Among The Trees

Yuel was traveling in a dhune wagon through the natural habitat of the Verdant Requiem. There were four people inside the wagon, and outside, the team's captain, who was at the 4th stage, was driving the dhune.

Yuel had already gotten to know everyone in the group.

Everyone knew Aria; she had gathered the group. The reason she was part of it, even though she was currently weak, was because upon reaching the 5th stage, she could potentially awaken a time-related bloodscript, which could be useful even in the worst-case scenarios. She was already a skilled swordfighter, superior to most her age—after all, she had gone back in time and was technically six years older than her peers.

As for bloodscripts... they can be explained like this: someone with a fire-based bloodscript must have their next one also related to fire. Most of the time, a subsequent bloodscript is similar to the previous one. So someone with a time-related ability would likely get another time-related ability next. In the worst-case scenario, as long as they could help Aria reach the next stage, there would still be hope. That's why Aria was their last resort.

Another team member was one of the princes of the Mediterranean Federation. The Federation is currently ruled by a monarchy, and there are three princes. The youngest, "Onur," believed he needed power to aim for the throne. Unlike his older brothers, he entered the Undergarden to awaken a bloodscript. However, in the future Aria came from, Onur had to flee to the Inksworn Depths. What happened to him afterward is unknown, but he likely died. Either way, humanity lost one of its candidates for reaching the second phase.

Aria couldn't let that happen again. That's why she included Onur in the team. His bloodscript was "Berserker"—not very useful unless he wielded a weapon. But since Onur had learned several combat styles, it didn't pose a problem for him. Though he usually fought with dual swords, he likely had some spares in his inventory.

Another member was a test subject from New Zealand. His name: Shiro. He possessed the "Hex" bloodscript, but due to the experiments done on him, he could curse more abstract concepts and even inanimate objects—his curses were much more powerful than usual.

He wore simple test subject clothing, and rumor had it he had a hand in developing some of the new armor. But who knew if that was true.

Null claimed this kid was incredibly stupid and would die if he ever encountered someone like Null—the true holder of the Hex bloodscript. Somehow, Shiro had managed to kill the previous holder of the Hex script, making him far more powerful. Of course, that likely came with disadvantages...

As for the captain... Yuel hadn't even had a chance to speak to him. He didn't even know his name. During their journey, all conversations were initiated by Onur. Unlike him, Shiro wasn't talkative and avoided speaking whenever possible... though he wasn't exactly successful at it. Aria occasionally joined the conversations but mostly stared outside, watching the scenery. Yuel, as usual, was asleep—he didn't find the view beautiful like Aria did. Compared to the scenery inside the Inksworn Depths, this was nothing. What was there to like about moss and giant trees?

The journey went smoothly, and they traveled through the forest for several hours. After a few hours, the captain paused...

He had a tracking ability and was deeply confused. The "Wild" Titan had been immobile for a long time—but that didn't mean it was dead. It hadn't moved since the beginning of the road and remained in the same place. They were almost there, just a bit farther. Trees surrounded them, and there wasn't even a single dhune or insect in sight. Why was it so silent? The Wild Titan was supposed to be only 30 meters away, yet it was nowhere to be seen. Not even its corpse.

The captain stopped the wagon. The dhune, which had been visibly agitated for a while, fled the moment they stopped. It ran away...

What was happening here? That dhune had been tamed by a special bloodscript user with taming abilities. For it to flee, it had to be a life-or-death situation, and the captain was sure that wasn't the case... or maybe it was, and he hadn't realized?

"Hey kids, get out of the wagon. We'll continue on foot from here. Something's going on. The titan should be just 30 meters away, but it's not visible anywhere. And the giant lizard I was riding fled in fear. I don't know what it's scared of, but something's definitely wrong here!"

Since Yuel was still asleep, the other three members exited the wagon. They'd wake Yuel later. They walked toward the marked position of the Wild Titan. The captain had encountered it before and recognized what it looked like—he was using his tracking ability because of that.

But the Wild Titan wasn't there. In the place where it was supposed to be, there was only a tree. The captain slowly approached it. There was no reason his bloodscript shouldn't be working. Maybe it was under the tree? That didn't make sense, but it had to be here. He was sure his script was active.

He touched the roots and started digging lightly with his hands. Then a loud sound erupted—like the ground splitting open...

CRRAAAAAANK

Suddenly, he realized his hand could pass under the tree. He reached in—and something grabbed it, pulling him in. A moment later, only the sounds of torn limbs could be heard.

The Wild Titan had been here all along.

But it wasn't alone.

Suddenly, all the trees around them stood up. They had all been fake—some kind of false tree titans. They were sure the Wild Titan hadn't been one of them previously. Given how quickly they killed the captain, each one had to be at titan level. It was impossible to face hundreds of 4th-stage titans.

