Chapter 514: Contradiction (2).

On reflection, it was truly strange.

Anything related to Oliver, even his survival.

Oliver should have been dead by now. Not that he deserved to die, but it seemed more natural for him to die.

Because many factors constantly threatened his survival.

Children filled with malice, a headmistress who found Oliver unsettling, constant hunger, disease, enormous rats… In addition, Oliver was sold to a mine at a much younger age than other children, placing him in far more dangerous situations.

It would’ve been natural for Oliver to die.

But Oliver didn’t die. He survived.

He faced death multiple times. Somehow, he always pulled through.

A bizarre phenomenon that could make one tilt their head in wonder.

But nobody thought too deeply about it. They just considered him an unlucky child, as did Oliver himself. He was only focused on staying alive.

That’s why Oliver didn’t pay much attention to the fact that he was an outcast in the world, that he could freely manipulate magic, emotions, and the powers of nature, or even that he fulfilled the first prophecy in his battle with Merlin.

‘When the great hole opens at the world’s end, the needle shall move…’

Because he was too busy surviving in this harsh world and enjoying what it had to offer.

‘Is that really why?’

A shiver ran down Oliver’s spine as he questioned himself.

Was that really why I didn’t think deeply about it? Or was it because I didn’t want to dwell on such matters?

Then, right in front of Oliver’s face, Lilith asked.

She asked why someone so curious didn’t care about his own affairs.

It made Oliver feel uneasy.

It felt like an accusation or a mockery, as if asking why he avoided important issues.

Perhaps that’s why? Oliver found himself frowning instead of engaging in conversation, unconsciously raising his hand.

“…Ah.”

Lilith smirked.

“Why are you surprised? Isn’t this your specialty? You pretend to be kind, but when someone annoys you, you frown and lash out. Your kindness only extends within the boundaries you set for yourself.”

Lilith spread her arms wide as if daring him to strike.

Instead of the triumphant feeling from earlier, feelings of fear, resentment, anger, and sadness shone through brightly.

Only then did Oliver realize Lilith’s true intention.

She wasn’t asking to get answers but to make him angry. She wanted to provoke him as much as possible.

But why? Why was Lilith trying to irritate Oliver?

Fortunately, the answer came quickly. It was hidden in her last question.

“Your first question…”

“Ah, are you avoiding the subject? Then again, that’s another one of your specialties. When a conversation doesn’t suit you, you change the topic—”

“—Just like the last time we met.”

“…”

“In the Contaminated Zone, underground… That’s where you first asked me who I was. Instead of answering, I hit you.”

Oliver recalled when he connected to the World Tree during the Rossburn incident and looked into the Martel Research Institute.

While investigating, a pair of eyes made of pure magic appeared in the Root Net and questioned Oliver. Instead of answering, he struck and shattered it like glass.

There was one reason: because it was annoying him during a busy time.

Pandora later told him that those eyes belonged to Eve, and the eyes shattering allowed them to be born. The three Eves.

Eve, Pandora, Lilith.

“If your bad feelings towards me stem from that, I offer a formal apology.”

“What did you say?”

“If the bad feelings you have for me are because of that, then I sincerely apologize, Lilith.”

Just as he had apologized to Pandora, Oliver now apologized to Lilith.

No matter how busy he was, hitting was wrong.

And given that it wasn’t just one strike but three that shattered her, Oliver’s mistake was even greater.

While Pandora was lucky enough to be taken in by Heimdal for stable education, Eve was captured and tortured by the Enjoyment group, and Lilith suffered an even worse fate.

Although the details were unclear, it was Puppet who took Lilith in.

Although there was a chance she might have fared well given her control of the Zombie Puppet and vast learning, Oliver still apologized.

“It’s an unchangeable fact that I struck you. I am truly sorry.”

Oliver repeated his apology, causing Lilith to momentarily freeze before bursting into raucous laughter.

“Hah! Hahahahahaha! Hahahahahaha!”

Lilith let out a mirthless laugh that didn’t suit her initially proud demeanor.

As she laughed, her hair changed to a mottled array of neon colors, suiting her even better. It felt more like her true self.

As Lilith laughed heartily, Oliver simply stood still and watched, unfazed.

After some time passed, Lilith finally spoke.

“You’re more than I anticipated. And I’m usually pretty good at predicting things.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I mean you’re even more shameless than I thought. You apologize without fully understanding, without knowing what sincerity truly means. It’s impressive.”

