Re:The Worst System Leveling Turned Me Into A Zombie

Chapter 44: New Light

I see the world.

The world doesn't see me.

So, this is what power is like.

The stars have granted me their light. It is a hideous nightmare. A perverted mockery of human sight which the System has returned to me in the guise of a reward and pretended to call a fair exchange. I will not pretend that it doesn't hurt.

These eyes...they burn.

My right eye has ignited, it seeks vengeance against the Hunter. The one calling me a rat will pay for his sins. The picture of the Underworld before me shifts, suddenly I am not just seeing what's in front of me, but also what's below me, all at the same time. My eyes have become like split-screen televisions, showing two different viewpoints. Gradually, I realize that I can also feel more than my own body. I can feel the World Tree's iron branches and their implacable strength. They are not meant to move...but I will it. And it is so.

Move!

It stings.

Each second, I hold onto this forbidden power is like dousing my right eye in kerosene. The left one is not without its own pain. It feels like it's frozen in ice, an entirely different kind of burn. However, the World Tree answers my call and its all worth it. I know not what I'm doing, only that my rage could pierce the heavens and it need be satisfied. There's so much anger I'm not even sure all of its mine.

But do I really care?

The Hunter below leaps up the final branch. A gleeful look of satisfaction fills his face as he soars up and contemplates cutting my head off. Then the branch he just used as a springboard whips up and smacks him out of the sky-

*Whump*

"Wha the fu-!"

His flight cut short; he tumbles down with the most shocked expression. Reaching out with inhuman dexterity, he grabs another branch while upside down and tries to swing around the side. However, the World Tree is no longer a safe haven for him.

Wrong move.

I direct every branch I can connect with to contort themselves, swinging down to crush him, or springing out of the way so he can't stop his fall.

"The hell is this!?" He screams as the entire trunk of the colossal tree contorts. A cruel smile twists my face as I watch him flee ever further down. No longer does he have any thoughts of coming after me. He's too busy worrying about his own skin. A little bit more! My right eye contracts, and it's like I can see from the various fruits of the tree. I am one with it, wholly connected to its being. Finally, the Hunter can take no more. He misses a landing, System Assistance is not enough to save him from an attack of this level.

*Crash*

"Arrrrgh!" A thick bough swats him aside and he's sent down below the World Tree's roots into the rushing water below. I should let it go. But drowning is not enough for me! He doesn't deserve an easy death!

I focus all my concentration. Will the tree to move.

Obey me.

However, the roots of Yggdrasil have never moved since the beginning of its existence. They whisper to me to stop, that it is not right. Right now, I'm not the kind of person to listen to such things.

OBEY ME!

I force them to shift. To root through the merry water below and search out the Hunter's body before he goes over the falls. The right side of my vision goes into the roots, I can see a thousand tendrils searching about in the cold water at once. There! Get him! Ignoring all warnings, I direct every part of the World Tree's base to hunt him down. Like the tentacles of some giant kraken, we will hook him and rip him apart! Almost there!