Ch-339. **Looks Like I Hit the Jackpot.**
—
This World Tree Dungeon represents things that have been forgotten—
and things that no longer exist.
The same goes for **Monster Souls**.
By repeatedly growing and evolving them, this contest is fundamentally about calling back the *old things* that are now gone.
A battle that branches Monster Souls into legacies, myths, legends—
or into *something else entirely*.
*The Forgotten God fits that purpose perfectly.*
And true to that intent, the Forgotten God evolved Monster Souls accordingly.
They were beings I had never seen before, yet their forms felt strangely familiar—
as if I were gazing upon primordial monsters from a distant past.
But what about the **Golden Scale Druid**?
“Extremely rare, perhaps—but nothing special.”
Grizzly muttered as he looked at the Golden Scale Druid.
A gigantic bear with red fur.
Those listening couldn’t help but agree inwardly.
They had expected something truly different from the god of druids, the one who had opened the World Tree Dungeon—
yet the state of the Monster Soul he had evolved fell short of expectations.
“Dianax, huh…”
“A mining centipede?”
“Well, it is rare, but… hm.”
“Heh. Guess he doesn’t have talent in this area.”
They shook their heads in disbelief, openly mocking him.
That was also why the White King had been momentarily flustered.
*Just Dianax?*
Though believed to be extinct, that was only because humans had hunted them indiscriminately to obtain super-metals.
Weapons or armor made from the **orichalcum** that formed Dianax’s body boasted tremendous utility.
But while durable, it wasn’t strong.
In other words, it wasn’t suitable as a contender for a battle like this.
It wouldn’t be able to defeat *anyone* from the White King’s knight order.
*How disappointing.*
The White King clicked his tongue.
It seemed there was no opponent worthy of showcasing the power of **Mork the Extinction King**.
And though not quite on his level, most of his subordinates had achieved excellent results as well.
After all, they themselves were types who had accumulated rank and strengthened their egos through evolution—
evolving Monster Souls would have been trivial for them.
*If anyone, maybe Albino.*
Among the Golden Scale Knight Order, Albino stood out the most.
His Monster Soul, befitting the title of *Legendary Druid*, was at least passable.
*A white helmet beetle… interesting.*
A grotesquely massive white helmet beetle.
It seemed to be an ancient species as well.
Though, in the end, it was still just an insect.
—
—
《The match format is a TOURNAMENT.》
《Only one knight order that reaches the final and wins will take everything.》
《The champion may obtain the ‘Symbol of the Forgotten God.’》
《If the Forgotten God wins the final, the other two knight orders will lose half of their ‘Forgotten Knight Souls.’》
《If the summoner intervenes directly, it will result in disqualification.》
《However, summoners may grant buff-type blessings to their own Monster Souls.》
《Falling out of bounds or having a Monster Soul’s HP reduced to 0, causing reverse summoning, results in defeat.》
Rules flashed before my eyes.
A tournament.
A structure where contestants face random opponents, and only the victors advance.
*I’d rather fight a strong one from the start.*
In matches like this, seizing the initiative was crucial.
Overwhelming the opponent outright—
and making the next opponent tense and wary.
With that in mind, the White King looked toward the Forgotten God.
Though it was called the Forgotten God’s knight order, what appeared were merely thirteen monsters and the Forgotten God himself.
*A strange one.*
A translucent, spiritual form.
Feet floating slightly off the ground—a half-human, half-beast woman.
A Forgotten God with rabbit ears.
She stroked the thirteen monsters she had brought one by one, paying no attention at all to the other knight orders.
—
《The bracket has been finalized.》
《The tournament begins.》
《Out of 39 challengers, one will be randomly selected to fight the Tournament Guardian ‘Under Knight (Grade 80, HP 3,000,000).’》
《Round of 40: White King (Mork the Extinction King) VS Serengeti (Ancient Bear Doll)》
Serengeti.
A human woman the Golden Scale Druid had accepted as a knight.
Serengeti herself was quite strong—but her Soul was merely an ancient bear doll.
“……”
The White King gazed at the bracket again with regret.
Against something like a bear doll, Mork wouldn’t even be able to display a tenth of his power.
“Kuhahaha! Looks like I hit the jackpot. Excellent—simply excellent!”
Grizzly burst into loud laughter beside him.
His eyes gleamed wildly, as if delighted beyond measure.
Usually, he pretended to be calm and refined—
but in truth, he was the lord of a great mountain, known as **Grizzly the Mad**.
That mad laughter was the sound he made when he found delicious prey—
or something fun to toy with.
More than anything, he was a monster who had reigned as an absolute ruler in his own territory for decades.
His strength needed no explanation.
As if to prove it, Grizzly’s Monster Soul closely resembled himself.
Still… *hit the jackpot*?
Did that mean he’d been selected to fight the Under Knight?
Or—
*…I see.*
Before long, the White King understood.
And he watched closely.
It was a rather interesting matchup.
—
As I looked over the rules and bracket, I nodded slightly.
《Round of 40: Golden Scale Druid (Dianax) VS Tyrant Grizzly (Mad Salamander)》
……
The organizers clearly couldn’t recognize the form that the **Nameless Eagle** had transformed into.
The Nameless Eagle stores its evolved forms and can transform into them.
Among them, I chose Dianax—
because there was no need to show everything from the start.
*Revealing your full hand from the beginning is never a good move.*
If transformation is possible, then one should naturally capitalize on its advantages.
Those advantages could be the opponent’s carelessness—
or an attack from a completely unexpected direction.
With so many benefits to gain, fighting in the Nameless Eagle’s true form from the outset wasn’t wise when the opponent was unknown.
*Even if it’s called transformation, I’m really just borrowing a form.*
I looked at Dianax.
