Chapter 269: Chapter 267

Keel. – This term refers to the central axis of a ship that runs along the bottom center from front to back. The keel acts as the backbone and main beam of a ship, and its length determines the size of the ship... When the vessel is damaged other parts can usually be repaired and reused, but if the keel is damaged, the ship's lifespan is essentially over. Replacing or repairing the keel means completely dismantling the vessel. It's practically the same as building the ship from scratch.

[...In that sense, the material used for the keel directly affects the ship's durability.] The gist of the shadow dwarves' rambling about the importance of the keel was simple.

"So you're saying you want to use this Elvenwood as a keel?"

[Yes!] The shadow dwarves answered in unison, their eyes already filled with madness. If there was only one Elvenwood, they would share it, but now that Suho could get more, the situation was completely different.

[There's no reason to cut up this precious wood!]

[As we said before, the size of the keel determines the size of the ship!]

[The sturdiness of the keel is the sturdiness of the ship!]

[If we use this precious material as a whole for the keel instead of dividing it, we can create a truly enormous vessel!]

Kyaa!

Wasn't it thrilling just to imagine?! A ship with the elves' divine tree as its keel! And one that even had the special ability to extend its branches, devour the surrounding weeds, and grow on its own? If they recklessly cut it to pieces, that function could disappear. Suho, after hearing their earnest request, accepted without hesitation.

"Alright. Then use this one as the keel for Esil's ship for now."

[Kyahaha!]

[Ugh...!]

The dwarves were divided into joy and sorrow at Suho's decision. Of course, they knew that the ship of the Demon King should be the priority, but it was still painful to have this delicious material taken away from them right before their eyes.

[Then can you give us the next one for our raft?!]

[Nonsense! Our raft is the biggest among them! To handle a keel of this size, the more materials we have, the faster the crafting will be!]

"That's true. Then let's go in order of the largest raft."

[...!] The shadow dwarves became restless at Suho's decision.

[Th-there's no time to waste!]

[You lazy demons! Hurry up! We need to gather the most materials before the next Elvenwood arrives!] As Suho set the standard, competition suddenly arose between the rafts.

[The movement speed also varies greatly depending on the completeness of the ship!]

Finding the World Tree in this vast, dark sea was as difficult as finding a needle in a desert. Even if that 'needle' was the enormous World Tree, the Sea of The Afterlife was a world far vaster and more daunting than a mere desert. In the end, if they wanted to find the World Tree quickly, they had to risk their lives and gather more weeds than anyone else.

[Demons! Risk your lives! If our ship finds the World Tree first, wouldn't it be better for you?!]

[You'll be able to eat the leaves first and become stronger before other demons arrive!]

"...!" The dwarves' persuasive provocation ignited the competitive spirit in the demons who had been passively rowing until now. It was only natural that the more leaves of the World Tree they ate, the stronger they could become as demons. Until now, they had been gathering weeds floating on the sea and wandering aimlessly, but. If they started with a powerful keel, they could become stronger than other demons with ease.

"L-let's go!"

[Yes! That's it!]

[Hurry up! Demons!]

SWOOSH—!

...Well, in any case, it was a very positive motivation for Suho and Esil.

"But Esil. Can you take a look at this?"

"...?" Suho, watching the rafts scatter according to their desires, approached Esil and handed her something. The reason he personally visited the Sea of The Afterlife like this wasn't just because of the Elvenwood.

"Master, this is..." Esil's eyes became serious.

The item Suho handed her was none other than the 'Starpiece' once embedded in Forest's eye. After defeating the high elves and spirits, Suho felt a strange sense of incongruity the moment he touched this one.

"Somehow, the energy felt strangely different from the stardust and star fragments I found before."

Stardust, a magic power amplifier developed in the demon factory using the demons' Mad Blooded Poison. And the gem, the star fragment, which was a highly refined version of stardust. They were called Starpieces now, but there was a time when he thought of them simply as magic power amplifiers.

But now he knew. Magic power amplification was just a result visible on the surface. The principle behind it was completely different.

[It's not amplification, but 'reception'.]

[And furthermore, enabling 'communication.' That is the true purpose of the Starpieces.]

Greed, who was once the High Priest of the Outer Gods Cult, And Iron, who was a priest, They were now shadow soldiers, on Suho's side. Thanks to them, he had gained all the information they knew about the Outer Gods Cult.

[The Starpieces are a kind of medium.]

[A medium to inject the magic power of the outer universe into a human body. It's not amplifying magic power, but simply receiving it from an external source.]

[If the vessel can't handle that immense energy and breaks, they die.]

[That's why the humans who overdosed on stardust in the early days perished.]

Of course, even Greed and Iron didn't know everything about the Outer Gods Cult. That was because it was a thoroughly cellular organization. And strangely, they sprang up individually in various parts of the world as if occurring naturally, without anyone leading the way. There was no concept of preaching or proselytizing, so they didn't contact or cooperate with each other. There was no need for that in the first place. Thanks to the 'Starpieces.'

