Volume 7, Chapter 56 – The Dryad of the Water Tree and the Ruined Plan

With a teleportation spell, Yisi left Laxy and appeared directly under the Water Tree.

The map indicated that besides the slimes, there were also some high-ranking demons in this lake. Even without an explanation, Yisi could roughly guess the source of the slimes; it was definitely the work of the high-ranking demons.

“Well, before I eliminate them, I’ll go to the crown first.”

The place shining with green light on the crown was where the dryad was. Probably due to the protracted battle with the slimes, not only was the dryad’s magic power bottomed out, but her health was also at a worryingly low level.

However, just as Yisi was preparing to ascend, translucent creatures in the shape of giants suddenly emerged from the lake. Their dense numbers made one feel as if they had stepped into a tomb of the dead. Although a single [Blink] would be enough to escape these giants, these creatures were, after all, controlled by demons. If she could eliminate them with a casual move, it was of course better to do so.

“Sleep.”

Making a downward pressing motion with her hand, Yisi, who had condensed an [Invisible Hand], flattened the hundred or so giants in an instant, as if swatting flies. And because her control of the force was extremely precise, it did not create huge waves on the lake’s surface—if the slimes were to ride the waves to the outside world, that would just be asking for trouble.

To Yisi’s surprise, the [Invisible Hand] did not eliminate all the giants. Ten stronger individuals were slowly rebuilding their bodies, bit by bit.

I’ll deal with them later.

The dryad’s HP has already bottomed out.

[Blink]

When she reappeared, her view changed from the open lake to the crown of the tree, which was surrounded by green magic barriers. Branches and leaves were the main decorations.

“Who?”

Although the voice was very quiet, it was full of vigilance. Yisi even had a premonition that if she answered incorrectly, she would be attacked by the dryad before her.

Of course, the threat in the words and the intimidation a person gave off were two different things. Due to the near depletion of her magic power and life force, the dryad’s body was so transparent it was almost invisible. If it weren’t for a vampire’s excellent night vision, which allowed Yisi to clearly capture any subtle changes, the dryad would surely have been submerged in the surrounding green barrier.

In this state, even if I deliberately angered her, she wouldn’t be able to retaliate. In fact, even if she did, it would only feel cute. The dryad’s physique was even smaller than Mary’s.

Yisi held up her empty hands, showing that she had no hostile intent.

“Yisi Enya. I’m here to help you, for now.”

“Help me? Do you mean… by burning down… the roots?”

Judging by her tone, the young dryad must have raised an eyebrow. But her body was too ethereal for Yisi to see her expression clearly. She could only judge by her size and voice that the dryad was not yet an adult. In addition, due to her extreme weakness, the dryad’s voice sounded as if it could disappear at any moment.

“Uh… I’m sorry. I didn’t know there was a dryad in the Water Tree back then.” And at that time, I even thought that the slimes living in the lake and the Water Tree were birds of a feather. “In any case, it looks like you’ve run into some trouble. Do you need my help? I’m on the side opposite the demons, for now.”

If one were to ask why she was helping the dryad, leaving aside the grand righteousness of disliking demons and clearing the waterway for the residents, the most important reason was, of course—does one need a reason to help a beautiful girl? Moreover, the dryad belonged to the category of non-human girls. She had been looking forward to interacting with such a being ever since the Niru Diocese. In most stories, non-human girls wore extremely alluring attire.

I really want to see what the dryad will look like after she recovers.

“Help?” Yisi’s words made the dryad’s tone rise an octave. As if sizing her up, she fell silent for a moment. “Thank you… but… it’s dangerous.”

An unnecessary worry.

Yisi asked tentatively.

“Do you need magic power?”

“Magic power?” After a pause, the dryad nodded. “Yes.”

“I understand.”

There were many ways to restore magic power. The simplest and most direct was to use a magic potion. Yisi poured a potion directly onto the crown of the Water Tree.

The dryad’s magic points recovered by less than 10.

Isn’t this efficiency a little too slow?!

