Davey stood in front of the gigantic tree that turned humans into monsters.

One of the three gods was the god on Earth and the creator of the Malicious Spirits. They had two sides: destruction and harmony, and it was the power of destruction that was imbued into the tree.

The tree was rooted in the tentacle of the giant octopus on Earth. So it had strong ties with Earth in a way. But Davey knew he had to do something about it.

“We have to destroy it,” Kain said from behind Davey, who hadn’t even realized that he and Frelia had arrived.

“What are you two doing here?” Davey asked.

“I made my way here right after you left. I sensed something strange was going to happen,” Kain replied. “Besides, I have something to tell you.”

Davey didn’t reply to what Kain had just said. He simply looked at Kain, expecting him to continue talking.

“There’s news that has started moving. The human nation, where you once lived, is in chaos. Soldiers are roaming the streets, seizing control over everything.”

“They went ahead with their plan faster than I expected. So, why are you here instead of protecting Perserque?” Davey asked.

“There’s no need for me to intervene,” Kain replied, making Davey stop in his tracks. “The situation is already under control. They underestimated your wife’s power.”

People didn't know how strong Perserque was. Her strength was actually second only to Davey’s. After all, she was once a Demon King. On top of that, it had become incredibly difficult to defeat her after she underwent a forced Metamorphosis that left her with barely any weaknesses.

Of course, Earth’s firepower posed many risks, but Davey knew that it would be too foolish for Seo Ho-Jin to decide to kill Perserque. And so, it was obvious what had happened next.

“They are not dead, are they?”

“No, she seemed to have issued a warning but left it at that, mindful of you,” Kain answered.

“That’s good enough. We can’t let Per shed more blood,” he said calmly. Then he turned to Frelia and asked, “Did you find out anything?”

“As expected, this tree is part of the power that is connected to the root of Neltarid’s side of destruction. Breaking this should stop the rifts from appearing, but…” Frelia trembled with fear. “I’m not sure what will happen if we do something to it…”

Davey nodded and extinguished the flame in his hand. Then he let his palm touch the tree.

For a fleeting moment, the tree seemed to wrap around his hand and control it. But it didn’t take long for the divine power flowing in his hand to repel it.

“I’ve always been curious about this,” Davey mused aloud. “Goddess Freyja is the greatest and most dominant of the three gods. But how’s it possible that the other two gods are at war with her?”

Davey couldn’t wrap his head around the idea that the weaker gods were going against Goddess Freyja. But he realized that he wouldn't be able to find an answer to his question, so he quickly set his curiosity aside.

“Well, it’s a pity, but it doesn’t matter,” Davey muttered.

He started to fill the tree with Goddess Frejya's divine power, intending to shrink and destroy its source of power. He knew that the Taboo’s Karma would work, but he figured that it would be safer to use divine power to take down the tree because the tree had it as well.

The tree was imbued with Goddess Freyja's fierce divine power, which was starting to dismantle it from within.

The room shook as the destructive side of Neltarid resisted. Given that harmony, the part of Neltarid that was assisting him, wasn't at its fullest, Davey figured that destruction wasn't either.

But it was inevitable that one of the two powers would eventually dominate as they continued to fight.

Before long, a rift filled with pure white light appeared, and the tree began to collapse, seemingly breaking through its shell. Then the massive octopus tentacle that Davey had seen before emerged.

The gigantic, translucent, light green octopus tentacle crumbled and began to disappear with a terrible howling sound that caused Kain and Frelia to cover their ears and fall to the ground. Meanwhile, Davey was enveloped by Goddess Freyja’s power, allowing him to continue what he was doing.

The tentacle continued to shrink, disappearing like water evaporating. And while it seemed to be using a lot of divine power to fight back, Davey could tell that it was no longer exerting as much as it did in the beginning. He knew that it was already struggling to give out the same power during its second and third attempts.

The tentacle vanished, and Davey could tell that the stench and remnants were fading away.

[Additional 50 Metamorphosis stacks by killing multiple high-ranking guardians]

[Bonus for killing multiple monsters applied. Number of random box openings increased by 20.]

[The stack for the random box is full due to the successful weakening of Neltarid's power of destruction. There will also be a significant increase in the probability of obtaining a transcendental-grade item for three tries.]

"Ohh!” Davey exclaimed.

The harmony side of Neltarid had given him a gift, making him smile happily. He then turned to look at where the tree used to be. The spot was now an endless sinkhole—the only trace that the tree left after disappearing completely.

“I’ll take this as a win since I now know how this place works,” Davey said.

Victory for the Malicious Spirits meant the annihilation of humans while safeguarding the tentacle, which was the symbol of the power of destruction. Meanwhile, Davey’s task was to protect the humans on Earth and eliminate the tentacle.

Either way, Davey had nothing to lose.

***

One user had made a video post, which the government couldn’t take down because an overseas site was hosting it. And even though the post didn't stay up for so long, a considerable number of people were still able to see and share it.

There wasn't much to the video. All that was shown was Davey happily enjoying everyday life at an amusement park before suddenly taking off for England under the pretext of his stream and saving humanity. Meanwhile, Seo Ho-jin, who had caused trouble and tried to kill a lot of people during the subjugation of the Malicious Spirit Meses, staged a complete coup.

