Chapter 234: ·The Decision

Finley’s condition was terrible, absolutely terrible.

As the epicenter of the crimson mist outbreak, every Wood Elf within the Hall of Tree Shepherds had suffered the deepest level of corruption. Parts of Finley’s skin had already begun undergoing a grotesque form of petrified wood transformation. The flesh had turned the same dark crimson as the blood-vines, covered in twisted patterns that made it resemble rotting timber. Those vile markings stretched from his neck up across his face, distorting his handsome features into something horrifying. His breathing was faint, barely there at all.

Without another word, Nolan immediately crouched beside him and pressed a hand against his chest. Beneath his palm, he could still faintly feel the outline of the footprint he himself had left earlier when he kicked Finley aside while rescuing Romina. The situation back then had been too urgent to worry about holding back.

A soft golden radiance blossomed from Nolan’s hand, becoming the only source of light within the darkened hall.

“Bestow Sacred Body!” Nolan said in a low voice.

Sacred Body was the passive ability granted after fully mastering the Paladin class. It rendered him immune to all diseases, curses, and poisons below the Fifth Rank. Through direct contact, he could temporarily grant this ability to another person, greatly restoring their vitality while cleansing those negative effects. However, doing so would leave Nolan unable to use the ability again for several hours.

At its core, Rosm’s corruption of the World Tree through the Mark of Silent Extinction was a vicious curse, perfectly within Sacred Body’s range of purification.

As the torrent of golden holy power poured from Nolan’s palm into Finley’s body, the Wood Elf convulsed violently. The skin that had begun turning to wood rapidly returned to normal, while color slowly returned to his pale face.

Moments ago, his breathing had been so weak it was nearly nonexistent. Now it was as though a defibrillator had shocked his heart back to life. His body jerked upward as he sucked in a sharp breath.

“Cough… cough—!” Finley inhaled too violently and immediately choked, breaking into a fit of coughing. Turning his head sharply to the side, he spat out a mouthful of filthy blood mixed with black clots.

Panting heavily, he abruptly sat upright as though awakening from an endless nightmare. And within that nightmare, he had witnessed the thing he most desperately refused to believe.

He had “seen” Nolan transformed into a loathsome monster covered in flowing pus. He had watched that creature attack Captain Romina, the person he cared about most.

The monster roared as it seized Romina, preparing to subject her to the cruelest possible torment.

Finley had desperately fired arrow after arrow, attacking with everything he had, yet nothing could harm the creature in the slightest. In the end, the monster casually struck him down into endless darkness.

Unconsciousness had brought him no peace. It had only dragged him into a deeper hell.

He had “seen” all of Forest Home overrun by endless twisted monstrosities. The kind and familiar faces of his people collapsed and melted apart one after another, birthing horrors fit only for the maddest nightmares from their remains. Everywhere echoed with heart-rending screams and cries of despair. Their beautiful homeland had become a festering cradle of rotting flesh. The great World Tree wailed in agony while its emerald canopy withered into decay…

The hopeless vision had nearly crushed the last remnants of his sanity.

Then, just as he felt his very soul about to be swallowed by despair, a golden light suddenly illuminated the entire dark world.

Hell receded. Light returned.

A familiar face appeared before him.

Nolan, the human lord toward whom his feelings had always been painfully complicated.

At that moment, Nolan’s face looked pale, his lips drained of color as though he were enduring something immense through sheer force of will.

“Finley, how do you feel? Can you walk?” Nolan’s voice carried urgency. “I need you to take me to the Foundation of Life immediately! Hurry! Lives are at stake!”

Finley’s mind was still muddled. He could feel the warm, surging power flowing through his body. The bone-deep coldness and agony from before had been completely driven away. 

Only then did he realize it had been Nolan who saved him.

The hideous monster from his hallucination overlapped with the determined man standing before him now. Which was real and which was false could not have been clearer.

But Nolan’s request made him hesitate.

Bring an outsider, a human, to the Foundation of Life?

The Foundation of Life was the most sacred core of the Wood Elf race, the very source that allowed them to survive and flourish within the perilous Borderlands Forest. Forget outsiders. Even among their own people, very few beyond the elders and the guardian lineage of the Flourishing Leaves family were permitted near it.

Rosm’s infiltration and betrayal stood right before his eyes. Allowing outsiders access to the Foundation of Life meant exposing the foundation of their entire race to unimaginable danger, and now they were suffering the bitter consequences. If Nolan’s true goal was not salvation but exploitation amid the chaos, then this day would become the end of the Wood Elf race.

No outsider was ever allowed near the Foundation of Life. That iron law had endured for thousands of years.

Finley was an extremely conservative and traditional Wood Elf. His first instinct was to refuse immediately.

But then he looked into Nolan’s eyes.

There was urgency there, yes, but also unwavering resolve.

He glanced around at the wreckage surrounding them. The hall was polluted by sinister energy, while mutated members of his race lay unconscious across the floor. Though he did not yet know what was happening outside, the scene before him alone was enough to show how dire the situation had become.

Nolan did not rush him.

He understood exactly what Finley was thinking. For someone whose mind had only just crawled back from a hellish nightmare, excessive pressure would only provoke instinctive resistance and withdrawal.

Finley needed to realize for himself who the enemy truly was.

Without asking another question, Finley pushed himself to his feet. He observed Nolan carefully. If even this usually composed man was showing visible urgency, then the situation must truly be catastrophic.

Finley clenched his teeth. He had no choice but to gamble.

“Alright.”

For him personally, this was an incomparably dangerous decision. A gamble with the fate of an entire race. If Nolan harbored malicious intent, then Finley Flourishing Leaves would become the eternal sinner responsible for the destruction of all Wood Elves.

But at this moment, Nolan’s eyes moved him.

So he chose to believe once. To believe in the man willing to risk everything to honor a promise. To believe in the man who had earned the regard of Captain Romina, someone who had always treated everyone else with cold indifference.

A person with eyes like those could not be evil.

“Stay close!”

Having regained the ability to move, Finley wasted no time. He turned immediately and sprinted toward an inconspicuous passage deep within the hall.

Nolan followed close behind.

Only after temporarily transferring Sacred Body to Finley did Nolan truly realize just how terrifying this corrupted environment had become. Even breathing the air into his lungs felt like inhaling fire.

On his system interface, the status panel no longer displayed rows of “Immune.” Instead, negative status effects and red damage notifications began appearing continuously.

【You are being eroded by “Putrefaction,” losing 10 HP per second…】

【Strength and Agility suppressed by 10%…】

【Complete corruption will result in incapacitation. Current corruption progress: 6%.】

As he ran, Nolan raised a hand to wipe away the blood trickling from his nose.

Of course he was anxious. Not because he doubted he could solve the problem, but because he feared for the companions fighting outside. They were still battling in a sea of blood. Rehanna and Vivi were facing enemies like these for the very first time. The young soldiers of the Holy Hammer Division were perfectly suited for combating evil forces. They were resilient, yes, but they were still too inexperienced, and their enemies were the endlessly growing and multiplying Formless Spawn.

They would not be able to hold out much longer. The corruption had to be eradicated immediately.