Do I have to feed the potion to her directly? But the dryad is in a spiritual state right now and can’t touch it.

In any case, I only have one path to try.

Yisi uncorked the potion bottle and handed it to the dryad, who was a head shorter than her. The ten magic points she had just recovered had made the dryad understand Yisi’s goodwill, and she reached out her hand very obediently.

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“Huh?”

In the process of handing over the potion, their hands touched. Yisi’s hand did not pass straight through the dryad. The dryad’s arm felt soft, like cotton.

Does the dryad have a physical body?

Before Yisi could think, the moment the potion landed in the dryad’s hand, it fell straight to the ground with a clatter of glass.

So she doesn’t have a physical body after all.

As if very disappointed, the young dryad fell silent, staring blankly at the potion on the ground. Then, as if having made a decision, she first pointed to the fallen potion, and then raised her hand and pointed to her own and Yisi’s lips, respectively.

“Magic power.”

If it weren’t for Tiffany’s training, I would be completely baffled right now. But the dryad’s expression was very similar to Tiffany’s—she wanted me to drink the potion and then feed it to her, mouth to mouth.

“No, no, even if you are a dryad, that’s still very bad.”

The dryad before her looked no older than eight. If it were an older sister, considering the purpose was to save someone, she would have reluctantly done as requested. But to have to feed a potion mouth-to-mouth to a little girl younger than Mary, the sense of guilt was so strong it was hard to put into words.

The dryad frowned and urged.

“Hurry.”

“Even if you say so…”

Thump.

A dull sound.

Along with it came a slight tremor from underfoot. Yisi subconsciously looked down at the base of the tree from where the vibration had come. Hundreds of meters below the crown, the slime giants had begun to ram the trunk of the Water Tree, one after another. And with their impacts, the dryad’s body became even more ethereal, becoming a presence even more illusory than a ghost.

This is bad if it drags on.

—Wait.

The dryad wanted me to feed her the potion mouth-to-mouth because she can only touch me. In other words, I don’t actually have to use a mouth-to-mouth method to give her magic power?

Pouring the potion into the palm of her hand, Yisi extended her hand to the dryad. Without any hesitation, the dryad held Yisi’s hand and greedily slurped up the liquid from her palm, like a puppy licking milk.

To be honest, my palm feels a little ticklish.

And this gesture is so suggestive…

Because she was swallowing slower than she was drinking, some of the potion flowed from the corners of the young dryad’s mouth. The transparent liquid trickled from her chin down her neck, and then dripped to the ground. Combined with the whimpering sounds she was making as she licked, if one were not to look at the scene, it would definitely be misunderstood.

But leaving aside the ambiguity, the effect of the magic potion was very significant. The young dryad’s body quickly solidified. By the end, she no longer needed to drink from Yisi’s palm and could pick up the potion bottle and drink it herself. When the dryad’s magic power and life force had recovered to their peak, her body erupted with an eye-catching, deep green light. Standing before her was no longer the young girl who couldn’t even speak clearly, but a mature woman whose figure could rival Refina’s and Evelyn’s.

Her entire skin was the green of a plant stem, and even the crucial parts of her body were completely uncovered. The magnificent curves from her chest to her waist made it impossible to see her as a monster. Probably the vast majority of women in this world would feel ashamed if they stood before this dryad. That was the feeling she gave Yisi. And unlike Laxy, when Laxy stood before her, she felt that she was so perfect she was like a work of art, and could not have the slightest thought of profanity. But the dryad before her, because she had not been deliberately sculpted, had a strange, alluring quality.

To make matters worse, this was an older sister.

Before Yisi could make a move to avert her eyes, the dryad bowed to her with great sincerity.

“Thank you, hero from a foreign land.”

“Hmm?”

Leaving aside the “hero” part, did she see that I’m an otherworldly person?

As if reading Yisi’s confusion, the flower fay continued.

“The residents here do not have skin as fair as yours, so I guessed that you were a foreigner. As for ‘hero’… if the act of saving me in a time of crisis cannot be called heroic, then I do not know what kind of person is qualified to be called so.”