People were keeping it low, given the changing international situation. But there was still time for them to get up and speak out.

The video also showed that it inadvertently managed to capture Perserque while she was chatting and looking at the scenery with Aeria. But then a smoke bomb flew out of nowhere. Not long after, the smoke cleared, revealing Perserque, all noble and elegant. She was then seen showing her overwhelming power as the Queen and seizing control of the special forces with a cold expression.

The response to the video was extremely positive, even though it showed Perserque ruthlessly taking down the members of the special forces. Since they were aware of how oppressive the military regime's soldiers were toward the public at large, not many people gave a damn. However, there were still some who thought it was cruel and even asked if Perserque had killed them.

Meanwhile, the media was at a loss, unsure of how to react. They knew the coup was unlikely to end well, even if it was successful.

However, from Seo Ho-Jin's perspective, he could no longer back down; it was an inevitable fight.

But the military unexpectedly became silent, when it should have made another move or kept the public from seeing the truth. People then started to move cautiously when they noticed that the coup wasn't progressing at all. Protests broke out, clamoring that the military couldn’t take their freedom away. The auxiliary police stepped in to suppress the protests, but it was actually only an act. They made no real effort to stop the people.

In the midst of this confusion, Davey’s stream started again.

“Hello everyone. I’m back.”

As soon as Davey turned on the stream, the number of viewers began to rack up as people rushed to tune in. Ka-Ching!!

Davey paused the chat, scrolling up in a frenzy. He then grabbed the camera so he could show his surroundings.

“Alright, alright. You make sure to change your ID later. I wanted to show everyone this. Also, the protection of a president who signs an agreement with the Kingdom of Rowane is a contractual matter. But before that…”

[1]

Davey ignored the surprised viewers and held up his box.

“I bring some extraordinary news. For three draws, I’ll have a higher chance to draw transcendent-level items. Transcendent level! And yes, we’ve all seen one before.”

Davey smiled cheerfully at the viewers who were freaking out about him opening random boxes in a situation like this.

“You should be smiling, especially during times like these. The world will be so dreary if you get angry now,” he said calmly.

The chat went silent for a moment as if they sensed his fury beyond their screens. “Alright then, let’s give it a go. Before doing so, let me tell everyone something. The Kingdom of Rowane recognizes the group that carried out the coup as enemies. But, if you think about it, what did the ordinary soldiers do wrong? It’s the leader’s fault. Even if a war breaks out, the people who started it will end up having a happily ever after. Am I right?”

“Anyway, I will still be drawing winners for the items, except for the ones that are transcendent level. Now, let’s get started. I can open the box twenty times, so let’s have that complete set.”

The chat went into a frenzy again.

On the other hand, Davey gently rubbed the box and grabbed its lid.

“Let’s save the three tries for last. So let’s do the seventeen draws to start off. It would be nice if something interesting came out,” Davey chattered before finally opening the box.

A brilliant rainbow-hued light flashed, and a necklace came out.

With his eyes wide open, Davey uttered, “Oh wow…”

To Davey's surprise, the necklace that appeared basked in iridescent light was one of the items in the set. He couldn't stop his heart from thumping amidst all of the questions and comments of surprise that were flooding the chat.

Davey thought.

“Alright… Wait a minute everyone. I have two items from the set now. I just need one more. I’m going to open two boxes with higher chances first, and then open the rest.”

Davey placed his hand on the question mark on the box, which then glowed.

[Bracelet of the Lost] [Set]

“...”

It was a duplicate that miraculously came out.

“Oh well… Well, if it’s just this once…”

Davey once again opened the box, but with a higher chance this time.

A brilliant rainbow-hued light flashed again, but the thing that came out was…

[Meat with Heavenly Taste]

“...”

Davey remained calm despite the barrage of questions that were coming in.

“The other thing better come out so that I can handle things peacefully…”

As the chat kept moving, Davey took a deep breath and said, “Let’s open the higher chance box at the very end.”

He then began to open the box that didn’t have a good chance of yielding transcendent-level items.

[Water bottle]

[Water bottle]

[Water bottle]

…

“Aaaah!!!”

Davey screamed and threw the water bottles. Just looking at them made him mad.

“I’ve never felt this angry and nervous in my life.”

Davey seethed with anger and risked everything on his last chance to get a transcendent-level item.

“Alright. If that ring comes out from this, I will truly praise Goddess Freyja.”

He stretched out his nervous hand and opened the box.

A brilliant rainbow-hued light flashed once more.

[Necklace of the Lost] [Set]

“Goddamnit, Goddess Freyja and bastard Neltarid. Let’s see how you do when you’re separated from your delegates.”

Davey got furious and jumped up. At the same time, he reached out into the air and grabbed something.

“Hey, it’s an eye for an eye, a bullet for a bullet,” Davey said with a grim smile as he pinched the bullet.

“Commander Seo Ho-Jin, I’m on my way to see you. You just wait, you son of a bitch.”

Davey was definitely not saying this because of the items he drew from the box.

. The Blue House in Korea is the equivalent of the White House in the United States of America. It is where the president resides and works. ☜