[The Outer Gods Cult 'communicates' with the outer universe through the Starpieces.]

[So there's no need for humans to exchange information with each other. Except for very special cases.]

"What are the special cases?"

Greed answered Suho's question, [Sharing research data on Starpieces. Only then.]

The existence of Starpieces was the most important goal and means for the Outer Gods Cult. From stardust to star fragments and now Starpieces, how many sacrifices and research had there been done? As a result of that endless pursuit, the efficiency and purity of the Starpieces they created increased day by day. As a magic power amplifier, this meant that the amplification rate increased. And the race that first led this research was the demons. It was the beginning of the 'demon factory.' They diligently exchanged research and development data with other regional cultists, finally creating Starpieces capable of not only 'reception' but also 'communication.'

[The research on Starpieces finally reached its peak, to the point where two-way communication became possible] From one-way to two-way. It was a revolution.

[If the cultists until then could only passively receive orders from the outer gods who descended through the dimensional gaps, they could now send information to the outer universe from Earth.]

[The Outer Gods Cult calls that 'prayer' or 'ritual.']

Communicating with the outer gods. It was the moment when the Outer Gods Cult truly became a religion. The problem was that the deities they served happened to be invaders who came to destroy this world. And since Suho already knew this information through Greed and Iron, he noticed that the Starpieces embedded in the high elves' eyes were different from before.

"This Starpiece... wasn't made with our demon blood." Esil's answer was decisive.

"Indeed." At that moment Suho's suspicion turned into certainty.

"I thought it was strange. While rescuing the survivors and searching the high elf village, I couldn't find any traces of demons." He even found three hidden Gates and searched inside them, but there were none. He searched the entire area, but he couldn't find a demon factory.

"There were Starpieces, but no demons..." Esil held the gem and pondered Suho's words. The meaning was clear.

"It seems they can now create Starpieces without our demon blood." The research that began with Mad Blooded Poison seemed to have finally borne fruit. And even one with much higher purity than before.

"It seems they found a material to replace demon blood. And that must be..."

"Another sacrifice." Suho nodded with a grim expression, finishing Esil's sentence.

"Esil. You need to find the World Tree quickly. And become stronger as soon as possible."

"Yes."

Esil succeeded in becoming the next Monarch, but it was possible thanks to Suho's help. This didn't mean that she was still unqualified as a Monarch; rather, it was a positive thing. Esil was the Monarch of Gluttony. If she became that way by eating the leaves of the World Tree, what would happen if she ate more leaves here? Wouldn't she become much stronger than now? Then, Esil would be able to use 'Hell's Army' and gather all the demons scattered across the dimensions. With that one power, she could find all the demon factories hidden by the Outer Gods Cult in an instant. That meant she could uncover the locations and information of all the Cults of the Outer Gods connected to those demons at once.

"Let's both do our best. You find the World Tree here, and I'll take care of Nidhögg attached to the World Tree." With those words, Suho left the Sea of The Afterlife.

* * *

To deal with Nidhögg... The first step to weakening that giant serpent with six heads was the request Sillad gave Suho.

[Quest: Request of the Monarch of Frost]

[Make Sirka, the descendant of Sillad, the next Monarch.]

[However, Sirka is still young and weak, and her vessel is lacking to contain the Primordial Darkness.]

[Until Sirka can inherit the Primordial Darkness, take responsibility for her safety and help her grow.]

Sillad's quest. It was an earnest request to be responsible for Sirka's safety from the threats of numerous spirits and Elvenwoods. But there was one thing Sillad didn't consider...

[...Kieek? Why are you looking at me like that?] Beru tilted his head.

Seeing that innocent, no, naive expression of Beru, Suho just smiled back. Very brightly.

[King of the Snow Folk and the Monarch of Frost, realizes that something is wrong.]

But it was too late to realize. Unfortunately, Suho had only learned one way to raise a young and weak descendant of a Monarch.

"No pain no gain"

[Kieek?]

"She's the descendant of frost, she needs to be at least stronger than an ant larva, right?"

"...Huh?" Sirka didn't understand what that meant, but she had a very ominous feeling.

She saw Cha Hae-In's expression on Suho's pleasant face. Sirka adored Cha Cha like a mother, but not 'that expression.' That expression of Suho... was very similar to the expression she had when she trained them.

"Let's go."

"Wh-where?"

"To find all the Elvenwoods in this land."

Suho immediately headed to the nearest elf village.

[Using Skill: 'Breath of Destruction'.]

With a destructive greeting.

* * *

Russia.

An uninvited guest appeared before Yuri Orlov, who was drinking wine while overlooking the city from atop a skyscraper.

[Someone broke my flowerpot.]

Orlov didn't seem surprised by the sudden appearance of the uninvited guest. Rather, he focused on the content of those words and widened his eyes.

"...What? What happened to the terrarium?"