Thump.

The previous impact occurred again. The dryad, who had been about to say something else, frowned slightly.

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“Although I have many words of gratitude to say to you, please wait a moment. These demons took advantage of me when I was unprepared and damaged my main trunk, leaving me unable to deal with them. By the time I came to my senses, both my magic power and my life force had been taken by them. But just now, with your help, I have completely recovered. After I deal with them, I will come and express my gratitude to you.”

“Eh? You don’t have to go to such lengths to thank me. By the way, can you handle all these monsters by yourself?”

Although the dryad before her was nearly level 60, it would still be very difficult to deal with over a hundred thousand monsters.

The dryad patted Yisi on the head, her words and actions filled with a sense of reliability.

“Don’t worry. Now that I’ve recovered, it’s impossible for them to defeat me again. More importantly, it seems someone is looking for you… an angel? As expected, you are the hero.”

Waving her hand at the crown of the tree, the dryad caused the branches and leaves obstructing the view to part, revealing Laxy before Yisi.

“My lord!”

“Laxy?” Unlike her majestic appearance from before, the current Laxy’s hair was disheveled, and the hem of her maid’s dress showed signs of corrosion. “Didn’t I tell you not to move around? Hold out your hand. [Wind of Healing].”

“…Thank you.”

Laxy lowered her head at Yisi’s healing.

“Haaah, I’m really happy that you came to find me, Laxy, but you have to consider the situation.”

“I was worried you were in danger…”

The dryad interjected.

“How about you trust your master a little? Since she is the hero chosen by the Gospel, she will not be easily defeated. I will be using high-level magic later. If you want to leave, now is the time. Otherwise, if you want to get out, you’ll have to wait at least a day. I would have liked for you to stay, but you have your own things to do, right? Humans are always so impatient.”

Even the dryad knows about the Gospel? And she seems to be very familiar with angels. I remember Laxy mentioning before that dryads are people of the gods and would not collude with demons. Perhaps dryads and angels were friends in the Age of Gods. If so, it’s not surprising that she knows about the Gospel.

Laxy nodded.

“…I understand. Send us out.”

“I will serve you well when we meet again, hero. A dryad’s service is in no way comparable to that of a third-rate servant. Look forward to it. Now then, farewell.”

After waving to Yisi, a vine as thick as a thigh slowly formed a platform. After Yisi and Laxy had stepped onto it, the vine rapidly extended, sending the two of them out of the lake’s range. And the moment they left, a layer of emerald green light instantly covered the entire Water Tree. The earth began to shake, and the creaking sound of rapidly growing roots echoed along with a loud roar.

On the [Omniscient Map], the light dots representing the slimes were disappearing at an extremely fast rate. Through the emerald green light shield, Yisi could vaguely see the churning roots inside—the dryad was probably using them to strangle the slimes.

In terms of pure strength, no level 60 could compare to the Water Tree…

Yisi had this intuition.

I wonder what the dryad meant by ‘service’. I hope it’s something proper.

Retracting her gaze from the emerald green magic barrier, Yisi looked at the silent Laxy beside her. From the moment she had seen her, Laxy had worn a worried expression, her hand often placed on her chest, as if there was something there that made her very uncomfortable.

“Are you injured?”

Without answering Yisi, Laxy kept her head lowered. To get her to come to her senses, Yisi waved her hand in front of her eyes.

“Laxy?”

“Ah! My lord, what are your orders?”

“Nothing. I just saw that you looked worried. Are you thinking about the dryad just now?”

“No…” Laxy hesitated and shook her head, but then quickly denied her previous words. “I was indeed thinking about the dryad. The god that angels believe in and the god that dryads believe in are friends, so we angels and dryads have been allies since the Age of Gods. A dryad like that must have existed since the Age of Gods, with a seniority greater than mine…”

As she spoke, Laxy’s thoughts drifted off again. She glanced at the ground, and her voice gradually grew quieter.

The battle just now must have been very tiring for her. She doesn’t have much stamina or magic power left. Yisi decided not to disturb her any further.

