I Alone Regress in a Hero Party That Was Annihilated - Chapter 59

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#59. Nightmare-Eating Tree Spirit (4)

 

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Tssssssssss…

 

Blurry shadows emerge from within the purple mist.

 

With each step they take closer, their forms become increasingly clear.

 

[You bastard… Featherback… You damn bastard…]

 

An old man with a flowing white beard walks at the very front.

 

His face emerging through the purple mist is quite familiar to Featherback.

 

“So it’s Judas.”

 

The identity of the wraith that appeared before Featherback is none other than Former Administrator Judas.

 

While J’ba FoFi bought time, the Nightmare-Eating Tree Spirit peered into Featherback’s mind and extracted all the faces of those who might bear grudges against him.

 

[If it weren’t for you… I wouldn’t have died like that…]

 

Judas walks forward, shedding tears of blood.

 

Behind him, new faces continue to be added.

 

[Just for a few coins… you killed people…?]

 

[I resent you for killing even my family…]

 

[How many people must shed tears of blood because of you alone…]

 

The corrupt officials and various criminals who had been executed at Lily Square were shambling forward.

 

Featherback shrugged his shoulders.

 

“It’s amazing every time I see it. How you can mimic them so perfectly.”

 

Nightmare-Eating Tree Spirit.

 

This passage clearly shows how this unpleasant name came to be.

 

This forest rummages through the minds of humans who enter and picks out all their bad memories.

 

Then it recreates the faces of the humans who appear in those bad memories within the mist.

 

While the giant spider J’ba FoFi controlled corpses using spider webs, this forest gathers wraiths based on the resentment dwelling in those corpses, and the nightmares of those who enter the forest are added to complete this bizarre phenomenon.

 

This means that in this Nightmare-Eating Tree Spirit, the forest’s wraiths gain physical power based on the corpses gathered by J’ba FoFi.

 

Featherback drew his sword.

 

“I don’t particularly think of you bastards as nightmares, but meeting again like this is somewhat pleasant.”

 

[I’ll kill you, Featherback… I’ll definitely repay this hatred that I can’t forget even in hell…]

 

Judas couldn’t finish his words.

 

Because Featherback’s sword had severed Judas’s neck.

 

Cold aura extended outward, consecutively cutting the necks of the wraiths behind him as well.

 

However.

 

Shurururururururu…

 

The wraiths return to their original state as if their necks had never been cut.

 

[I curse you, I curse…]

 

[You’re an existence this world doesn’t need…]

 

[Do you know how many are waiting for you alone to die…]

 

Everyone blames Featherback.

 

If it were an ordinary person, their spirit would have already been broken by this horrific situation.

 

But Featherback didn’t listen to their words in the slightest.

 

“Pathetic weaklings.”

 

Death doesn’t transform the weak into the strong.

 

There’s no dramatic reversal where someone weak in reality suddenly becomes strong just because they died and became a ghost.

 

To be strong when dead, one must have been strong when alive.

 

The idea that the weak gain powerful strength when they die harboring intense hatred is just a delusion created by the weak to comfort each other.

 

If you’re weak in reality, you’re weak in death too.

 

This was the same whether in This World or the Afterlife, and Featherback, who had fought countless battles with the Demon Army, knew this fact all too well.

 

“Now, move aside.”

 

Featherback casually knocked away the necks of the Wraiths blocking his path and moved forward.

 

Then the number of Wraiths emerging from the mist increased even more.

 

[Cold… so cold…]

 

[I pray your family meets the same fate…]

 

The Prisoners of Narok began clinging to him.

 

The dead Prisoner Lee Wan appeared and bared his teeth at Featherback.

 

[Not satisfied with taking everything I had, you buried me in ice to die? My family became beggars and were driven to the streets. How could you do such things while wearing human skin!]

 

Prisoners shedding tears of blood and gnashing their teeth.

 

But Featherback showed no change in expression whatsoever.

