I Got a Fake Job at the Academy

Chapter 677: Approaching Light (1)

The Templar Crusaders froze in place, unconsciously tense.

The size of the tree standing before them was so enormous that even if they tilted their heads up and looked for a long time, they couldn't see its end.

Considering what phenomena the plants they had encountered on their way here caused, this tree was surely not ordinary either.

Moreover, it was completely blocking the entrance to the Galahad Fortress.

It must be more dangerous than anything they had faced so far.

The fact that there wasn't a collection of trees forming a forest but just a single enormous one standing prominently was another reason for their tension.

It meant that one was enough.

But regardless of their tension and fear, they couldn't retreat.

While they hesitated, who knew what schemes the Demon King was plotting inside the Galahad Fortress.

In their position, where they needed to move as quickly as possible, that tree was merely an obstacle to overcome.

"Let's start with flames."

The magicians drew magic formulas.

Soon, a massive fire magic was completed.

The scale of each individual spell was around Tier 4.

But as the Tier 4 spells gathered and merged, they emitted extremely hot energy.

Even knights watching from a distance were sweating.

The magicians had created a huge mass of flame by combining their powers.

Not stopping there, the magicians added wind attribute magic as well.

When wind was added to the flames, it transformed into a swirling vortex of fire and was shot toward the giant tree.

The heat was so intense that even the knights momentarily backed away.

It had enough power to instantly melt the main gate of the Galahad Fortress and create a hole.

-Kwaaaang!

The swirling flames that hit the tree caused a massive explosion.

It was so powerful that the surrounding view was completely covered in scarlet flames.

Seeing this, those who had been secretly thinking "what if?" frowned when the flames subsided and revealed the tree completely unharmed.

"What is that tree anyway?"

"Is it some kind of World Tree?"

As everyone was muttering such things, a change occurred from the tree.

-Woooong.

The tree vibrated finely, and the atmosphere shook along with it.

The leaves that had grown abundantly on top of the tree rustled against each other even though there was no wind.

-Sasasasak.

They frowned at the sound like millions of bees flapping their wings at once.

The leaves began to glow with a pale green fluorescent light.

The surroundings, though it was daytime, had been darkened by storm clouds, but gradually brightened.

Eventually, arrows of light showered down from the top of the tree.

"Everyone, defend!"

"Be careful!"

Despite the surprising situation of the tree suddenly shooting light arrows, the Templar Crusaders who had already raised their guard immediately began to respond.

Agile knights either avoided them or deflected the arrows with their aura-infused swords, the magicians deployed shields to block the arrows while the holy knights and priests did the same.

Endless pale green arrows poured down from the sky.

People who were distracted by this were late to discover the ominous things creeping up and breaking through the ground.

"What? Everyone, watch the ground!"

"Something's coming from below as well!"

No sooner had that warning ended than the ground surged up and a huge shadow swooped down on the Templar Crusaders.

"Don't tell me those are roots?"

The sight of more than a hundred massive roots that appeared to be over 10 meters thick surging up simultaneously created an illusion as if a tidal wave of earth had occurred.

The ground collapsed, and the Templar Crusaders caught in it were flung in all directions or became entangled.

The knights escaped from the collapsing terrain or moved by stepping on the tree roots with their excellent reflexes.

But the magicians, who basically lacked mobility, couldn't do the same.

Light arrows rained down on them as their magic was disrupted by the surprise attack.

-Pupupupuk!

The light arrows struck the magicians' bodies.

The magician should have screamed at the sensation of arrows penetrating his skin, but instead, he just slowly closed his eyes and collapsed.

He had fallen asleep.

"What is this? This isn't an ordinary attack?"

A holy knight was bewildered as people suddenly fell asleep one after another.

Thinking it might be the Demon King's curse, the priests invoked divine power to heal those who had fallen asleep.

"They won't wake up? Could it be that this isn't a curse!"

The priest who belatedly realized it wasn't a curse was shocked.

In other words, the sleep they fell into after being hit by those light arrows was neither dark magic nor a curse, but something else entirely.

"It's effective."

Julia, watching the scene from afar, muttered.

People hit by the light arrows fell asleep without exception, whether they were knights or holy knights.

"Even though I incorporated dream magic, I didn't expect it to be this effective."

Julia clicked her tongue.

The light arrows that the tree was now shooting were not attacks that physically subdued the opponent, but a type of dream magic that dropped the target's mind into the Dreamland.

Originally, dream magic could make people fall asleep or wake up, but it wasn't a magic that was this effective.

It could only have sufficient effect on ordinary people; normally, it shouldn't have worked at all on the Templar Crusaders gathered here.

What made it possible was Sedina's power.

"Sedina. Is this what you call the World Tree?"

Julia asked Sedina, who was right beside her.

"No. This isn't the World Tree. It's just one of the World Tree's roots."

"This is... just a root?"

Julia couldn't hide her shock at the words that this massive tree wasn't the World Tree itself, but just one of its roots.

Then the undulating stems must be the roots of the root.

"I brought the root all the way here and made it surge up to the ground. The World Tree is a symbol of life, so it's possible for new branches and leaves to bloom above the roots."

The World Tree that had emerged now was merely a sapling derived from its root.

Naturally, it was smaller than the actual World Tree.

Nevertheless, its size was so enormous that it felt like a mountain.

"Wait, isn't the World Tree in the Elven Forest? How do its roots reach all the way here? Even across the sea?"

"No matter how big the World Tree is, its roots don't reach this far. That's why I created pseudo-World Trees in between to make a path."

"Pseudo-World Trees. Something strange pops up again."