“Do you need me to carry you?”

Completely not expecting Yisi to say such a thing, Laxy blinked and then quickly waved her hands.

“H-how could I possibly let my lord do such a thing? Besides, if people were to see an angel being carried by her master, they would think that angels are useless.”

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“Well… then I’ll listen to you, Laxy.” After a moment, Yisi tilted her head and asked again, “Are you really alright?”

“Yes, I am fine.”

“In that case, you should go back and rest first, Laxy. I have something else to do.”

“Understood. I will wait for your return at the temple.”

She really is worried about something.

Watching Laxy depart, Yisi fell into thought. At this moment, Laxy’s figure from behind had none of its previous decisiveness and dignity. She was just like a person lost in a dilemma, lonely and helpless.

“If she wasn’t worried about something, she wouldn’t have allowed me to stay out in the wild. What on earth happened…”

Although it wasn’t good for a superior to pry into a subordinate’s privacy, Laxy had no family in this world. If she didn’t try to understand what was troubling her, no one else would care.

“I’ll try to ask her about it in a roundabout way later. There’s something else to do right now.”

Perhaps the dryad hadn’t noticed, but just a few meters underground from the tree wall, there was an underground passage connecting the labyrinth and the Water Tree. And this passage only needed to be dug a few more meters to connect the lake of the Water Tree with the ninth floor of the labyrinth. Even if there were no slimes living in the lake, just letting the water pour into the labyrinth would be very troublesome. The reason she had let Laxy go back first was that she wanted to fill this pit.

[Blink]

Yisi appeared inside the passage.

The passage was very spacious. If it were connected to the lake, it wouldn’t take long to fill the ninth floor of the labyrinth. By then, the monsters inside would be forced to the surface, which would undoubtedly cause a disaster.

“Although I don’t know why this hole is here, I’ll just fill it up for now. [Rock Creation].”

I’ll fill this hole with the “Inksteel” used for forging city walls, and then reinforce the earth with a magic barrier. That way, I won’t have to worry about geological changes causing the water in the lake to pour in here. Yisi was certain that not even a dragon could dig through the hole she had filled, although she had yet to see a dragon.

Of course, unlike the Inksteel created by changing the structure of matter, the Inksteel created purely by magic, out of thin air, had an inherent flaw. In ten days, it would disappear due to the depletion of magic power. By then, she would just have to notify the dryad to fill the hole again.

“This should be fine.”

Feeling the air gradually become stuffy, Yisi clapped her hands and left the underground with a teleportation spell.

As for the residents’ water problem, since the dryad was busy for the time being and couldn’t release water, Yisi dug a reservoir near the source of the waterway and then placed the ice from her inventory into it to melt, while also widening and reinforcing the waterway.

Of course, when she was close to the lake where the residents of Gota scooped water, Yisi stopped doing unnecessary things. Although the water in the reservoir wouldn’t last long, as long as the dryad dealt with the slimes, the endless water from the Water Tree would take its place.

By the time Yisi appeared before the expectant residents, it was already that afternoon. Because they had heard that she had gone deep into the forest to find the problem with the waterway, an exceptionally large number of residents had gathered by the lake. When the water surged into the lake from the waterway with unusual force, the crowd burst into excited shouts.

“Ooooh!!! This is the first time I’ve ever seen such clean water!”

“Let me take a sip—hiss, this water is so cold.”

“It’s true! It’s completely different from the water before! It reminds me of the water I stole from the church’s fountain. No, this water is sweeter!”

“Hey, we’re in front of Cardinal Yisi. Watch your mouth.”

“More importantly, we should be thanking Cardinal Yisi, right?”

“Right, right!”

The residents, who had been scrambling to scoop water from the waterway to drink, all stood up and thanked her repeatedly, rubbing their hands together sheepishly.

“Thank you, Cardinal Yisi.”

“If it weren’t for you, we would have had to go into the labyrinth to find water.”

