Chapter 438: 438

Translator: Ares

Editor Group: Liber Reverie

‘Anyway… Not bad . Don’t you think those devils will retreat later?’

Hansoo smiled as he looked at his remaining memories in his head .

They took away all the human memories that were dear to him, or, to be exact, all human memories that he had cherished .

In other words, all that was left in his memories were based on fighting .

Of course, the memory was a bit dull and boring . However, there were some good benefits to that .

It meant that he wouldn’t be guilty about crushing those who remained in his memory .

Oddly enough, all the guys that he needed to destroy remained intact and clear in his head .

This was one of the reasons why Hansoo was in a good mood from the intel given by Hosang since he could clearly remember all of the people that this guy was talking about .

‘No wonder they were trying to stay so close to Desire even as far as risking their lives . ’

He continued to listen to the explanations provided by Hosang .

“So, to sum it up… Presently, all the other eight Desires are divided into eight different forces . ”

Though Hosang spoke informally, Hansoo didn’t really mind at all .

After forcingly making him his slave, it would be pointless to squeeze his organs just to make him speak more politely .

Of course, if he were to utilize Pandemic Blade to squeeze his organs, he would become more obedient . However, Hansoo was reluctant to make such wasteful actions .

What he needed was a hunting hound, not a pet that learned how to obey .

‘Regardless… It means that there is not one group that has more than one Desire in their hands . ’

It turned out that the forces that were divided from the number of Desires were indeed diverse .

There was even a case where up to five 4-Star Transcendents were divided into one team to guard the tree .

And like this tree, there were cases when 4-Star Transcendents fought separately in their own groups as well .

However, there was something in common; there were no 5-Star Transcendents remaining . Hansoo understood why .

‘Clementine would never leave such a useful card behind . ’

This wasn’t bad news for him anyways .

If there were 5-Star Transcendents, he would’ve had to be more stealthy and continue to raise his strength, but if there were none left, then he wouldn’t mind taking direct action .

There were a total of three variables that he had to consider .

First, it would be Clementine’s force that was leading the charge in front .

Second, it would be the beasts of the Abyss that had settled in the forest .

Lastly…

‘The guys that will come up soon . ’

If the ones ascending from below were armed properly, they would become a truly powerful faction .

Even if someone was a Transcendent, there was none that could stubbornly push his way through against such large numbers, especially if there were Transcendents among that group .

Of course, controlling that group would be an entirely different problem, but if they were to ascend, then he could definitely turn the tide of this match .

Therefore, he needed to be prepared before this happened, for what he abhorred was being played in another person’s hand .

‘Not bad . There are lots of guys that I need to topple… And if I keep fighting, I should get stronger along the way . Hmm, let’s see . Who should I start with?’

Though he still had memories, he must have truly changed a lot from his previous life since the circumstances were entirely different from before .

‘There should be some that are already moving,’ Hansoo muttered .

If he were to deal with eight forces one by one, it would take quite a while . However, that wouldn’t happen since they were already moving to attack one another .

‘You’re quite lucky . ’

Hansoo clicked his tongue as he looked at Hosang .

Mediocre strength and mediocre talent . If such a guy was eating the tree, he would soon be buried under the roots of Desire by stronger, more tenacious guys .

It was because he subordinated under him, he was able to preserve his life .

‘I’m basically keeping you alive . By the way…’

While Hansoo was in thought, Hosang spoke to Hansoo, “If you’re going to go, go from the northwest . John Nice and his wife are the weakest there .

‘Though they are stronger than me . ’

Mr . and Mrs . Nice .

The two married each other once they both reached 4-Star Transcendent .

In the Orange Zone, they had fought tooth and nail, but afterward, they had married and life had never been so good .

After decades of fighting together, their combination attacks were art itself .

Hansoo smiled and nodded .

“Great . Let’s hurry and go . ”

The moment Hansoo raised from his seat…

Boooooooooom!

“You crazy bastard… You can’t get too close!”

“This is off-limits!”

“Let go!”

From the ruckus outside, Hansoo and Hosang both frowned .

—

Booooooooom!

Karl Akus, who sifted through the gaps between the trees, soon settled on a tree with a delighted expression .

‘We’re here . We’re almost here!’

Boooooooooom!

Karl Akus blocked the attack that targeted his back and quickly approached the base of the tree where a flash of light briefly occurred .

This was the place where his wish would be granted as long as he put his hand on that tree .

It was the wish that he so long wanted .

‘Eron… Just wait a bit longer!’

It was when Karl Akus had almost arrived at the base of the tree and was about to put his hand .

“Hmmm… It seems like I need to save some of the essences for now . ”

Hansoo’s voice could be heard from behind Karl Akus .

Then…

Squeeze .

“Uhhhhhhhk… Ahhhhhhhhhhk!”

Karl Akus let out a shrill of pain as he could feel his heart and mind and even all of his muscles being squeezed as if it would melt at any moment .

It was as if a fire was blazing throughout his body, leaving no room to spare throughout his body .

The pain that Hosang endured from before was now what he was experiencing .

‘Uhhhhhhhhk…’

However, in comparison to Hosang, Karl Akus was a bit different .

Karl Akus still had a desire that he had yet to fill .

It was to revive the woman, Eron .

From his estimation, he knew that the amount of essence needed wouldn’t be small to revive her . No, it was certain that he needed a significant amount .

However, it would be an overestimation to think that Hansoo would spare the amount of essence needed when he was preparing for war .

