Woooong-
Inside, there was light.
Mysterious green spheres.
They were all floating in the air, emitting radiance.
Warm light. Cozy light.
The lights flickered brightly, but somehow looked pitiful.
"Th-that's right! The spirits of the World Tree...!"
From behind me, I heard Palman's voice, who had hurriedly followed in.
"Were they protecting us...! Ohhh...! The world that lost its god, us who lost our priestess, the dying World Tree and elves, were they protecting us until the end...!"
He knelt down, clenched his fists, and trembled.
"..."
Brightly flickering green spheres.
These are the spirits of the World Tree.
Beings who were once priestesses of the World Tree.
I walked silently among them.
Thud.
And, I sat down in front of the spirit emitting the brightest light.
I stretched out my hand.
It passed through the air.
I can't touch it.
It just radiates vitality with all its might.
I covered my face with my hands.
A suppressed moan flowed from my mouth.
"Ah... Ugh... Huah..."
Should I say I'm glad we met again, even in this form?
It's been a thousand years here already.
Have you been well?
I was in a lot of pain.
I called that spirit's name.
"...Sister Elaine."
How long has it been?
I must have been sitting there for a long time.
When my eyes regained focus and my mind returned to thinking, I was already sitting on a tree stem in the meeting hall.
How did I get here?
Did Chris unnie hug me and bring me?
"...in! Rain!"
Chris was making a crying face and kept touching my cheeks.
Then she bit her lip hard and started stretching my cheeks tightly.
Streeeetch.
I looked at Chris with teary eyes in protest.
"Ueeee."
"Gasp! Have you come to your senses!? Thank goodness! I was even thinking of going to the capsule to pull you out!? Whew..."
"...Unnie, you're violent."
I turned my head with a sulky expression.
"But, you were both sitting blankly except for me. Sniff, was unnie lonely? Rain, please understand!"
Chris tried hard to improve my mood.
As we bickered for a while like that, Palman, who had been silent, opened his mouth.
"...Rain, you said?"
"Huh?"
I stared at him blankly.
He stood up from his seat and bowed his head deeply.
"Thank you so much. With this, the elves can borrow wisdom from the World Tree again."
"...I just opened the communication channel. But, you said there's no priestess of the World Tree in this era?"
"It would be through one intermediary, but if I'm here, I can communicate through the World Tree spirits. Though the spirits don't seem to be in a state to talk now, it looks like it will be possible if the immediate problem is solved."
"If you're here...?"
"You would know the meaning of my hair color, right?"
He shook his head, swishing his long white hair once.
I clapped my hands exclaiming.
"Sister Elaine's hair color...! But, uncle is an uncle?"
If a priestess is male, what should we call him? Priest?
He showed a slightly uncomfortable look at the word uncle but still answered.
"The priestess lineage was cut off. But elves born with this hair color can be seen as inheriting some of the priestess's power. I can communicate with spirits."
He smiled gently and bowed his head once more.
"Hero from a thousand years ago, companion of the priestess who was the elf hero and retrieved her name. It's shameless, but won't you save the elves, this world, once again?"
Ding.
[Elf Kingdom Friendliness: 100]
I just smiled silently.
Palman, he was wiser than I thought.
'Being from the stars'.
A hero who returned to this world transcending a thousand years.
Though he's an elf of this era that lost the names of heroes and the wisdom of the World Tree, he saw through my essence with just circumstantial evidence and a bit of oral tradition.
His appearance looked young but that's from a human perspective. As elves age very slowly after 200 years old, he must be a being who has lived for quite a long time.
Crunch crunch.
I walked silently holding Chris's hand.
Chris looked blankly back and forth between me and Palman.
Will the day come when I can explain all this to Chris?
Even if I tell her, would Chris be able to accept it?
We were heading towards the back of the World Tree, guided by Palman.
And we reached the point where the blue-green forest ended and the fog began.
There, an unidentifiable bizarre-colored fog and the magical fog raised by the elves were mixed.
"Please look at this."
Whoosh!
Wind energy extended from Palman's body.
The wind cleared the fog filling our sight somewhat and opened up the view to far away.
A huge object faintly visible beyond that.
That is.
"...Another World Tree?"
No, it's not a World Tree.
It's not the beautiful form of the World Tree stretching naturally while seeming irregular.
Its branches were twisted in grotesque directions, giving only a bizarre feeling.
A tree of the abyss, not of this world.