Oliver remained silent. What she said was true. Oliver still didn’t know what it meant to be sincere or what an apology truly was.

“Still, I—”

“—It’s okay. I already knew that’s the kind of person you are… So, let’s get to the point?”

“The point?”

Oliver tilted his head.

“Yes, you came here to find Eve, didn’t you?”

Ah… Oliver let out a small sound of understanding and nodded. He had momentarily forgotten, but yes, locating Eve was indeed the reason he had come.

Lilith noticed his reaction and responded accordingly.

Now that he recalled, Oliver asked a question.

“From what you said, it seems you already captured Eve… What happened to her?”

Lilith hesitated before answering.

“Um… I ate her. Yum yum.”

***

Lilith licked her lips exaggeratedly, claiming to have eaten Eve.

Interestingly, Lilith’s emotions were a mixture of truth and falsehood.

A completely contradictory statement.

She said she ate Eve, but also didn’t really eat her? What could that mean? Did she only eat part of her?

When Oliver asked, Lilith responded again.

“What do you mean? I ate her, just like I said.”

Oliver analyzed Lilith’s emotions. She was being truthful. Lilith really did eat Eve. That much was true.

The strange part was the accompanying feelings of anger and resentment.

“You seem quite shocked?”

“Uh… Yes, honestly, yes… I’m a bit surprised. Could I ask why you ate Eve?”

“…I expected you to be angry, but you surprised me instead.”

“I’m doubtful if I have any right to be angry at you, Lilith. Besides, I’d like to hear the full story.”

Even though he was surprised, Oliver spoke calmly. Lilith stared intensely at him before speaking.

“…Of course. It’s not difficult. But there’s a condition.”

The moment Lilith finished her statement, she drew on the power of the World Tree beneath the ground and vanished from Oliver’s sight.

It was a limited power that Lilith, being infused with the essence of the World Tree, could perform within the space constructed by the tree.

Oliver called out to her in the void.

“Lilith?”

“Don’t worry. Even though I disappeared from your sight, I didn’t really vanish. That would be sad, wouldn’t it?”

“I agree.”

Oliver genuinely replied. Even though he had already met Pandora and Eve, his conversation with Lilith, who was quite different from them, was too interesting to end so soon.

He sensed that her irritation and anger towards him would help deepen his understanding of Eve.

‘Hmm…’

At that moment, Oliver hesitated. He was surprised by his own eagerness and curiosity, even in this situation.

No, it wasn’t surprising. He knew he was this kind of person. But remembering the confused Eve from their first encounter and Pandora calling him ‘father,’ he couldn’t help but feel a bit off.

It was an odd feeling that couldn’t be clearly explained.

Although he found himself sinking into endless thoughts in this peculiar mood, luckily, Lilith’s voice pulled him back to reality.

“Let’s play hide and seek. Do you know it?”

“I know. I saw it in the mines.”

“Impressive. If you find me, I’ll tell you why I ate Eve.”

“And if I can’t find you?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. You’d just die, wouldn’t you?”

No sooner had she finished speaking, hordes of zombies began pouring out from the underground of the recreated Contaminated Zone.

It reminded Oliver of his time dealing with Puppet during the Contaminated Zone cleanup.

KIIIYAAAAAH━!!!

AAAHAAHAHAHAHAA―!!!

GWEEEHHHEK━!!! GWEEEHHHEK━!!!

Massive hordes of zombies emerged from the underground walls, rushing towards Oliver all at once.

Even though Oliver knew the scene was just a magical reconstruction of the World Tree’s memories, the level of realism was terrifyingly high.

Without the Warlock’s Eye, one could easily mistake it for reality.

The extent to which the space was constructed with the World Tree’s power was truly impressive.

Then again, perhaps it was expected. Even though she borrowed the World Tree’s power, gathering clear visuals from the vast sea of information in the Root Net, building frameworks, collecting the required magical energy from inside the World Tree, and accurately constructing that image was an incredibly difficult task. It was like drawing a blueprint and building a structure completely by herself.

Even in large-scale projects, it was said that a minimum of dozens to hundreds of mages would be needed.

Step one: Find the information to recreate the space using Net Sailing.

Step two: The ability to construct and deploy that information into the physical world.

Step three: Controlling the turbulent magic power with masterful control.

All these sequential processes required high endurance and mental strength.

Only Lilith, the essence of the World Tree, could construct such intricate magic by herself.

[Shield].

[Dry].

Oliver concentrated his magic in his left hand to deploy two spells simultaneously.