Everyone present panicked the moment the trees woke up. It felt like they had awakened a god. Before its grandeur, they were like ants...

They had to wake Yuel. Shiro barely managed to use his ability and cursed all the trees. He used mana from Aria's staff to do so, but it worked. The curse was applied to their energy and legs, making it harder for them to move.

Shiro also planned to use a curse on Yuel—a five-second sleeplessness curse. Every second counted...

Wait, Yuel was already awake.

Null had woken up separately from Yuel and screamed, waking him. Yuel quickly analyzed the situation. He was intelligent and grasped what was happening immediately. He recognized this feeling—though he had never felt it from this close before.

This thing... it was the 7th-stage titan within Verdant Requiem. Since no human had ever survived an encounter with it to tell the tale, it was thought to be a myth. But it was real.

It had turned all the titans in Verdant Requiem into fake trees and created a false forest. In truth, Verdant Requiem was not a safe zone for humans—it only appeared so because all the titans here had already been hunted by another titan.

Yuel screamed.

"I know this thing! This must be Verdant Requiem's 7th-stage titan. We need to escape—now!"

He jumped from the wagon and ran toward the group. Since he had felt this before, he wasn't as paralyzed by fear. If anyone could lead them now, it was him.

"Follow me—don't stand still! There must be a way out. Use all your strength. If you die to that cursed titan, I'll find you in hell and kill you myself! Don't even think about dying!"

Yuel ran in the front, followed by Aria, Shiro, and Onur. Even Aria hadn't predicted this. The only hope now was to follow Yuel's instructions—he was the only one who could still think clearly amidst this terror. He had already faced a situation where he couldn't think at all. Just like then, Null was guiding him now.

Null told him what to do, and Yuel obeyed.

The entire team was actually moving under Null's guidance, avoiding the trees. Although the trees were slow, there were tons of them. Normally, it would be impossible to escape. But this was where Yuel's flames came in. He pre-burned the path ahead with white fire, and any tree that stepped into it turned to ash. Just like Luo had done before, Yuel now decided what his flames would burn or spare, protecting his team from the fire.

Running through white flames and fake trees, they eventually came across a stone temple. It was quite large and had a triangular, pyramid-like structure rising upwards. At the top, something hung. But around it were even bigger fake trees—according to Null, these belonged to the 5th and 6th stages. Unlike the others, these trees were different.

There were five of the massive ones:

One had flames dripping from its branches,

Another was leafless and painful to look at,

One was impossibly beautiful, intoxicating anyone who gazed at it,

Another was cloaked in fog, making it impossible to see its full form,

And the last had tendrils instead of branches—it looked disgusting.

They passed by the beautiful tree and ascended the steps of the stone temple. Thousands of fake trees surrounded it, moving toward them. The flames only pained the titans and bought time—they hadn't killed a single one. It was disturbing to be surrounded by so many.

At the top of the stone temple, there was nothing—except a book. It didn't seem to belong here. In blood, it read: "The way to escape is written on the first page."

Yuel ran to it, grabbed the book, and opened the first page. He read aloud:

"Go to the misty tree, enter the mist, hold hands, and scream."

It seemed written for someone in a situation like theirs. No time to question it. Yuel put the book in his inventory and looked around. Where was the misty tree? It was in the north. They had come from the south—it was far away. How would they get there? They were surrounded...

"Yuel, we need to use the percentage thing again. But this time, something like 3% won't be enough to stun all these titans. We'll use around 30%. If we're lucky, some might even die—and you might reach the next stage. What do you say?"

'It's fine by me, but doesn't it hurt you every time we use it? Why do you keep doing this for me?'

"I don't know, but I want to. Just accept it."

Yuel reluctantly agreed. Null got hurt every time they used it... but if he didn't, they wouldn't make it out alive. He had no choice.

As soon as he agreed, he heard Null's screams. Then, all the advancing trees stopped and collapsed. Yuel had summoned 30% of the concept of whispers from the entire universe to drive the titans mad and kill them.

"Run—this is our chance! Follow me, and we'll survive somehow!"

No one could speak. They were paralyzed by fear and couldn't process what they were witnessing.

At Yuel's command, they acted instead of thinking and followed him. Even the misty giant tree had collapsed, its body hidden in its own mist.

The four entered the mist and held hands. Then, they all screamed together.

The mist slowly faded away, and they realized they were somewhere completely different.

Everything was covered in snow, and massive taiga-like trees grew across vast plains. On the other side of the plains was a large lake. Around them were countless dhunes, but none attacked—they were all traveling in one direction.

They had landed in the heart of Frozen Hollows.

They had reached the northern region of the Undergarden.