From it, cold energy and demonic energy that seemed to cut flesh flowed out, seeming to reach here.
Palman sighed looking at it.
"That thing's roots are touching the World Tree's roots underground. The World Tree is having its vitality sucked by that."
"Have elves ever approached that tree?"
"None returned."
"...For the closed-off elves to decide to ask for help."
"It grew rapidly in the past few years. At the same time, the World Tree started losing vitality quickly. It's already grown that much. If you hadn't come, we were thinking of gathering all combat-capable elves to attack after clearing the demonic fog."
I looked at the 'Tree of the Abyss' with hardened eyes.
"Rain. This."
Chris spoke to me.
To confirm through me if what she saw was correct.
I nodded.
[You have discovered the Raid Dungeon, 'Tree of the Abyss']
[Entry Level 50]
[Raid Dungeon (12 people recommended)]
[Tree of the Abyss]
[In 29 days 3 hours 26 minutes, the elves' power will clear the abyssal fog]
[In 59 days 3 hours 26 minutes, the World Tree will completely lose its vitality]
[In 59 days 3 hours 26 minutes, this area will be covered in extreme cold demonic energy]
A formal raid dungeon, different from 'World Bosses' with various vested interests entangled.
The opening time is 30 days later.
If not cleared within 30 days from then.
I will never be able to meet Elaine again.
* * *
The research lab of 'Klaus Capsule Corporation'.
Where Chris works.
"Hmmmm..."
Tap, tap, tap.
Chris sat in a lab chair, tapping the desk with a pen.
She had a lot on her mind these days.
Her little baby bird, Rain, started investing all her time in leveling up since that day.
She only ate once a day now, though she used to eat three meals properly.
Rain collapsed exhausted every day and fell asleep right in the capsule. Chris moved Rain's body sleeping in the capsule to the bed.
Rain didn't log out even when resting.
She sat blankly staring at the green light in the deepest part of the World Tree.
If Chris asked with concern, she would just shake her head silently with a smile.
As if she had to hurry and finish her work and shut herself in here.
Chris was very worried about Rain.
'Astria Online'
The day we first saw the World Tree there.
That day is the turning point.
Rain became strange from that day.
The conversation that day that Chris couldn't understand.
Rain's eyes looking at the green sphere in the deepest part of the World Tree.
What could be read from that.
Sadness, regret, longing.
Chris knows how to read Rain's emotions, but she doesn't know what caused those emotions.
And the elf called Palman seemed to know Rain.
Chris couldn't help but be troubled.
"How does Palman, an NPC, know Rain, a user? An Easter egg?"
Chris shook her head.
It's not just an Easter egg.
Something, a bit more fundamental issue.
Chris respects Rain's secrets, but she's also a proactive person.
Somehow it felt like if she left it like this, her little baby bird Rain would slip out of her hands.
She apologized to Rain in a monologue.
"Rain, I'm sorry. But."
I need to know you.
She was bringing up holograms, checking Rain's personal information through illegal routes.
"...Lee Seulbi, 19 years old. Hospitalized with severe injuries 1 year and 6 months ago. L2 spinal cord injury. Discharged soon after becoming able to move her body. No relatives. Registered as a special law welfare recipient for refugee orphans."
Records before hospitalization are blank.
Only resident registration exists.
Chris tilted her head.
"Strange."
Various refugee orphans that occurred since Korea started accepting refugees.
Judging by Rain's exotic appearance, I thought she was one of them.
Even so, cases with absolutely no records were rare.
At least records from protection facilities or school records from childhood should remain.
If one doesn't dig in persistently like Chris, no one would question it.
But Rain was fundamentally out of sync with this world.
Rather, a being that beautifully harmonizes with the 'Astria continent'.
Chris is a researcher.
She doesn't believe in other worlds or ghosts that deviate from science.
Enjoying 'Astria Online' with its fantasy world background also meant escaping from that flat world.
But.
Rain treating the 'Astria continent' like reality.
"It doesn't seem to be just Rain's mental issue."
For the first time, Chris believed her intuition rather than science.
She started focusing on the structure of 'Hana Games', the company that created 'Astria Online'.
A company that was just mediocre until developing Astria Online.
Did they create NPCs that know Rain?
If so.
Is Rain's past connected to them?
"CEO Kim Dongyeon... AO Director Shin Kyunghoon..."
And, Chris's gaze stopped on one person's name.
"...Team Leader Han Yeoreum."