First, using compressed magic, he created multiple shields, combined them, and compressed them further to halt the advancing zombie horde.

BAM━!!

The zombies pressed forward with their sheer numbers and headlong charge, uncaring whether the zombies in front were crushed. The leading zombies paid no heed if they were squashed or not, focusing solely on using teeth, claws, and fists to shatter the shield.

Such attacks were only possible because they were lifeless entities.

‘This is curious. These zombies have been perfectly recreated. Did she add memories from another part of the World Tree? Or does F-Zone still have this many zombies?’

Marveling at the high-level recreation, Oliver cast another spell using the Enlil Faction’s Dry air magic to dry out the zombies as much as possible.

The dry winds, which sucked moisture from the air, caused the zombies to visibly desiccate. In that state, Oliver unleashed flames to incinerate them all.

FWOOSH!!

‘I didn’t fully grasp it when it was explained to me, but now that I’ve seen it for myself, it’s quite similar to creation-type black magic.’

Oliver observed the burning zombies and the underground area of the Contaminated Zone recreated with magic.

If building a virtual space using the World Tree was like solving a complex mathematical formula,

then the creation-type black magic, such as the gut-tunnel Fen showcased in the New Continent, was like a painting. It was based more on creativity and imagination than precise calculations.

Yet Oliver felt that, fundamentally, the two were quite similar.

‘That would mean the space built using the World Tree could be used in various ways depending on one’s creativity. Just like there are different formulas in mathematics.’

It was truly a fascinating subject. Almost reflexively, Oliver began thinking about the many possibilities.

For example, you could create an environment that enhances elemental magic that’s affected by its surroundings. Or you could combine two or more places that can’t naturally coexist to generate an unknown synergy.

If that were possible, the potential and usefulness of this magic would literally be limitless.

Just then, the ground beneath Oliver began to rise.

The floor of the Contaminated Zone’s underground, lined with all sorts of devices, collapsed on its own, pulling Oliver down.

Thanks to his buffed reflexes courtesy of the Flesh Cook, Oliver noticed it quickly enough to escape if he wanted, but instead, he focused his magic into his Quarterstaff, altering its properties.

He wanted to immerse himself in Lilith’s game as much as possible.

As the floor gave way and he half-fell, blue electric sparks began to flicker from the Quarterstaff, illuminating the countless zombies lurking below.

The zombies, making horrific noises that were neither human nor animal, lunged at Oliver.

Right in the midst of this hellish scene, Oliver struck the floor with his Quarterstaff, releasing a shockwave of blue energy that shot up from the ground to the ceiling.

[Return Stroke].

Originally designed as a firepower-focused magic to indiscriminately strike a wide area, Oliver recalled Merlin’s teachings, adding a restriction to only use one spell to maximize its efficiency and effect.

Thanks to that, the area-of-effect magic Return Stroke which released a burst of electricity from the ground up, narrowly spread from Oliver’s center like a sniper cannon, leaving no zombie unscathed as it scorched and shattered them.

ZZZZAAAANNNG!!!

The signature, ear-piercing noise of lightning magic echoed as the zombie horde burst upwards into the air.

It was a rather gruesome sight. However, it was only a preparatory stage for the next attack.

The burned and shattered zombie fragments coalesced into a Corpse Golem.

It was a specialized zombie made by combining multiple corpses to maximize size and strength, distinct from the Zombie Puppet.

Even though there was no sign of black magic, it was possible because this space was constructed by Lilith.

‘And the cells of the Warlock, embedded in the Zombie Puppet, likely played a role. Lilith probably studied black magic as well.’

It seemed Oliver’s cell transplantation technique, which he taught to Puppet’s disciple Claude in the New Continent, had been passed on to Puppet.

‘Then again, Puppet might have studied it on his own beforehand. He had spent centuries doing nothing but research.’

While Oliver was deep in thought, the giant Corpse Golem fully formed in front of him once again.

Just as he wondered if Lilith intended to wear out his stamina until he perished, parts of the Corpse Golem began to collapse.

Due to the high-level space construction and the impact of lightning magic, the zombie components were severely damaged. The Corpse Golem devoured the falling zombie pieces to repair its damaged parts.

At that moment, Oliver realized something.

The meaning behind Lilith’s statement about eating Eve.

Lilith hadn’t consumed the Eve Oliver knew, but rather, she had devoured the fragments created when he shattered the eye. She did so to survive.

“I really am terrible.”

Oliver muttered to himself as he watched the giant fist of the Corpse Golem coming at him.