 

“Anyone watching would think you lived righteously following the law before this happened. What nonsense are you spouting after doing countless evil deeds to other people all this time? Your families are also scum who fattened themselves with blood and flesh using dirty money, so it’s about time they coughed it all up.”

 

Featherback wasn’t shaken at all by the appearance of the Wraiths before him.

 

Because he had done nothing wrong to begin with.

 

These beings had been harming countless people all along.

 

They were simply paying the price for their actions, so there was no need to feel guilt about it.

 

…However.

 

Tssssssss—

 

The face that appeared next made Featherback’s steps falter.

 

[Featherback.]

 

Cardona.

 

The face of his sister by bond, not blood, blocked Featherback’s advance.

 

“Hmm… this is quite cleverly done.”

 

Featherback looked at Cardona standing before him.

 

Cardona’s face is different from now.

 

One eye is blind and half her face is covered with burns and cuts.

 

Her body was densely pierced with arrows and her legs were caught in countless traps.

 

[Featherback.]

 

The Cardona speaking before his eyes now is the Cardona he saw before his regression.

 

To be precise, it’s the appearance of Cardona who died caught up in the Demon King’s army’s offensive.

 

“….”

 

Featherback narrowed his eyes.

 

Before his regression, Cardona died young from the Demon King’s army’s surprise attack.

 

She died in battle without even leaving a corpse behind, and the bereaved family only found a few fingers presumed to be Cardona’s.

 

After that, Featherback awakened his Warrior’s Blood, but the memory of that day remains as a deep trauma.

 

The Nightmare-Eating Tree Spirit had touched upon that.

 

…However.

 

Sometimes there are.

 

People who possess things that shouldn’t be touched, people who shouldn’t be touched.

 

The Nightmare-Eating Tree Spirit failed to distinguish the difference between the intruders it had devoured so far and Featherback.

 

For the first time since his regression, Featherback felt the emotion of ‘anger.’

 

“I was going to just mess things up moderately and leave… but you’ve crossed the line.”

 

Cardona lunges toward Featherback as he strides forward.

 

Swiiish―

 

Cardona’s blade flies in like a snake.

 

But Featherback dodged Cardona’s sword all too easily.

 

“It’s all Mörsolt Sword Style anyway. What Older Sister learned is even half-baked.”

 

He could dodge this much even with his eyes closed.

 

Featherback thrust his sword and severed Cardona’s neck.

 

“Don’t mess around. How dare you try to touch my guilt with such a pathetic illusion.”

 

Featherback strides toward the forest.

 

Soon, a massive tree root comes into view before his eyes.

 

It was larger and thicker than any other root in the region.

 

It looked like a giant serpent from mythology crossing through the forest with its winding body.

 

If just one strand of root is this big, how large must the main body be.

 

If ordinary people saw it, it would be so massive they’d call it a Sacred Tree.

 

Featherback thrust his sword unhesitatingly toward that very tree root.

 

Thwack―!

 

Ice Dragon Adara’s tooth pierced into the Sacred Tree’s roots.

 

Then.

 

Puhwaak!

 

Red sap like blood began gushing out.

 

Featherback lifted his sword with an expressionless face.

 

“I didn’t intend to go this far, but you brought this upon yourself.”

 

The heart of the Nightmare-Eating Tree Spirit.

 

The being standing there was this very Sacred Tree.

 

A single tree so massive it could be called a tree sent by God spread its thick roots throughout the region, and the small trees that grew around those roots were the true identity of this Nightmare-Eating Tree Spirit.

 

Featherback knew the exact location of the Sacred Tree and was well-versed in the strange power it possessed.

 

…Thunk! …Thunk! …Thunk! …Thunk! …Thunk! …Thunk!

 

Featherback repeatedly struck down at the roots with his sword.

 

Red sap like blood gushed out madly and the surrounding purple mist violently churned.

 

[Featherback…]

 

[Stop…]

 

[You will be cursed…]

 

Wraiths including Judas, Lee Wan, and Cardona gathered around Featherback.