He could fulfill his own desires, and if needed, make the necessary weapons and potions that were useful in the upcoming war as well .

If he were to let go of this opportunity, Eron wouldn’t be revived since there wouldn’t be any essence left .

“Ahhhhhh… AHHHHHHHHK!”

Squeeeeeeze!

Karl Akus let out a large shrill due to the compressed pain that reverberated throughout his body . However, he continued to move forward to raise his hand onto the Desire tree .

Hansoo, who was monitoring the situation, looked at him with a horrified expression .

‘That that… . That crazy bastard . ’

He had experienced it himself, so he knew better than anyone else how much suffering and pain would follow, yet he kept moving despite the pain .

Soon…

Ruuuuuuuuumble!

The Desire Tree trembled crazily before something began to fall as if it had received Karl Akus’s wish .

Simultaneously…

Ruuuuuumble!

The seed soon began to take on the form of a human at an incredible speed .

Ttuk!

In an instant, the seed split in half, and inside that seed, a woman-like figure began to fall .

Hosang, seeing this, let out a curious expression .

‘What the hell . Why is it so fast?’

In the past, he had wished for women to play with, but even then the seeds hadn’t opened up as quickly .

However, the seed had already begun to blossom .

Hansoo, seeing this, began to smile .

‘Yes . The Desire Tree needs to be at this level at least so that it would be useful . ’

He had to show the others anyway just how meaningless it was to revive a dead person .

Then…

“Ughhhhhhh… . Ahhhhhh! What the heck! What is this?!”

Everyone was able to see clearly the woman that dropped from the Desire Tree which Karl Akus caught in his embrace .

“You can’t sleep? Come here . You can sleep if you do this . ”

The girl in his embrace busily touched Akus’s cheek and chest .

‘… Is that Eron?’

Hosang frowned after seeing the woman’s appearance .

Of course, he would know since up to a while ago, they had been fighting crazily as they ascended the seven zones .

There was no way that they did not know each other’s circumstances .

There was no mistake that the girl who was in the embrace of the fully-armored Akus was Eron .

It was the guy’s wife that had died in the Green Zone .

‘… She truly has the same appearance as before . ’

Hosang mumbled as he saw Eron’s appearance .

Her outer appearance was fine . No, it was rather the same, even the armor and weapons as well .

However, the moment he saw her, he knew that the girl was not Eron .

Rather, it could be said that it was a puppet that was made to be like Eron .

The evidence was that it continued to repeat the same actions that it was programmed to .

It was repeating it blindly .

Karl probably realized the moment he received her, which was why he was screaming .

Hansoo mumbled as he looked at Karl Akus .

‘Of course, the human that was created by the Desire Tree from your memories wouldn’t be human . ’

There was a limit to how a person fully understood another person and that included family .

The woman was made from good memories and appearance . However, even the memories itself was lacking .

Since his desire was so great, it had been borne quite quickly . However, that was the extent of it .

In the end, it couldn’t create the same human .

“… So it is impossible to revive a dead person . ”

Hansoo nodded at Hosang’s remarks .

“It could create something similar . ”

It may be possible to create a new human being that was moderately modified in the first place . It could be possible to have the human being possess a similar personality without any memories to his satisfaction since the appearance was similar, to begin with .

If there was more essence available, it would be more than sufficient to do this in this case .

‘But that’s also a problem . ’

Hansoo looked at Hosang and spoke, “Do you know why this is known as the Desire Tree?”

Hosang hesitated from that remark . Come to think of it, he was not the one that gave it its name .

‘Who named it again?’

After momentarily rummaging through his memories, he soon remembered who had given the tree its name .

Clementine had stated one sentence, in which the tree’s name had become Desire Tree .

It was because Desire Tree suited well with the trees, and above all else, Clementine had decided as such .

Hosang who finally recalled gnashed his teeth and spoke, “Do you think I’m a fool? It fulfills desires so it’s called the Desire Tree . ”

Hanso chuckled from those words .

“I thought of it like that as well . ”

“…?”

With a questioning look, Hansoo spoke to him once more, “It is not called the Desire Tree since it fulfills desires . ”

No, it was rather the opposite .

“It’s called the Desire Tree since it stimulates desires . ”

Hansoo stroked the tree as he muttered .

This tree stimulated desires and greed, which caused one to not monopolize one to fight for one, and those who had one to realize that one wasn’t enough . Then, those guys would aim to monopolize two trees . Once a person had two, that person would want three and so forth .

In the end, a conclusion could be reached .

One had to take it all .

Taking it one step further, those with great desires and greed would sacrifice people to replenish its essence .

‘Come to think of it… I don’t think I really need to go there . ’

Hansoo muttered as he looked at the direction northwest where the John Nice couple were at .

—

Ruuuuuuuuumble!

“Uhhhhhhhhhk . Why… We had followed you . ”

Thousands of bodies were scattered under the tree where the tree was soaking up the essence from the corpses .

Everyone there were the people that followed the owner of the tree, the John Nice couple .

The number was many and even their talent was good .

They had even eaten the poison that was made from the Desire Tree, so there was no chance of betrayal .

However, as if they were trying to create something, the John Nice couple shook their heads and muttered, “… Our child is not coming back to life . ”

“… It seems that we are still lacking . ”

An eerie madness pervaded their eyes .

‘We need another tree . ’

In addition, they needed something to replenish the essence of the trees .

They turned their heads toward the southwest direction .