Chapter 382: Sacrifices

CH382 Sacrifices

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Alex was the first to rouse after they landed on the new plane.

Technically, he hadn’t been unconscious like the others. Instead, he had been held in an induced trance by the light of Providence—a protective measure that had shielded his sanity throughout the perilous journey... a journey he had experienced fully.

Only now did full cognition return.

And with it, everything—the memories, the sensations, the emotions—hit him all at once.

A wave of vertigo slammed into him.

Barely managing to move far enough from the still-unconscious expedition members, he staggered toward the exposed roots of a massive tree and vomited violently.

Only after retching out everything in his stomach did his body finally settle.

Despite the overwhelming flood of emotions, Alex instinctively understood that what he felt now was still less than what he would have experienced had each emotion struck him individually.

Somehow, the relief of survival had softened the impact of trauma that should have crushed him.

His thoughts immediately drifted toward the entity that had saved them all...

The bonsai in his Sanctuary pocket dimension—

The Heartwood Tree.

Against all common sense, Alex immediately urged OmniRune to open a portal into the Sanctuary.

He felt resistance—heavy resistance—as OmniRune tried to initiate the portal. Thankfully, the portal eventually opened.

He chalked the difficulty up to the change in planes interfering with the summoning process.

In his haste to rush in, he failed to notice that the portal had not manifested the way it normally did.

There was no ornamental spell circle forming first to create the illusion of casting a spell.

Instead, the spatial rift portal simply tore open—direct and immediate—granting access to his Sanctuary pocket dimension.

"As expected," Alex muttered in horror the moment he stepped inside the Sanctuary.

"FxCK!"

He sprinted straight toward the bonsai tree.

No matter how much of a being of Providence it was, even the Heartwood Tree had to obey the rules.

To save him, and the expedition party, the Heartwood Tree must have used Providence power far exceeding what it was permitted to expend –far more than the Providence Alex himself had earned and was useable for him.

The consequence would no doubt be a severe backlash.

And indeed, the bonsai before him was no longer the wide-canopied, lush, green miracle it usually was.

It had become a sickly tree with browning leaves and its branches drooping like a dying candle flame.

Half of the tree’s once-lush green leaves had already turned brown. Of the remaining half, another portion had yellowed and was clearly on its way to browning as well. In other words, only a quarter of the Heartwood Tree’s original greenery remained.

The Bonsai was a metaphysical tree—one that did not require physical nutrients, water, or even air.

There was only one possible explanation for this state:

It had paid a crippling price to save Alex and his expedition party.

Alex walked up to the tree’s bark, now dry and cracked like ancient pottery. He placed his palm—once accustomed to its vibrant, living warmth—against the brittle surface.

He felt nothing but hardness and decay.

"I didn’t have enough Providence to survive the strike and the journey, did I?" Alex whispered. "That’s why you... had to sacrifice your own essence."

He lowered his forehead against the bark.

"Thank you," he said, the words heavy with sincerity.

He closed his eyes and remained still, as if waiting for a response... perhaps the gentle branch-tap on his head he had grown used to.

But nothing came.

When he finally opened his eyes, melancholy lingered—but only for a breath. Determination quickly replaced it.

"Don’t worry," he vowed quietly. "I’ll do whatever it takes to gather Providence and help you recover."

He stepped back, turned, and walked toward the storage area of the Sanctuary space. He gathered a few items, slung them over his shoulder, and glanced once more at the weakened tree.

Then he stepped through the portal, leaving the Sanctuary.

—

Not long after Alex departed, the Bonsai Tree suddenly shuddered.

All the brown leaves clinging to its wide canopy loosened at once, drifting down like a fading autumn storm, leaving the tree looking barren and malnourished.

Yet the leaves did not simply fall.

It was as if some intelligent wind guided them, sweeping them through the air toward the other inhabitant of the Sanctuary—

The Nest Queen.

The leaves landed upon the golden cocoon surrounding her. And then, like sinking into quicksand, they seeped into the cocoon’s surface and disappeared within.

Thump!

A loud heartbeat suddenly echoed through the pocket dimension.

Thump! Thump!

Another followed... and another.

Two red glows flared to life from deep within the golden cocoon as the heartbeats intensified.

The cocoon pulsed, the heartbeat rising in volume and strength until every last brown leaf had vanished inside it.

Only then did the sound begin to weaken again.

Softer... softer...

Until it faded entirely.

The two red glows dimmed and vanished.

Hiss...

A faint hiss resounded in the Sanctuary space—a strange, almost regretful sigh.

The cocoon quieted completely, becoming still and dormant once more.

It was not yet time.

Back in the outside world, Alex returned to find his expedition party still unconscious. He quickly moved between them, checking on their conditions one by one.

Just as he reached Zora and was about to touch her shoulder, her eyes snapped open. Her hands shot up instinctively, forming a defensive stance, mana already rising to cast a spell.

