Chapter 277 - Legacy Area

Following behind Cyril, the party slowly descended into the depths of the world tree. Placing her hands on the wall, Shiro was surprised at the sheer amount of mana that was pulsing through the walls.

'For just the walls to be affected by this much mana, I wonder how the centre area was going to be.' She thought to herself in surprise.

Glancing around for a moment, she decided to see if she could remove a bit of the walls to do some research. Who knows, she might find something interesting since the walls were enhanced by quite a large quantity of mana.

*Clack

A tiny nanobot was dropped on the floor and started to crawl up the walls without anyone noticing.

Chipping into the walls, Shiro had it follow them while taking samples on the way. That way, she could compare the effects later.

"Follow closely or else you might get lost in the maze." Cyril called out with a smile.

"Say, Cyril." Lyrica asked hesitantly.

"Mn? What is it?" Cyril turned her head with a smile.

"It has been bothering me but you said that I'm your big sister right? When were you born?" Lyrica furrowed her brows.

From her memories, her father didn't create any more heirs since he was satisfied with her and her mother.

But for Cyril to exist, that may mean that her father wasn't who she thought he was.

"When was I born? Hmm… I dunno. They never told me and I don't know who my mum is. Hm… now that I think of it, I only remember things that happened a few years ago." Cyril replied while trying her best to remember any childhood memories.

Hearing what Cyril had said, Lyrica paused in confusion.

"They haven't told you when you were born nor did they tell you about your mum. You only know that we share the same father?" She asked with hesitation.

"Yup." Cyril nodded with a smile.

"Hm…" Frowning slightly, Lyrica was a little sceptical about the situation but decided to hold back on her questions for now.

As they travelled deeper into the world tree, the mana started to coagulate into a mist of sorts.

'Hmm… There has to be an item that's bolstering up the amount of mana in the world tree.' Shiro thought to herself in interest. Out of all the phenomenon that she knew of, few would produce similar effects and the most likely would be an extraordinary item.

"The legacy area should be just pass this area." Cyril called out as they approached a giant set of doors.

Pushing open the door, the party could see a giant hollow room that was filled with flickering lights.

The mana density in this area had increased to the point where the mist had started to crystalize and float around.

In the centre of the room, several barriers were wrapped around a single sapling.

"Is that father's legacy?" Lyrica tilted her head in confusion. As there was nothing else in the room, the sapling was the only thing that could possibly be the legacy.

"Nope. That's the core of the world tree. Dad's legacy is past that." Cyril shook her head.

Walking past the barriers, Shiro noticed that there was a familiar pulse of mana that was being used as fuel.

'Could that be Iziuel?' She thought to herself in suspicion.

{My queen. I believe that Lady Iziuel is currently powering that barrier. Should we trace that back, we should be able to find her.} Nimue called out from inside her mana realm.

'Is that so? We'll track it back later. We'll take a look at the legacy right now.' Shiro shook her head lightly.

Nimue furrowed her brows in worry but decided to accept it.

{Understood my queen.}

Making their way to the back of the room, Cyril pulled out a pendant, revealing a giant magic circle.

"This is the teleporter to the legacy area. Big sis, just press your hands against it and inject your mana into the magic circle."

"Mn." Nodding her head, she followed Cyril's instructions.

Before anyone could react, a blinding light filled their visions.

Quickly opening her eyes, Shiro noticed that she was alone in the middle of a burning village.

Screams could be heard as bandits were killing people all around her.

Seeing this, Shiro couldn't feel a little nostalgic which confused her.

"Ah? BOYS! Jackpot! Look at this chick over here!" One of the bandits shouted out with a vulgar smile.

Hearing the familiar language, Shiro widened her eyes in surprise.

'Arian? How do they know the language of Aria.' She thought to herself.

Looking around, she saw that she had been completely surrounded by level 50 bandits.

