025 The Sacred Tree and the Elves (Bonus Chapter)

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Very little happened during the rest of the journey. The party reached the vicinity of the ruins without incident.

Calling it a ruin was perhaps too generous. In truth, it was merely a vast, ancient wasteland. It seemed that a city had once stood here.

The remains of this ancient city were divided into two levels: aboveground and underground. The surface ruins had long since collapsed into rubble, but the underground ruins remained intact.

Their destination was the underground complex. When Instructor Renard had come to scout the area earlier, he had followed the route provided by the baron and located the entrance—a huge dry well beneath an enormous tree.

After inspecting the area, Renard had reported, “It’s perfectly safe. The dry well lies beside a massive banyan tree. There are elves guarding the entrance nearby. They hope we can help them as soon as possible and eliminate the evil spirits within the underground ruins.”

Before long, they caught sight of the enormous banyan tree.

It seemed to be a forest unto itself. Its colossal crown spread across the sky like a vast canopy, while countless aerial roots descended straight to the ground, binding the crown to the earth.

The canopy covered at least the area of a small neighborhood. If it had been an ordinary tree, it would certainly have been magnificent.

But its leaves were festooned with furry strands of rotting flesh and blood, while layer upon layer of decayed meat coated the trunk and aerial roots. The flesh writhed slowly, as though it were alive.

When the party reached the tree, humanoid monsters began to crawl slowly out of the fleshy trunk.

They had no skin, and their bodies were covered in tumors. Their lower halves were fused with the meat of the trunk, while their upper bodies twisted ceaselessly against the tree like leeches.

The party stopped at once. In an instant, the atmosphere became taut with hostility.

“Relax,” Instructor Renard told them. “This is elven territory—the safest place in the entire forest.”

“Elves?” Roland’s expression grew strange. “If there are elves here, why haven’t they purified these creatures? Could it be because they can’t be purified?”

Roland quietly observed the apprentices around him. Although everyone seemed tense, they remained composed.

Something felt odd to him. When Instructor Renard had returned earlier, he had not specifically mentioned these monsters. Could they be a type of creature that was extremely common in the wizarding world?

Roland could not help looking toward Renard, only to find the instructor’s expression utterly calm.

He then glanced at Baron Hall. The baron stood with his hands behind his back, studying the monsters on the trunk with an equally tranquil expression.

Roland knew the baron’s strength very well. Seeing how calm he was, Roland felt somewhat reassured.

Baron Hall often came and went from this place, and Instructor Renard had just been here as well. Neither of them had reacted excessively. Perhaps these monsters truly were harmless.

Yes, that must be it. They were probably sealed creatures, and the ones who had sealed them were the elves.

“This is definitely the place, Renard,” Baron Hall said with a smile. “Don’t be nervous. I know a little elven language. I’ll communicate with them.”

With that, Baron Hall left the party and approached the trunk. He gave the “leech-men” a slight bow and began to speak.

The “leech-men” sounded like drowning victims on the verge of death, their throats gurgling horribly. They were clearly groaning in agony, not engaging in conversation.

Their arms flailed and clawed constantly toward the baron. If he had been any closer, they would already have torn him to pieces.

Yet the baron remained perfectly composed. He maintained the elegant bearing of a nobleman, as though the things before him were not monsters but a group of articulate people capable of conversation.

Nearby, Instructor Renard stared at the baron’s back in astonishment.

“I never imagined Baron Hall was so fluent in elven,” he said.

The leech-men were clearly not responding to the baron in elven.

They simply wanted to tear him apart.

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Roland’s expression grew even stranger.

Suddenly, the blond freshman patted him on the shoulder and said with a chuckle, “Roland, have you ever seen an elf before?”

“I haven’t,” Roland replied, wiping away cold sweat. “But I hope the elves guarding this place come over soon… because the baron doesn’t seem to be in his right mind.”

The two freshmen stared blankly at him for a moment before bursting into laughter.

“Looks like Roland still hasn’t seen those ancient elves!”

He really was just a country bumpkin. He might have possessed some talent, but he had never entered the true wizarding world and knew nothing of it. He could not compare with pure-blood wizards like themselves.

The red-haired freshman raised his chin and said to Roland, “You’ve never systematically studied the study of humanoid races, so you don’t know what real elves look like. They differ somewhat from the figures celebrated in adventurers’ tales.”

The blond freshman smiled. “Exactly. Most elves who mingle with ordinary society are half-elves. They differ greatly from pure-blooded elves. Roland, today we’ll give you a proper lesson.”

As he spoke, the blond freshman pointed toward the leech-men on the trunk.

“They’re elves.”

The red-haired freshman added with a laugh, “To be precise, ancient elves.”