“We will definitely deliver the reward to you when we get back. Although we poor folk can’t offer much, we will do our best to raise funds. This is a matter for all of us in Gota!”

Yisi shyly twirled the end of her hair.

“Ahaha… you should go and thank Laxy. I just cleared the waterway. She’s the one who really did the work.”

It’s better to give the credit to Laxy. If all the residents of Gota knew that she had done such a great thing, who knows what kind of quests she would be faced with. Someone might pop up saying, “Since you can go deep into the Water Tree forest to clear the waterway, you must be able to enter the labyrinth to collect materials”. Although she could indeed go on a picnic in the labyrinth, if she were to be bothered by such things every day, her life would become work. By giving the credit to Laxy, she could also increase people’s goodwill towards angels.

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However, the residents did not take Yisi’s words to heart.

“I saw with my own eyes Cardinal Yisi and the angel lady walk into the forest together. It must have been the two of them working together to drive away the monsters that were stealing our water.”

“Long live Cardinal Yisi!”

“Cardinal Yisi is our Gota’s benefactor!”

“We have to let everyone know to come and thank Cardinal Yisi when we get back!”

“Ooooh!!!”

This is bad.

This is very bad.

Unfortunately, no matter how much Yisi explained, the residents were convinced that she had played a large part in clearing the waterway. If she hadn’t slipped away quickly enough, the residents would have even wanted to carry her on their shoulders and toss her into the air like a hero, all the way back to Gota.

That’s too terrifying.

Perhaps before she finds the Source of Mana, she should think about how to leave Gota. She didn’t want to be chased out of the city by a crowd.

Listening to the cheers of the residents who were running home with their water buckets in the distance, Yisi, walking alone in the wasteland, thought with deep conviction.

◇

A pitch-black tunnel.

Although there were many people standing in this underground tunnel, they didn’t even dare to breathe too loudly, as if whoever spoke first would be dealt with. A deathly silence enveloped the place.

“Can someone tell me what on earth is going on!”

The limping Bishop, standing in the middle of the tunnel, roared. His rage echoed down the tunnel.

No one answered.

The people here, of course, knew what had happened, but no one dared to say it. Shrouded in their black robes, they could only lower their heads and wait for the Bishop’s reprimand. It had to be said, it wasn’t that the Bishop had a bad temper and would execute those who displeased him, but that his subordinates were too incompetent, and shame made them unable to lift their heads.

“Why did a half-month-long plan fail on the last day! Why was our operation discovered! You don’t even know who ruined the plan. What on earth are you doing? Do you have any resolve to dedicate yourselves to the Gospel at all!”

After a long enough silence, and still no one answered, the Bishop could only randomly point at someone with his staff.

“You, you tell me!”

The man who was pointed at answered, trembling.

“L-Lord Bishop, the other party acted too quickly. There was nothing we could do. By the time we patrolled, the tunnel had already been filled with Inksteel… I can guarantee, we patrolled every hour, and we were definitely not slacking off.”

“An hour? Are you trying to tell me that someone filled half the tunnel with Inksteel in an hour and even reinforced the ground with magic? What division of magic chanters could do that without a full day? Get out!”

“Yes… yes…”

The man bowed and literally rolled out of the tunnel.

But the man’s sacrifice was well worth it. Due to the release of his anger just now, the Bishop had regained some of his reason. He knew that the followers of the Divine Religion would not betray the Gospel. Every follower was an existence saved by the Gospel and had an unwavering faith in it. It was impossible for them to slack off in the most crucial [Revelation] plan.

In other words, the other party did have the ability to fill half the tunnel with Inksteel in an hour. Perhaps he was not facing one division of magic chanters, but two, three, or even more.

But if they could deploy so many organized magic chanters, why didn’t they just come and deal with his group directly? To solve the problem at its source?

The Bishop could not understand.

“Hmm… no matter what, we must continue to execute the Gospel’s orders, even if it means sending us to our deaths.” He turned around and faced the cultists. “Change the route. Have the Excavator dig a tunnel from another route.”

“Yes!”

The echoes gradually faded into the darkness.