If farming were possible while transformed, it would have been perfect—
but unfortunately, it wasn’t.
Unlike when Dianax had truly evolved, this was closer to borrowing shape and traits.
Once I transformed again, the form would disappear permanently.
“Golden Scale Druid! To meet you again like this!”
Up on the arena—
before me stood a red bear and a lizard spewing flames from its entire body.
**Grizzly**, and the **Mad Salamander**.
Both looked extremely excited, their eyes gleaming wildly.
“The master of **Mount Yanti**, I presume.”
Grizzly blinked.
“…You know me?”
“How could I not know the master of that beautiful Mount Yanti at the western edge of the continent?”
“……!”
The crazed glint in his eyes immediately settled.
Grizzly the Tyrant of Mount Yanti was fairly well-known among players—
entirely because of his habit of *ripping everything apart*.
He tore apart anything within reach, earning him the nickname *the Ripping Bear*.
In fact, over a hundred gamers had been torn to pieces by Tyrant Grizzly.
*He’s tied to one of the Seven Hidden Quests.*
No need to antagonize him unnecessarily.
We might meet again someday.
“…I never thought the god of druids would know of a mountain at the far western edge.”
Tyrant Grizzly lightly clasped his hands.
“Come visit sometime. I’ll give you a grand welcome.”
*By ripping me apart?*
I forcibly swallowed the words rising to my throat.
“Sure.”
“It’s an honor to face you.”
“The honor is mine—to face the master of Mount Yanti. Let’s have an honorable match.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t go easy on you.”
I chuckled softly.
The aggressive nature of the *Ripping Bear* was unchanged.
*Interesting.*
He was an interesting one.
Of course, that didn’t mean I planned to go easy either.
When it came to aggression, I was no less fierce.
—
—
Tyrant Grizzly was confident of victory.
At best, his opponent was a mineral centipede.
Even the elemental matchup favored him heavily.
Losing would be absurd.
“……”
But once the fight began, Tyrant Grizzly could only clamp his mouth shut.
The flames spewed by the Mad Salamander were powerful enough to melt anything—
yet Dianax didn’t budge an inch.
*Minerals and fire should be compatible… shouldn’t they?*
The elemental matchup favored the Salamander.
And yet, its flames were useless.
It made no sense.
Even if Dianax’s body was composed of super-metal orichalcum, that was merely a shell.
It only covered parts of the body, not the whole.
There were plenty of gaps leading to Dianax’s core—
normally, flames should have burned straight through.
And yet—
*This isn’t an ordinary Dianax…!*
Only when Dianax wrapped itself around the Salamander did Tyrant Grizzly finally realize it.
It merely *looked* like Dianax.
It wasn’t Dianax at all.
—
《Due to the Primordial Attribute, damage from the Salamander’s flames is reduced by 50%.》
《Due to Dianax’s form transformation, HP is fixed at 150.》
《Defense greatly increases.》
《Through the effect of Divine Possession, all attacks by Dianax are judged as ‘Divine.’》
By the time he realized—
it was already too late.
KIIIEEEEK!
The Salamander screamed as its body was completely constricted.
《Dianax has won!》
“What kind of nonsense is this—?!”
《Tyrant Grizzly has been defeated.》
He had been certain of victory—
yet in an instant, he tasted defeat.
—
When the round of 40 ended, twenty contestants were eliminated.
The Golden Scale Knight Order accounted for a significant portion of them.
“…I’m sorry.”
Serengeti bowed deeply.
She had been utterly overwhelmed.
*Crushed* would be the accurate term.
The match against Mork the Extinction King had ended the moment it began.
She lowered her head, ashamed.
But Serengeti wasn’t the only one who lost.
“Only five left…”
“…They’re stronger than expected.”
Out of thirteen, only five remained.
More than half had been eliminated.
Advancing to the round of 20 were only myself, Hudson, Albino, Balte, and Priest Andrew.
“It’s fine. In the end, only the last one standing matters. Trust me, Golden Scale Druid.”
Albino said.
But it wasn’t much comfort.
The power gap was simply too obvious.
*This will be bad in a long fight.*
There would be no more chances to conserve strength by facing allies.
Still, as Albino said, the remaining numbers didn’t matter.
As long as we lasted to the very end—and won.
The problem was—
—
《Round of 20 begins.》
《Golden Ratio Druid (Dianax) VS Forgotten God (Primordial Dragon)》
The real problem was the **Forgotten God**.
The Primordial Dragon hadn’t originally looked like that.
But upon encountering an ally in the bracket, the two suddenly merged.
*When allies meet, they fuse. When they face another knight order and lose, their Soul flows into the victor and evolves.*
Even defeat worked the same way.
The Forgotten God’s defeated Monster Soul flowed into the victorious one, causing evolution.
Which meant—
*At the end, all thirteen could merge into one.*
…Not against the rules, but no matter how you looked at it, it was basically a cheat.
The Forgotten God was clearly exceeding my expectations.
*This will be a battle of who has more cards in hand.*
But the same applied both ways.
Just as I didn’t know all of the Forgotten God’s cards—
the Forgotten God didn’t know mine either.
Especially not the Nameless Eagle’s form transformations.
That Dianax was only the beginning.
A battle where both sides reveal cards one by one, adapting and countering.
Naturally, the one with more cards—
the one who reveals them later—
holds the advantage.
*I hit the jackpot.*
In that sense, this matchup was perfect.
A golden opportunity to see just how strong the Forgotten God’s hand really was.
As the bracket was finalized—
and I stepped into the match—
I looked straight at the Forgotten God.
At that moment—
—You can never defeat me, child beloved by those loathsome two goddesses.
……The **Forgotten God** spoke directly to me.