The blond freshman nodded. Looking at those shriveled, leech-like things, each more than a meter long, he said, “That’s right. See? Though they’re just as handsome as the figures in the stories, they aren’t frail at all. They’re tall and powerfully built.”

“Indeed.” The red-haired freshman pointed at the tumors covering the leech-men and cut in, “Have you noticed, Roland? Their skin is pale blue, with markings like tattoos…”

The two freshmen took turns speaking, patiently filling Roland in on the subject.

The more Roland listened, the worse his expression became.

“You mean these monsters are elves?”

The blond freshman laughed in astonishment. “Monsters? Ha ha, Roland, you’d better not say anything in front of the elves later. Otherwise, they’ll mistake all of us for ignorant wild wizards.”

The red-haired freshman said, “It’s understandable that Roland would say something like that. After all, he’s never seen a real elf. The first time I saw an ancient elf, I made a fool of myself too—I even mistook them for monsters. But for ancient elves, being over three meters tall is perfectly normal.”

Roland’s face went pale. He nodded deeply and fell silent.

Those hideous, flesh-covered leech-men were barely more than a meter long.

Yet the blond freshman believed they were ancient elves over three meters tall.

The leech-men seemed unable to remain outside the tree for long. After clawing at the air for a while, their bodies gradually shriveled and died.

The baron returned with a smile.

“The elves have departed,” he told everyone. “They’ll follow us as we explore the ruins and provide assistance along the way.”

The baron has gone mad.

Roland looked despairingly toward Instructor Catherine, who had remained silent beside him.

Her composure reassured him somewhat.

The instructor had remained calm throughout, watching the baron’s actions with cold detachment while also studying the flesh-covered sacred tree.

At that moment, she seemed to have discovered something. A grave expression appeared on her face.

“Roland,” she said, “this tree clearly isn’t a banyan. It appears to be a beautiful and sacred Tree of Life.”

“Pardon? A beautiful and sacred Tree of Life?”

Catherine nodded slowly.

“I can’t be mistaken. Go and examine it. If it truly is a Tree of Life, we can collect some of its sap and consume it before entering the ruins.”

Roland’s face turned deathly pale.

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Just then, the blond freshman stepped forward of his own accord.

He gave Catherine an elegant bow and said, “My lady, Roland may not know much about the Tree of Life. My father once brought back a branch from one, and I’ve conducted extensive research on it.”

Catherine nodded approvingly. “Very well.”

He walked over to the twisted tree of flesh and examined it from every angle. Then he suddenly drew his longsword and struck.

The ancient tree was extraordinarily tough, yet the blow cleaved a wound more than a foot deep into its trunk with ease.

The cut was placed at precisely the right depth and position. It did not harm the ancient tree, but it allowed the withered thing to release its sap.

The blond freshman dipped a finger into the substance and licked it. His face immediately lit up with wild delight.

“Sweet as honey, and such concentrated life force… Lady Catherine, there’s no need for further doubt. This truly is a Tree of Life!”

When Instructor Renard heard this, he hurried over. He shoved the obstructive blond freshman aside, tasted the pus, and then his face likewise filled with ecstatic delight.

He was so agitated that even his voice began to tremble.

“It truly is! No wonder… So that’s how it is. I understand now!”

The apprentices erupted in an uproar.

Catherine blurted out, “It really is a Tree of Life?”

This was a Tree of Life, a species that grew only in the deepest heart of the world.

Although it had yet to mature, its value was still beyond imagination.

For a moment, the apprentices’ thoughts diverged in every direction. They discreetly stepped away from one another, eyeing their companions warily.

Even Baron Hall began quietly watching Catherine from the corner of his eye.

Catherine, in turn, was covertly watching the baron with equal vigilance.

This was bad.

These lunatics were about to start fighting!

“Relax, everyone. Please, relax, instructors and seniors.”

Roland stepped forward with sweat streaming down his face. To prevent them from suddenly coming to blows, he deliberately tried to reassure them.

“A tree this enormous is more than enough for all of you. Besides, treasures like this are everywhere. Look at those aerial roots—they’re oozing sap too. There’s no need to fight over it!”

“Everywhere?”

Everyone turned toward the enormous fleshy aerial roots surrounding them, their eyes slowly reddening.

“He’s right. There’s more than enough.”

The party was overjoyed. They hurried beneath the great tree and began collecting its sap and branches.

Some even began consuming the sap on the spot.

Even Instructor Catherine elegantly produced a small magic vial and collected some of the pus flowing from the tree of flesh.

Only Roland remained standing motionless where he was.

He watched everyone’s actions with a face as gray as ashes.

“They’re insane… Insane… Every last one of them is insane!”

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