"Think of it as a relay station for communication. I planted vegetation that relays the World Tree's roots to connect them across the continent to Bretus."

"...What about the sea? Is it okay for roots to cross the sea?"

"A World Tree can drink seawater without any problem. It can break down and expel salt by itself. Rather, the abundance of water around the island actually helps it grow more."

Bretus' geography, advantageous for blocking external invasions, ironically became a great help to Sedina.

"Of course, it's much inferior compared to the real World Tree. That's why I combined it with dream magic."

"...Right. You did. But to say this tree is inferior compared to the real World Tree. How amazing is the real one?"

"Hmm. It would take too long to explain."

Sedina didn't bother to explain.

It would take too much time to enumerate what she experienced that day in the Elven Kingdom.

But such vagueness only amplifies fear, curiosity, and imagination.

"I must hear about it later."

"Yes. I'll tell you later."

Later was a word that didn't fit in this massive war.

But the fact that such words came naturally meant that the two didn't consider this war as the end.

"Anyway, thanks to the World Tree's vitality, the application of dream magic has increased tremendously."

Originally, dream magic's power was often reduced outside of the Dreamland.

But now, with the World Tree's vitality serving as fuel, the power of dream magic had actually become much stronger than in the Dreamland.

However, if they recklessly overused dream magic, enemies might notice their presence.

To prevent this, Julia used Sedina's plants as the main strategy and dream magic as a supplementary measure.

For instance, making those hit by the World Tree's attacks fall asleep.

Naturally, those who fell asleep were now in the Dreamland.

And they were dropped directly into the middle layer, not the surface or upper layer.

Although the middle layer itself was full of dangers, now that Nirva had disappeared and the Dream Goddess had fallen back to sleep, the middle layer was considerably more stable than before.

Now, even if they fell to the middle layer, their lives wouldn't be in danger.

Moreover, all those who were falling asleep now were elites with skills.

They would easily navigate through any potential dangers.

It might sound a bit irresponsible, but this was the best and most efficient method.

"Yes. Having come this far, we can't turn back now. So let's go."

They had already gone through too much in the Dreamland.

To be honest, it wasn't a good experience.

Rather, they had the sad experience of losing someone precious.

Because of that, Julia could understand Sedina more and move forward one step further as a person.

Julia raised her magical power and scattered it around like particles.

The particles of magical power, like dandelion seeds, rode the wind to the World Tree and settled.

They breathed the aura of dreams into the tree.

The green magician, Sedina Roschen and Julia Plumhart, who used the unusual dream magic unleashed a new fusion magic, unprecedented in history, by combining their powers.

[A Dream Everyone Dreams Together]

Those who had reached the World Tree began to dream.

The battlefield was dyed in chaos.

The Templar Crusaders, who were supposed to sweep everything away with overwhelming force, felt embarrassed by the unexpectedly sluggish situation.

Although the difference in military strength was overwhelming, the Demon King's army responded with geographical advantages and various dark arts, creating a stalemate in the war situation.

Of course, they had crossed obstacles one by one and finally reached the Galahad Fortress.

But the path was blocked again by the enormous tree standing at the entrance of the fortress.

Moreover, the obstacles in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd checkpoint cities hadn't been completely removed, so battles were still ongoing there.

"Damn it! If only we had the armored division, we could sweep them all away!"

The commander slammed his fist on the desk in frustration.

They had intended to sweep everything away with overwhelming force, but now that it had become impossible.

Rather, the excessive number of troops had become a major hindrance to the organization and operation of the forces.

With too many warships gathered on the already narrow coast, they could barely even land properly.

Most of the ships had to maintain a floating position, waiting offshore.

Additionally, they had sent their elites but hadn't received any news of victory.

For the command, who had planned to end this war quickly, it was natural to feel impatient.

There was nothing they could do here.

They had to push the frontline with regular infantry, but in the current war situation, infantry was useless.

Not just infantry.

The armored battalion, steam golems, and the rear support units for them were the same.

The only thing left was to wait for the knights, magicians, holy knights, and priest units, composed of a small number of elites, to do well.

Of course, they were called a small elite force, but from an absolute perspective, they were by no means small, so they didn't think they would lose.

They were just having a hard time enduring the frustration of the stagnant situation.

So they were trying to figure out how to push back the thorn vines using infantry.

Then the command received a new communication.

"What? Yes, I understand. So it ended up like that."

The command immediately withdrew the soldiers.

The soldiers, who were in the midst of carrying out a plan to sweep the entire area with planted landmines, were puzzled when the order to withdraw suddenly came down.

People who didn't understand why realized when they saw the people who appeared.

White robes, tiaras on their eyes, and faintly flowing white radiance.

At the head of the group stood a woman with beautiful silver hair and a calm impression.

"It's the Saint."

"Saint Catherine has arrived."

Saint Catherine, the priestesses following her and even Catherine's personal forces.

Seeing them naturally shining even in the midst of the battlefield, the soldiers unconsciously made way for them.

It was an instinctive action, even though no one had said anything.

Having passed through the miraculously parted path of soldiers, Catherine eventually stood in front of the barrier full of black thorn vines, the biggest headache troubling the soldiers.

The thorn vines, which had grown bigger and stronger with their tenacious regenerative power even after being pushed back once, writhed like tentacles as if to say "don't come closer."

Catherine looked at such thorn vines and opened her lips.

"Burn."

Golden flames arose from Catherine.

A tiny golden flame, about the size of a single finger joint, literally the size of a candle flame flew weakly toward the thorn vines.

-Tok.

The golden flame touched the thorn vines and the forest of thorn vines was completely incinerated.