Chapter 137 - 39

After the banquet was over, the students returned to the building where they lived. As was the case in the Dwarven Kingdom, the students were allowed to wander around the city. But they were only given one hour. After that, they would be caught by the patrolling elf knights if they were still on the loose.

Clara, Princess Iris, and Princess Freya decide to return to the building where they live and sleep early. Most of the students also thought the same as them. Only a few students decided to take a walk and enjoy the natural beauty of the Elven Kingdom at night. One of them was Ziel. Right now he was standing in front of the building where he lived to wait for someone. Not long after, a white-purple-haired girl approached him.

"Sorry for making you wait!" Lilith said apologetically. She returned to her building to change into the uniform she wore at the banquet before. Currently, Lilith was wearing a black sweater and ponytailed her hair which made her look even more beautiful and fresh.

Ziel who came back from the banquet originally wanted to check something by himself. But somehow Lilith suddenly offered her help and wanted to go with him. It was possible because Clara decided to go to bed early so Lilith didn't have to look after her.

"No problem. I haven't been here long either. Let's go." Ziel didn't say anything unnecessary to her. Without hearing her answer, Ziel grabbed Lilith's shoulder. After that, their bodies distorted and disappeared from the place without a trace.

***

The world tree is the symbol of the Elven kingdom. The tree is also called a guardian that will protect the forest and the elves. The elves and high elves had a special connection with the world tree. This was directly related to the elves who could use spiritism. The world tree wasn't just a tree of enormous size, it also had a living spirit within it. Compared to Silphy who had contracted with Kalya, the spirit of the world tree was of a higher rank. It even had the strength of a true god.

Every night the world tree emits a faint light that illuminates its surroundings. For spirit users, they will instantly notice that the world tree releases an enormous amount of spirit power.

Currently, Ziel and Lilith are standing not far from the world tree. Ziel had been there long enough. He disguised his and Lilith's presence so as not to be noticed by the elven knights patrolling the vicinity. For now, Ziel just silently looked at the world tree and didn't do anything.

"Didn't you say you couldn't kill him now?" Lilith asked him in a low voice. She was curious as to why Ziel suddenly changed his mind and went to that place. Whereas previously he had said that he would not be taking action any time soon.

"I'm not going to kill him right now. I'm only here because he's already taken action. So I should also do the same." Ziel said nonchalantly. He scanned the entire world tree like he was looking for something.

"Eh? When did he do it? Weren't things fine so far?" Lilith became confused after hearing Ziel's words. She hadn't felt any suspicious movement since they came to the Elven Kingdom. Ziel raised his eyebrows at Lilith's response.

"You didn't notice?" Ziel shifted his gaze from the world tree to Lilith.

"What? Is there something I missed?" Lilith suddenly had a bad feeling.

"That person is quite an expert, not even a fellow Divine Race can notice it." Ziel frowned and went back to inspect the world tree.

"What exactly did you know?" Lilith asked curiously. She can't get rid of the bad feeling she has right now if Ziel doesn't answer her.

"The food in the banquet was poisoned." Ziel answered without taking his eyes off the world tree.

"Eh!? But I don't feel anything. I'm sure my body is fine too." Lilith closed her eyes and tried to check her body. She was confused because she didn't find anything strange in her body. But she knew Ziel wasn't someone who spoke without reason.

"That's why I said that person is quite an expert. He makes poison without taste, color, and smell. When it enters the human body, the poison mixes with the cells in your body. The most unique thing is that this poison can be activated directly from the outside. So it's natural that you don't feel anything when poisoned." Ziel explained to Lilith what he knew after dismantling the poison that entered his body. He could notice it because his senses were very sensitive to foreign substances.

When Ziel ate the poisoned food, he could tell that other substances were not part of the food ingredients that entered his body. Unlike Lilith, Ziel can examine parts of his body down to his cells. That was because Ziel had studied his body thoroughly to learn his innate skills 'Imitation' and 'Manifestation'. The more details he knew about the construction of his body, the stronger the clone would be. One of the skills he got from studying his body construction was the 'Piqment Clone' which he had used on Kalya, Princess Freya, and Princess Iris while at the camp.

"Eh!? Are you serious!? What was the effect of the poison? How could they activate it!?" Lilith panicked after hearing Ziel's explanation. She finally knew the origin of that bad feeling.

"The effect is that your strength will be temporarily lost. The duration of the effect depends on the strength of the person. The greater your strength, the faster the effect will wear off. For a true god, it should be around 15-30 minutes. The weaker the poison the longer the effect. To activate it requires certain magic and I don't know that. But the current Elven Queen knows." Ziel wouldn't receive the effect even if the poison was active because he had already extracted it from his body after he came back from the banquet. Lilith broke out in a cold sweat thinking about it. 15 minutes would be enough to kill her if she had no strength at all.

"So what should I do? Aren't you going to tell the others?" Lilith suddenly thought of Clara and the two Princesses at the banquet. In addition, there was also Kalya who also ate the food served at the banquet.

"You don't have to worry about it. People of your race seem to be doing that with a purpose. If I tell them they will panic, I can also expel the poison from their bodies but I have to touch their bodies directly." Ziel won't know the food is poisonous until he eats it. But after he ate it, Clara and the other girls had also eaten. He was too late to warn them. If he told them that they had been poisoned, there would be unnecessary panic. Besides that, it was also unthinkable for him to touch their bodies all of a sudden just to get rid of the poison that was still not active. That's why Ziel decided to leave it for now. He would tell them what happened and remove the poison once he was done with his business and knew what the real intentions of the person behind this matter were.

