Eat The World Tree - Chapter 242: Surviving In The Forest (1)

Sexual relationships within the tribe occurred spontaneously and willingly.

There was no evaluation of a partner’s face, sexual attractiveness, wealth, or social status.

‘I want to do it with the man in front of me.’ If such a feeling arose , the Baobab tree’s way was to forcibly pounce on them.

“Come to bed. I’ll do it.”

The Baobab tree enjoyed semi-forced mating while flaunting its outstanding appearance.

This was how they ensured the preservation of their species.

Many children died before reaching adulthood, so they had as many as they could.

‘Ah.’

However, Bao’s case was different.

Bao, who had to assume the role of National Tree after her brother’s escape.

Though they fought to the death when they were young, by the time sexual activity was possible, she was already living a life respected as the National Tree.

Even so, was her body’s instinct still intact?

-Drip.

A whitish liquid flowed from her genitals. She lost herself in wild indulgence.

Two or three times. At first, she pounced, but then she found herself pinned down, crying like a beast.

After a few screams, she fled as if to escape.

It was a violent mating that left her legs shaking, deeply imprinted in Bao’s mind.

It was a brief rebellion.

‘In the end, I couldn’t hear it.’

Where her brother was. What he was doing, or why he was acting contrary to the orders of his cherished younger sister.

Bao frowned irritably.

The pain of the first experience? Memories?

Unless her heart was stirred, it didn’t matter. It wasn’t a big deal.

If there was one regret, it was only that she couldn’t do anything during the act.

And most importantly, that man.

In the end, didn’t he refrain from talking about Bob?

“…So annoying.”

Drenched in sweat, Bao gruffly stared at the whitish liquid on the floor.

When hunting and chasing the opponent. The tradition of swallowing part of the animal’s body.

Instinctively, she wiped the liquid off the floor with her finger.

“I’ll definitely catch him….”

Bao tried to get up from the floor.

Suddenly, her legs gave out, and she collapsed.

“Ugh… Ugh.”

Her whole body hurt.

Were all the hits from before still lingering?

She hadn’t noticed while she was excited.

Her whole body creaked and groaned like a machine without oil.

Lee Shiheon.

Bao mentally repeated the name of the man who took her first time.

A fist flew through the air.

-Paang!

The sound of air bursting rang in my ears.

Not bad. I smiled slyly as I loosened his right shoulder.

The rise in stats and enhancement of combat aptitude.

It was a strength that suited me perfectly. My body felt much lighter than expected.

The rise in stats helped, but the manifestation of Cheonma Divine Art became simpler than before.

The Tree Spirit King’s power was certainly potent.

It held infinite value, able to stretch in any direction far more than any authority or temperament. It was clear that this was a talent I had been wasting until now.

“Hey, hyung. So how did it feel?”

As I moved my arms, I brushed aside the vines that had descended from the trees.

“What?”

“Oh, come on~ Of course, the stuff that happened in the dungeon.”

Taeyang, who was stuck to my side, persistently asked as we pushed through the forest.

He wanted to know how the National Tree’s body tasted, how she smelled, and how it felt.

“Why are you so curious about that?”

“I’ve lost my libido because of you, so hearing about this might be the only thing keeping me alive.”

Was that my fault?

I frowned, and Taeyang clicked his tongue in disappointment.

[↓]

The artifact pointing to Sansuyu’s location now indicated the south.

This was proof that she had crossed the midline of the Forest Survival map and entered the eastern region.

Late afternoon on the third day. Four days remained.

Since we attacked the dungeon after the fight with Bao, we had plenty of food.

We encountered a few cadets along the way, but Taeyang and Aori handled them without me needing to move.

‘Wasn’t she called Yellow?’

A mysterious figure cutting down several cadets with a sword in the eastern region.

Even on the third day, the fact that the location remained in the east suggested that Sansuyu was likely the figure from the rumors.

‘How strong was Sansuyu again?’

