Chapter 405: Subduing the World Tree (Patreon)

Chapter 405: Subduing the World Tree

Within the eye of the storm, two colossal beings stood facing each other from afar.

On one side was the towering black tree that connected heaven and earth, its trunk as thick as a mountain range, its canopy blotting out the sky. As its branches swayed, even the chaotic spatial currents were absorbed and transformed into nourishment.

On the other side stood Grand Wizard Galon, his form once again reaching the heavens, now with three heads sprouting from his body. The left head was wrathful, spewing black flames. The right head was sorrowful, tears of compassion dripping from its eyes. The middle head was neither joyful nor angry, its expression serene, its gaze indifferent—like a deity descending to overlook the mortal realm.

The World Tree's branches rustled, its voice resonating like a great bell, drowning out even the thunder.

"Wizard, I acknowledge your strength. But you cannot defeat me in this world. If you retreat now, I will pretend nothing happened. But if you insist on courting death, then—"

Before the World Tree could finish, Grand Wizard Galon interrupted:

"Enough of your rambling, old tree. Once I turn you into a staff, I’ll seal away your consciousness. Otherwise, your incessant chatter would surely drive me mad."

With that, all three of Galon’s heads opened their mouths simultaneously, inhaling and draining the energy from a thousand-mile radius into a vacuum. The bone staff in his hand shimmered with countless endlessly flowing runes.

Any Alchemist Wizard observing closely would notice that most of the runes on the staff were for reinforcement.

The Rune Arrays meant for amplification, however, were few and far between.

The sheer power of Grand Wizard Galon was so immense that even a staff crafted from the remains of a sixth-tier creature could barely withstand it.

"Wizard, you will become my finest nourishment," the World Tree's voice seethed with anger, as if ten thousand thunderclaps had exploded in the sky.

"I will make your soul wail upon my branches—"

Boom!

A massive shockwave instantly carved out a vacuum within the storm.

Grand Wizard Galon swung his bone staff downward, striking the World Tree with such terrifying force that the impact, combined with the storm, instantly shredded nearly half of its canopy.

For Grand Wizard Galon, the combat techniques of mortals were long obsolete. The artistry of rules lay hidden beneath the surface, invisible to ordinary eyes.

Thus, every move he made was brutally simple and direct.

The World Tree responded in kind.

Two vine whips suddenly lashed out from its body, their movements so powerful they fractured space itself.

Crack! The whips, capable of splitting the void, left nothing more than faint white marks upon Galon’s body.

From afar, within the Floating City, Richard stared dumbfounded at the two titans clashing in the storm.

Suddenly, his vision blurred with hallucinations.

The facade of the world peeled away before his eyes, granting him a glimpse behind the veil.

"So this... is the world beyond the veil?" Richard murmured to himself.

As a Third Circle Wizard, Richard had already earned the right to peek behind the curtain. The battle between Grand Wizard Galon and the World Tree, though seemingly crude, was in fact a dance of countless rules woven into every strike.

These applications of rules were concealed beneath the veil, imperceptible to anyone below the level of a third-tier being.

Before Richard’s eyes, all things shed their outer forms, revealing the essence beneath their disguises.

The rain was no longer rain, but an entanglement of the four elemental rules. The deep blue water element dominated, yet maintained a delicate balance with the other three elements.

The air was no longer air, but a tangle of rules where the air element held sway.

Everything in this world was interconnected by underlying rules, like an abstract painting—immersive yet dizzying.

Deep within the storm, every movement of the two colossal beings tugged at countless rules. On their bodies, Richard glimpsed an incredibly complex rule, woven from multiple strands, standing apart yet intertwined with the surrounding rules.

"Is this the Rule Body?" Richard murmured to himself.

On his shoulder, Ulysses observed Richard's dazed expression and nodded in satisfaction.

"Finally, he sees beyond the veil."

He glanced to the side and saw that the other Third Circle Wizards watching the battle alongside Richard had also fallen into a trance.

The sheer scale with which Grand Wizard Galon and the World Tree manipulated the rules had an immense impact beneath the veil. These undercurrents surged in the unseen, making it easy for those qualified to peer beyond the veil to sense the shifts and glimpse what lay behind it. Some creatures, innately sensitive, didn’t even need to reach the Third Circle to see beyond the veil under such circumstances.

"Come to think of it, this must be his first time seeing beneath the veil," Ulysses muttered softly, as if recalling something.

Before this, he remembered Richard had acquired all his rules through the Miracle Furnace. This was the first time he had truly witnessed the rules beyond the veil.

"Ah, what luck."

Most Third Circle Wizards obtained their rules by catching fragmented glimpses beyond the veil or by meticulously studying objects that manifested certain rules, deciphering their traits before extracting them through rituals—either assimilating them into their bodies or forcibly claiming them.