"It’s me! It’s me!" Alex called out quickly.

"Alex?" Zora blinked, her voice groggy as she steadied her breathing.

"It’s me," he confirmed again.

Only then did Zora take stock of their surroundings. She looked around, prompting Alex to finally look properly as well—for the first time since landing.

They appeared to be in a dense woodland forest. Tall trees, thick roots, heavy foliage, and an unfamiliar earthy scent surrounded them.

"Looks like we made it to the new plane," Alex muttered.

"Ah—yes!" Realisation flickered in Zora’s eyes. "What happened before? Why did you suddenly scream before we were pulled through the portal?"

Alex frowned deeply.

"I think Alric—or rather, the group behind him—got to one of the space mages. They planned to use the interplanar travel to kill us."

"You think the Wastelander Dukedom would involve themselves in his personal vendetta?" Zora asked. "I didn’t think Duke Siegmund Wastelander would support something so reckless."

"I doubt it was House Wastelander," Alex replied.

His mind drifted back to the apparition that had risen from the space mage’s corpse—an intangible, shadowy thing that had slipped away unnoticed.

’It seemed like a possession... or something similar.’

’It would explain how it slipped past Father’s perception,’ Alex realised. ’If the mage himself didn’t know he was possessed, there’d be nothing to detect unless Father was actively scanning for that specific abnormality—and why would he?’

For a moment, Alex pieced together a picture of events with cold logic.

’For this plot to work, they had to know exactly when and where the interplanar travel was going to take place. They also had to know which space mage Father would assign—and infiltrate them without alerting him.’

A cold glint flashed in Alex’s eyes.

’Reichert and Machholt... so that’s why Alric approached them. The Reicherts for their intel network... and the Machholts for their knowledge of the Fury family—and their spies.’

A retrospective web of connections formed in Alex’s mind.

But that wasn’t even the worst of it.

’That spectre... apparition—whatever it was—it had the same energy as the Legend who attacked me at the Northern Barricade Fort. They’re using a similar cultivation method. Or at least they cultivate the same energy variant.’

His eyes narrowed.

’Which likely means they belong to the same organisation. That’s the most plausible explanation.’

’So there really is a shadow organisation targeting the Fury family... and Alric is working with them?’

Then he recalled his meeting with Alric—particularly that corrupted, festering darkness he had sensed buried deep within the man.

’Is it possible... the assassin, that apparition, and Alric all belong to the same organisation?’

The implications were chilling.

Alex’s fists clenched.

"–ex... Lex... Alex!"

Zora’s raised voice yanked him out of his spiralling thoughts.

"What is going on in your head?" she asked, brow furrowed.

Alex shook his head.

"I don’t think the group behind Alric is House Wastelander. Like you said, it doesn’t seem like something Duke Siegmund would approve of. He might sanction an attack on me, but you? He wouldn’t dare do anything that would incur Master’s wrath."

Zora stared at him intently.

"You have an idea, don’t you, Alex?"

"I... might have an idea," Alex admitted hesitantly. But then he immediately changed the topic. "All I have are speculations, and there’s no point worrying about it right now. We need to wake the others and figure out where we are."

Zora held his gaze long enough to make it clear she understood he was avoiding the topic—but she still went along with the shift.

Together, they worked on waking the expedition party.

One by one, the members stirred awake. As Alex had expected, not everyone emerged unscathed from the perilous journey. Since Eleanor—the party’s healer—had only just regained consciousness herself, Alex didn’t want to burden her with healing dozens of people immediately.

Instead, they used the lesser and greater healing potions bought from the DragonHold Enclave, distributing them according to injury severity.

Unfortunately, not everyone had survived.

Three of the knights who had joined the expedition party did not rouse, no matter how they were shaken.

They had been among the weakest five, and simply couldn’t withstand the horrific forces acting on the shieldless carrier beam before the Light of Providence created the resonance interference front that saved the rest of them.

Even before setting foot fully into the new plane, the expedition party had already suffered losses.

And sadly, their hardships were only beginning.

Suddenly, hooves and heavy footsteps echoed through the forest, rushing toward them from multiple directions.

"Growl~!"

Fen and Senu shot forward instantly—one leaping into the air, the other darting along the ground.

Silver braced to leap as well, but Alex stepped in front of her.

He reached into one of the boxes he had pulled from the Sanctuary space and handed her a small, rune-marked item, giving quick instructions on how to use it.

Silver placed the item in her ears and disappeared into the trees, vanishing like a whisper.

Alex handed matching items to the rest of the expedition team.

It didn’t take long for reports to start coming in.

A sizeable force was heading their way from multiple angles—made up not only of what seemed to be bipedal sapient races native to this world from outside the forest, but also numerous beasts from deeper within the forest.

It was clear that their arrival had drawn attention.

And from the way the forest itself seemed to stir...

There was only one group with the awareness and authority to notice an interplanar intrusion this quickly:

This plane’s pantheon.

**32**