It had been a while since I last sparred with her, but she wasn’t someone who could freely slaughter cadets.

She was similar or slightly below the National Tree, but among the cadets, she was the best. At least when I fought her.

It was impossible for Sansuyu to massacre the cadets.

Could the experiment have yielded results?

Her condition must have been terrible. No matter how much I started treating her, could it have had that much effect?

I’ll find out when we meet.

Of course, there was something to do first.

“Shall we split up soon?”

The gazes of the three around me focused on me.

“Are we going in pairs again?”

“Yeah.”

Sansuyu has her reasons. If this story reaches these two, who knows what they’ll say.

Taeyang, who vaguely understood the situation between me and Sansuyu—except for the breastfeeding—reluctantly withdrew first.

Aori also seemed to understand, nodding with a hint of regret.

Since I had hinted from the start that I would drop out along the way, even Ihyang knew and smiled warmly.

“Ah, really? That’s a shame… Say hello if we meet later. Hehe. Here’s the food.”

Lee Hyang, who declared herself the porter since she wasn’t participating in the fight, offered me all the backpacks she had.

Four backpacks. If you excluded the one Lee Hyang had from the beginning, all of them were things I found.

“Just give me one, you guys take the rest. It’s too annoying to carry so much.”

If I took all that, there’d be no problem with food for the rest of the trial, but that would be too cold-hearted.

Lee Hyang had volunteered to take on all the tough jobs to save me as much effort as possible. It was right to take only as much as I could eat alone.

“…Really? Th-then just a moment!”

Lee Hyang immediately sat down and opened the backpacks.

Then she started packing various foods tightly into the bag she was going to give me.

Fruits were placed on top to avoid crushing them. The relatively hard cans were placed at the bottom. She meticulously packed and handed the backpack to me.

“Here you go! Hehe.”

When I took the backpack, it felt heavy in my hands.

It seemed like there was more food inside than the backpack I had just received as a dungeon reward.

Was this what they called country hospitality?

“Taeyang, can’t you learn something from him?”

“What? No way. Hyang is genuinely kind….”

“You should try being nice too.”

Taeyang shook his head. was his role really to give tough love and training?

“Well, whatever…. You think you can survive on your own?”

“As long as we don’t run into the strongest person among the National Trees, like last time, we can carry Hyang and escape.”

Taeyang’s confidence wasn’t entirely reliable. Still, his skills were real, so I had nothing to say.

I gave him a sharp look, then slung the backpack over my shoulder.

“Let’s eat together when we meet after the trial. With her.”

As soon as Taeyang finished speaking, Aori, who had been walking ahead, stopped and bowed her head to me.

“Your Majesty, see you later.”

At our first meeting, Aori seemed like she was missing more than just one screw, perhaps three or more. However, after talking for a while, I began to understand her somewhat.

Still, she’s not a bad kid.

Except for the occasional overt jokes that made things awkward. She’s a cute little sister.

We parted ways, splitting off in different directions.

Now, I just needed to find Sansuyu.

I thought I would be able to meet her soon after the direction of the artifact changed.

The time was evening.

Since I didn’t need to sleep, I kept moving.

By spreading my magic power, which barely consumed any energy, I could scan my surroundings and move forward even in the dark forest.

-Rustle, rustle.

I pushed through the underbrush as I moved forward.

I was getting increasingly anxious, and for a very particular reason.

‘Is Sansuyu okay? It’s getting urgent.’

Sansuyu’s breasts. That image was deeply ingrained in my mind and wouldn’t go away.

Ever since Sansuyu first complained of pain, I had been keeping an eye on her.

After observing for three days, I found that after two days, Sansuyu’s breasts would fill with milk to the point of mastitis.

It meant that she would lose control to the extent of showing her chest openly, even to me.

Of course, it might not happen this time.

Unlike before, we were in a combat situation, and more importantly, I hadn’t continued healing her using my authority.

When I treated Sansuyu’s body with the healing power, her chest had grown by over 30% in just one hour.