Yet Richard, with his Miracle Furnace, could acquire rules without even lifting the veil. If other Third Circle beings knew, they’d grind their teeth in envy.

With that, Ulysses turned his gaze back to the storm. Though he had seen beyond the veil many times, battles of this magnitude were rare even for him. There was much he could learn from this.

...

Within the storm, the two titans clashed like primal beasts. Each of their strikes was powerful enough to shatter space. The World Tree’s vines and branches lashed out, wreathed in spatial turbulence, yet against Grand Wizard Galon’s formidable body, such attacks left no wounds—only faint white marks.

Meanwhile, Galon’s skeletal staff struck with devastating force, each blow shaking the World Tree’s branches, sending splinters flying. But rooted in the world itself, the World Tree healed such injuries in moments.

This seemed destined to be a battle of attrition.

Then, abruptly, the wrathful head of Grand Wizard Galon twisted into a strange grin, while the sorrowful head shed a single tear. The central head, expressionless, spoke:

"It’s over."

The next instant, Galon drove his staff into the ground, and the earth split open with a massive fissure.

Deep within the subterranean Magma Sea, a massive tangle of roots was continuously absorbing nutrients from the magma.

This was the core of the World Tree that Grand Wizard Galon had been searching for.

All the World Trees they had encountered before were merely extensions of this root ball.

"World Tree, will you still not surrender?"

Grand Wizard Galon spoke in unison with his three heads.

"If you surrender, I will make you the spirit of my staff. We shall share both glory and downfall. But if you remain obstinate, don't blame me for sealing your soul away forever, never to see daylight again."

Galon's voice boomed like thunder, scattering even the rain clouds in the sky.

Yet the World Tree showed no panic.

"What if you've found me?"

As it spoke, a milky white light suddenly enveloped the core of the World Tree.

"World's Origin."

Grand Wizard Galon's expression grew solemn.

He hadn't expected this World Tree to have rooted so deeply that it was nearly assimilating the World's Origin into its core.

If it succeeded, not even destroying the world could kill it.

"With the World's Origin protecting me, come break it if you can."

Looking at the World Tree core, Galon's wrathful head laughed wildly, his compassionate head shed tears, while the central head sighed.

"Obstinate to the end. What a waste of my staff material."

With that, Galon clenched his fist, drawing Magic Power from nearly half the world.

Seeing this, the World Tree wouldn't let him continue unimpeded.

Its branches swayed wildly as countless roots emerged from the ground, intercepting two-thirds of the energy that should have flowed to Galon.

Even the cleverest housewife can't cook without rice. Without energy, no matter how powerful Galon was, he couldn't breach the World's Origin's defense.

Against anyone else, this tactic would have worked.

But unfortunately, the World Tree was facing one of the wealthiest Wizards in the Wizard World.

A Spatial Rift suddenly opened beside Galon.

Black Magic Essence poured out like a river.

A Wizard's battle was often a contest of wealth.

And Grand Wizard Galon happened to be among the richest.

In the next instant, countless Magic Essence crystals shattered, transforming into energy that surged into Galon's body.

A condensed fist beam pierced through the earth straight to the core, instantly shattering the milky white light surrounding the World Tree.

As the beam vanished, the massive black tree on the surface suddenly became completely still.

Without its core, it was now just an ordinary tree.

But soon, Galon noticed something amiss.

"Oh? Not dead yet."

Galon looked toward the world's edge, where a small sapling suddenly trembled.

"Don't kill me! I'll go with you!"

The World Tree's panicked voice rang in Galon's ears. His body returned to normal as he stepped forward, arriving beside the sapling in an instant.

"What? No more tough talk now?"

Galon grasped the sapling's trunk, smiling as he asked.

"No more, no more," the trembling sapling replied.

It never dreamed that this being, seemingly similar to itself, could actually breach the World's Origin's defense.

The world's origin essence is the most crucial aspect of any world. Its defensive power is incredibly formidable—below the level of a Great Being, one could at most shake the defenses of a miniature world.

Green Forest World is a small world, so logically, Grand Wizard Galon shouldn't have been able to breach its defenses. Unless...

The World Tree suddenly trembled.

"You could have become the ruler of the Astral World long ago?"

"Oh, you actually figured it out," Grand Wizard Galon said with some surprise. "But your phrasing is slightly off. It's not that I could have become the ruler long ago, but rather that I've already met the qualifications to become one.

However, to truly ascend as the ruler, there's still one small step left for me to take."

As he spoke, Grand Wizard Galon uprooted the World Tree.

"Little sapling, serving as my staff won't be a bad deal for you. What's so great about being a World Tree? Even if you became the ruler of the Astral World, you'd still be confined to this single world.

Isn't that just finding yourself a cage in disguise?

Follow me, and your future will be far more vibrant and exciting."

(End of Chapter)