 

However.

 

“If you want me to stop, come out yourself.”

 

Featherback dragged a leather bag against the area around the Sacred Tree’s wound that was spurting blood.

 

Thud thud— Thud thud— Thud thud—

 

J’ba FoFi’s eyeballs fell out from inside the bag.

 

Spider eyes filled with milky white fat.

 

Featherback opened the matchbox he took from his chest.

 

Chiiik—

 

A single spark arose, emitting black smoke.

 

Soon, Featherback held the match against J’ba FoFi’s eyeball and lit it.

 

Whoooosh!

 

Crimson flames instantly erupted.

 

It met with the sap the Sacred Tree’s roots were spurting and blazed violently.

 

Kuuuuuuuuuu!

 

The flames spiraled high.

 

The roots that had been spurting blood now writhed in the scorching heat.

 

Psssssssssss…

 

The purple mist disperses.

 

The wraiths sent by the forest also began to twist into increasingly bizarre forms.

 

Featherback spoke.

 

“Hey. Forest Mage.”

 

Words directed at someone unknown.

 

But Featherback continued speaking calmly.

 

“Don’t make a big deal out of this. I’ll leave this forest once I get what I want.”

 

No answer came back.

 

Featherback let out a small sigh.

 

“I suppose you think I can’t do it.”

 

Soon, Featherback’s eyes glowed bright red.

 

“Then watch. Whether I can do it or not.”

 

Having finished speaking, Featherback picked up a burning tree branch.

 

And then.

 

Step— step— step— step—

 

He began moving his steps toward deeper into the forest.

 

The flames continued to spread following Featherback.

 

Featherback severed the Sacred Tree roots that stretched throughout the forest one by one and set them ablaze.

 

Not only that, but he also spread fire to other trees and bushes in the vicinity.

 

Wildfire.

 

It is a terrifying thing.

 

If a single human harbors ill intent, they could turn an entire mountain range into a sea of fire in just a few hours.

 

And Featherback was currently harboring ill intent.

 

Crackle— crackle— whoooosh!

 

Featherback held numerous tree branches in his hands to spread the fire.

 

Places where fallen leaves had accumulated, where dead trees stood, where short thickets grew densely.

 

At every such place, Featherback threw his torches.

 

Whooooooosh—

 

Though humid wind blew from inside the forest, it was impossible to stop the flames from spreading.

 

The flames blazing from the forest’s outer edge even reversed the direction of the wind.

 

Featherback walked slowly through the forest that was transforming into Hell’s Fire Pit, as if he were forest bathing.

 

Eventually.

 

Featherback came face to face with one astonishingly massive tree.

 

Rather than a tree, it was more like a gigantic pillar.

 

It was so massive that it seemed to be holding up the sky itself, and this single tree alone was large enough to form an entire forest.

 

The moment Featherback faced the Sacred Tree, the sea of purple mist enveloping the forest trembled.

 

“I told you.”

 

Featherback spoke while holding a sword in one hand and a torch in the other.

 

“Don’t make a big deal out of this.”

 

At the same time.

 

Thunk—!

 

Featherback’s sword began to dig into the trunk of the Sacred Tree.

 

The Sacred Tree, bitten by the Ice Dragon’s Fang, began to scream.

 

The iron-like tree bark peeled away and the soft flesh inside split open.

 

Red sap poured down like a waterfall.

 

At the same time, the purple mist began to writhe frantically.

 

But this wasn’t the end.

 

Featherback raised the torch he had been dragging along the ground from outside the forest.

 

A straight line of flames traced across the grassland.

 

At its end stood Featherback and the Sacred Tree.

 

…Thud!

 

Featherback threw the torch into the Sacred Tree’s wound.

 

Whoosh—

 

The flames spread to the Sacred Tree.

 

Hot, dry air pushed back the purple mist.

 

Crackle! Crackle! Crackle! Crackle!

 

The entire Nightmare-Eating Tree Spirit was screaming.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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