"Is that so? Well if that's your decision. So, what are you going to do here?" Lilith still didn't understand why Ziel had come to that place. From the moment he arrived, he only looked at the world tree.

"We're done. Let's go in and meet someone." Ziel didn't explain it to Lilith. He flew to the center of the world tree. Lilith quickly followed him.

Ziel reached out his hand and touched a part of the tree with his palm. Suddenly a faint light enveloped Ziel and Lilith then absorbed them into the trunk of the world tree.

When Ziel and Lilith opened their eyes, what appeared in front of them was a plain white room. In that room, there was only a Prison made of tree roots. Ziel and Lilith walked closer to the prison.

"Who is that!?" A girl's panicked voice was heard from inside the prison.

After Ziel and Lilith reached the front of the Prison, a girl with wavy turquoise hair adorned with a tiara looked intently at them. She was wearing an elegant dress made of leaves.

"Long time no see, Dryad." Ziel looked back into the girl's eyes.

"Dryad? You mean the spirit queen, Dryad!?" Lilith was shocked after hearing Ziel greet the girl. She knew about the existence of spirits. Their race shouldn't be much different from the divine race. Their strength is also not to be underestimated. Moreover, the one in front of Lilith right now is Dryad. She is known as the spirit of the forest or the queen of all spirits.

Ziel and Dryad met once when he was on his journey to conquer the divine race. Ziel had lived in the Elven Kingdom and received a good reception from the Elven race. He also accidentally made contact with a Dryad even though he wasn't a spirit user. They became close during Ziel's stay in the Elven Kingdom. Dryad also told him how to enter the world tree which had an ever-changing entrance. She did so because she wanted Ziel to come to see her often.

The Dryad's body suddenly trembled at the sound of the familiar call. Her eyes softened when her gaze met Ziel's.

"You...who are you? Why do I feel nostalgic when I see you?" Dryad tilted his head in confusion at the boy in front of her. Dryad felt she knew him but she was sure she had never met Ziel. It's only natural that Dryad doesn't recognize him because Ziel is reincarnated and has a slightly different face from the Ziel that Dryad knows.

"Ken Nijisaki." Ziel answered briefly. But Dryad's reaction was very unexpected after hearing that name.

"Ken! Is that you!?" Dryad suddenly got excited and approached Ziel. She burst into tears with a smile and reached her hand out from between the roots. Ziel took her hand gently.

Lilith was taken aback by the intimacy that Ziel and Dryad showed. They are like lovers who haven't seen each other for a long time.

"It's me. If not, how can I find the entrance to this place." Ziel slightly squeezed Dryad's little hand. Ziel was the only human who knew the way into that place.

"You are right! But why are you being like this? You look so cold. And who is that girl?" Dryad was confused to see Ziel's aura was very different from the one he knew. When she saw Lilith she was silent for a moment and her face suddenly filled with anger.

"You're one of those bastards aren't you!?" Dryad shouted angrily at her.

"She's on my side and has no ill will towards you. Please believe me. It's a long story, I promise I'll explain it to you one by one later. What's important right now is your situation. How can the world tree just stand still looking at your current state?" Ziel changed the subject. Right now he didn't have much time. Therefore, he had to directly ask the thing he wanted to know the most.

"Alright...I believe it because you said it. This is the work of that divine race bastard! He took over the world tree using the elves. You know that elves have a direct connection with the world tree so they can use spiritism?" Dryad asks him. Ziel only gave a small nod in response. Then Dryad continued her story.

"That bastard used that connection to enter the world tree's consciousness. I don't know how but he started to influence it. Until finally he used a high elf and managed to take over the world tree's consciousness completely. After that, he tried to subdue me through the world tree. You know the world tree and I have an interdependent relationship. If he can control me and the world tree then he will have infinite spirit power." Dryad explained the true purpose of the divine race.

"I see. But isn't this place your private room? You once said that even the world tree couldn't see what you were doing here." Ziel remembers when he first came to that place. Dryad tells him that they can chat about anything there and the world tree can't see them.

"You're right. But the world tree seems to grow a new consciousness after being controlled. He could feel my presence inside his body even though this place was in another space. To prevent me from leaving this place, the world tree locked me in this prison. That's how I ended up like this." Dryad smiled weakly. Ziel knows Dryad is a cheerful spirit. But right now she looked so helpless.

"Do you want me to get you out of here?" Ziel said it subconsciously after seeing her state.

"No! You must not destroy this prison! This root is directly connected to the world tree. He will be seriously injured and even die if you forcibly destroy him. Even though he's imprisoning me here, but that's because he's being controlled. So please don't hurt him!" Dryad pleaded with him in tears.

"I can't promise you. I'll fight back if he attacks me first. I won't hesitate to destroy him either." Ziel said coldly to her.

"I see. I'm sorry for asking you to do such a thing." Dryad lowered her head. She was also aware that she was asking him unreasonable things. Ziel stared at her silently and finally left the place. Lilith followed closely behind. Dryad panicked when she thought Ziel was angry with her. Before Dryad could call out to him, Ziel spoke first.

"I will find a way to free you without destroying the world tree." Ziel said that before he and Lilith were swallowed by the light and disappeared from the place.

"Thanks, Ken. You haven't changed at all since then." Dryad smiled sweetly looking at the place where Ziel and Lilith had disappeared.

After exiting the world tree, Ziel and Lilith intended to leave that place immediately. But their steps were stopped by someone's voice.

"Ooh... So our little playboy is playing with another girl here.." A silver-haired elf girl came out of the darkness and walked over to Ziel.