourselves low.

Amidst the powerful gusts, the owner of the Spirit Great Forest slowly lifted its head.

Sparks spread around.

A massive bird made of wind and sparks spread its wings towards the sky.

Its wings were so huge that they cast shadows across the ground.

The Spirit Sovereign.

A being that has reached the utmost realm that spirits can attain let out a howl toward the sky.

The sight was overwhelming.

In terms of firepower, the Spirit Sovereign stood on par with a great mage.

Before such immense power, everything was powerless.

I slowly raised my lips.

The first phase of the Forest Keeper had many troublesome aspects.

It was optimized to consume the player’s strength and items.

So, it was quite irritating in its patterns.

That’s why I utilized Poara.

‘Let’s skip to phase one with a final blow.’

Let’s smash it down.

“Spirit Sovereign!”

Poara, drenched in sweat, swallowed the saliva flowing from her mouth.

Then she aimed her hand at the Forest Keeper.

“Please!”

With Poara’s scream, the Spirit Sovereign swung its wings.

In that moment, the winds and lightning that erupted charged towards the Forest Keeper.

Kwagagagagagagagagag!

The Forest Keeper, opening its eyes, screamed as it witnessed the whirlwind of winds and lightning.

Though it struggled to survive, it was in vain.

The whirlwind of winds and lightning tore the Forest Keeper to shreds.

Pieces of the Forest Keeper scattered around.

The once massive roots in the gray forest had been completely devastated beyond recognition.

“Ugh, heh.”

Exhausted from summoning the Spirit Sovereign, Poara dropped to her knees.

Well done.

Staring blankly at this, Seron asked.

“Do we really not need to worry?”

“Don’t worry.”

I replied to Seron while readjusting my grip on the shield.

Piyuuuuuuu!

At that moment, tiny fruit-like things began pouring out from the broken roots in all directions.

Kuhng! Kuuung!

The fruits that landed on the ground opened up like hatching eggs.

And from them emerged smaller Forest Keepers, wingless and much smaller than the one we had seen moments prior.

Seron stared at them with a horrified expression and slowly lowered her axe.

She realized that the fight was far from over.

“We still have a lot to do.”

Having managed to get through phase one with a final blow, it was now time to tackle phase two.