If I didn’t heal her, the milk wouldn’t form.

It’s just a hypothesis, but I was probably right.

Still, I couldn’t stop the healing because I was deeply concerned about Sansuyu’s health.

‘…If her chest hurts, it’s the worst case.’

If her health was poor, it’s the second-worst.

Either way, I had the solution, so I needed to meet Sansuyu as soon as possible.

‘If Sansuyu had gotten an artifact, we would have met much sooner….’

Maybe she hadn’t thought about getting one. Regretting it now serves no purpose.

I continued to move forward, listening carefully.

Even so, my prediction that Sansuyu was relatively close by wasn’t wrong.

[↓(Nearby)]

It was evening. The timing was perfect, with very few cameras roaming around.

As I moved forward, a faint voice echoed in my ears.

-…Ugh.

A soft, pained moan from a woman.

The delicate, sweet tone, like a small bell trembling, was unmistakable even from a distance.

As if hypnotized, I followed the voice.

Walking through the underbrush, avoiding vines, I finally saw a small, makeshift shelter where the area had been somewhat cleared.

There was Sansuyu.

“…….”

Her pale yellow hair, glowing in the moonlight from the sky.

I could tell how many battles she had been through just by looking at how much of her magic power had been drained.

There were traces of blood on her clothes, suggesting she had been injured multiple times.

Her condition was not good.

Her sneakers were frayed, almost white, indicating how much she had run.

Sansuyu was leaning against a tree, eyes closed, groaning in pain.

Seeing her, I let out a sigh of relief.

“Haa.”

“……!”

She woke up instantly, reacting to my breathing.

She immediately drew the sword next to her and pointed it toward me.

“…Who is it?”

With one hand gripping the sword, she used the other to cover her chest while pointing the weapon at me.

Sansuyu’s sword was strangely worn out, as if it had been struck against rocks dozens of times. The blade was full of nicks.

If she had infused her magic into it normally, this wouldn’t have happened. Something was definitely off.

Now that I realized it, even her magic traits seemed different.

She was definitely Sansuyu, but something had changed drastically.

“It’s me.”

I straightened up from my crouched position and revealed my face to Sansuyu.

“…Sihyeon?”

“Not Sihyeon, Shiheon.”

“…Shiheon.”

“That’s right. Are you okay? You don’t look so good.”

Sansuyu seemed to relax and slumped back against the tree, letting go of the sword hilt. She looked at me with her usual expressionless face and spoke.

“…I’ve been looking for you so hard, Sihyeon.”

“I can see that.”

The state of her sneakers and sword said it all.

“Wait a minute. Did she run around looking for me without even thinking about clearing the dungeon?”

Suddenly, a chill ran down my spine.

“Have you eaten? Don’t tell me you haven’t eaten for three days?”

“…No.”

“You’ve just been looking for me all this time? Just because I said that?”

-Nod.

Sansuyu quietly nodded her head.

“I found you, so it’s okay now.”

No wonder her face was so pale.

I immediately approached Sansuyu and touched her face.

Her forehead and cheeks were icy cold.

Going without food for three days might be considered fasting, but by my standards, Sansuyu was a patient.

I immediately opened the backpack I had set down. Using magic, I quickly made a small campfire.

-Tak, tak tak.

In the silence, the white noise of the crackling fire filled the space.

And then, I began the healing.

As I placed my hand on Sansuyu’s forehead and activated the healing power, I felt as if my soul was being drained.

Sansuyu’s complexion quickly improved as the healing drained my power, bringing color back to her face.

“Feeling better now?”

Sansuyu nodded in response.

“…As long as I’m with you, Sihyeon, I feel better. It’s amazing.”

Well, that’s true.

The power I just used could easily save the lives of dozens of people.

That’s how poor Sansuyu’s health was.

Seeing the color return to her face, I felt relieved.

‘At least I’ve eased one worry.’

Although the side effects of the healing would show up soon enough.