"Kek, I didn't think that we'll find such a jackpot in this sh*tty village." The bandit sneered as they slowly closed in on her.

"Say, do you know where we are right now?" Shiro asked nonchalantly.

"Hah?"

Her question confused the bandits since she was concerned about where she was rather than the fact that she was currently surrounded by bandits.

"Who cares. Get her!"

Looking at the person who had shouted that, Shiro guessed that he was their leader of sorts.

"So you choose death." Shiro sighed.

Her lips slowly curved into a grin as she stomped down with her foot. Ice spread out instantly and froze the bandit's legs. Those who had charged with more momentum found that their legs had completely separated from their body and collapsed on the ground.

Ignoring their screams, she swiped her hand horizontally and sent ice spikes through their heads, killing them.

"Now then… I should take care of the rest of the bandits then see if I can find my younger self or something." She muttered.

Jumping on the church, since it was the tallest building in the village, Shiro raised her hand up and sent out a torrent of snow.

Encasing the entire village in a blizzard, she knew the location of all the bandits since they touched her snow.

"Freeze." She commanded.

Every snowflake that was in contact with the bandits exploded with ice and sent spikes through their bodies.

"Eh?" Some of the villagers who saw this widened their eyes in surprise as they looked towards the source and saw that a young white haired girl had saved all of them.

Quickly bowing in respect, they started to pray.

However, Shiro ignored this. Searching through her memories, she looked towards where her parents had run away with her.

Stretching her body slightly, she leapt into the air.

She didn't need to run too far since she saw a heavily injured man next to a few corpses.

'Dad…' Shiro thought to herself and landed next to him.

"Can you hear me." She called out while healing him with the life fire.

"My wife, my daughter… they're that way. Quickly, can you go help them?!" He begged while grabbing her sleeves.

"Mn. But what about yourself?" She asked.

"I don't care about myself! What use is it if they're dead?!" He cried out and pushed her towards where his wife and daughter had gone.

"Please, I beg of you, go help them!" He bowed his head in desperation.

"…Mn. Don't worry, I will." Shiro nodded before flickering away.

"Thank you…"

Jumping through the trees, Shiro sighed lightly.

{He is a good father isn't he? Worrying about you and your mother despite being in so much danger himself.}

'Mn…' Shiro nodded as her heart felt a little heavy.

While she did regret the fact that he died, it wasn't something she could change anymore. After all, there was a high chance that this place right now was just an illusion.

Looking down on the ground, she saw a frail woman stumbling her way through the forest.

'Mum...'

Jumping down, she supported her mother.

"My daughter… I sent my daughter that way… Can you help me check if she's ok? I need to hurry." Her mother asked as Shiro nodded without a second word.

Seeing both her parents worry about her despite the condition they were in made her heart feel warm.

Quickly healing her with life fire, Shiro carried her on her back and jumped through the forest towards where the scientists had picked her up.

"Thank you for your kindness." Her mother said while keeping an eye out for her younger self.

"Mn. It's what I should do." Shiro replied with a smile.

"Even so, there aren't many people wh- there!" Her mother called out while pointing in front of them.

Looking at her younger self who was quivering with fear while the scientists were about to kidnap her, Shiro quickly increased her speed.

Twisting her body, she roundhouse kicked one of the scientists into the other.

Sliding back a few steps, the scientists looked at Shiro in surprise.

"Hou… to force me, a level 75 back a few steps, you must be quite high level huh?" The scientist narrowed his eyes.

"For a sh*tty scientists, I was hoping that kick would have killed you." Shiro scoffed while allowing her mother to get off her back and grab her younger self.

"Step to the side for now and don't let her see blood." Shiro called out as her mother quickly nodded her head.

"Now then, how should I deal with the two of you?" Shiro grinned as killing intent rolled off her in waves.

Raising up her hands, a stream of nanobots flowed out and formed a pair of hand cannons.

"Genesis Hand Cannons." She grinned.