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“There are losses. I’ve been managing this rebellion settlement for several years. The people here trust me very much, and I likewise trust them very much… It can be said that all the preparations I made to resist the Holy Tree Duke relied on this,” Ebony replied, his voice deep and grave.

William said calmly, “That’s not a reason.”

Getting deeper into the sunken cost fallacy would be a stupid move after realizing the deceit.

!!

After hearing William’s answer, Ebony looked past William, his gaze falling on the crowd sparring in the distance, the craftsman making rune tools, and the children playing.

After a moment of silence, he slowly said, “It’s precisely because of this that no matter if what you say is true or false, I can’t afford to say this.”

If these 43 individuals had truly been turned into the undead, there was no turning back. It would mean that things had reached a point of no return.

As a Matriarch listener and a Forest Elf bound by ancient contracts, his duty was clear—he had to ensure these people returned to death.

But if it was all a lie, the Resistance would be torn apart. The accusation of a Forest Elf becoming undead was the ultimate betrayal in their culture.

In other words, no matter what choice he made, he would lose the trust of these people.

“Is that so?”

William nodded and didn’t insist, having already guessed such an answer.

“Then, continue maintaining it according to your wishes. I’m fine with it,” William shrugged and replied.

William had zero faith in the so-called Resistance.

Whether they were living or undead, their combat capabilities were insignificant to him. And there was no way he was handing over Ravenwood to those Forest Elf fundamentalists, just based on his short interaction with Solo.

But if it weren’t for Ebony’s claims of having Judgment equipment, a World Tree that could heal his wounds completely, and most importantly, Frost Lich Nehe’s phylactery, William might have considered reaching out to the Holy Tree Duke with the same last name as him before deciding who to ally with.

To the Forest Elves, Floral, who had abandoned the ancient alliance and sided with the empire, was a traitorous sinner. But to William, someone who prioritized practical benefits and didn’t blindly follow tradition was a better ally—someone he could determine the actual strength and benefits of, not someone who followed the voices of ‘gods’ heard after drinking a hallucinogen.

Strength and benefits were things William could control, but he couldn’t control what the other party would hear in a trance and what they would do afterward.

If the Holy Tree Duke was truly a fence-sitter, as Ebony claimed, and only knew how to cling to the strong, then William had the upper hand in negotiations. After all, no one in Currere was stronger than him and no one could promise more benefits than him.

In the end, it didn’t matter to William if Ebony trusted his judgment.

“Listen up, I’ve got some advice for you,” William interrupted, his gaze locked on the Forest Elf who was preoccupied with his own affairs.

“It’s up to you how you handle these undead, but don’t deceive yourself when making your final decision. You may still have a chance to save some people now, but if you continue to deceive yourself, you won’t be able to save anyone in the end,” William said coolly.

Despite the Forest Elf’s rational explanation for why he wasn’t willing to accept William’s plan to investigate them, William could sense the underlying fear in the other’s refusal.

The Forest Elf feared that all his hard work over the past few years would be for nothing, but more importantly, he feared discovering that he was the cause of the undead outbreak.

To the Forest Elf, becoming neither alive nor dead and spreading the rot of the undead was a fate worse than death. And if William’s words were true, summoning those who should have passed peacefully back to the mortal world as undead would make him the greatest sinner of all.

“I…”

Looking at William’s calm gaze, Ebony could only utter one syllable after a long time.

“I suggest you investigate your clergymen, especially the pseudocide potion they made you. But that’s a matter for another time. First, let’s take care of our previous agreement. Give me the promised remuneration and I’ll help you take the throne,” William said quickly.

Compared to the truth, William was more interested in this matter.

Seeing that William didn’t dwell on this topic, Ebony heaved a sigh of relief and said,

“It’s in the deepest part of the tree hole. It’s protected by three seals. After everyone is here for the meeting, I’ll bring you over to open the seals.”

William frowned and said, “I couldn’t care less about your little game with these undead. I’m only interested in the few things you mentioned.”

William’s finger shot out, pointing at the ominous black pit looming in the distance.

“Is that the tree hole you were talking about?”

Ebony nodded, but before he could utter a word, the man standing next to him vanished.

All that was left was a flickering, electric silhouette.

It was clear that there was no need to discuss where he had gone.

But without my help, you’ll never be able to crack those three seals. Especially the third one.”

Ebony stood frozen, staring at the spot where the man had just been, for what felt like an eternity before finally coming to his senses.

…

“Finally, I can choose to skip these damn boring CGs,” William said as he stood at the bottom of the tree hole, stroking the invisible barrier.

His mind was consumed with thoughts of his former companion’s phylactery, and although he was curious about the Forest Elves who had been ‘rescued’ by Ebony, he was more concerned with finding answers about the phylactery.

After confirming the authenticity of those things, he had time and methods to investigate other matters.

As he arrived in front of the tree hole, a feeling of déjà vu washed over him. This was normal, as in-game, there were about seven to eight underground dungeons around the World Tree. If he was playing the Forest Elf save, there would be three special underground dungeons.

But he couldn’t figure out which dungeon the scene here was more similar to.

Using Morph spells, William tore open a rift on the first level of the three barriers, just large enough for him to pass through.

The Forest Elves’ magical abilities were tragic, and it was clear that the casters were doing their best to make the seal on the cave stronger. But in William’s eyes, this level of barrier was nothing more than plastic wrap.

The second level was a barrier built with Life magic, much stronger than the previous one. However, just like the barrier outside that used Emerald Protection, this strength relied on the immense vitality of the World Tree. William used the same trick and easily cracked it by grafting it onto an external mana source.

But the third barrier stopped William in his tracks.

The third barrier looked like a translucent membrane covered in faint frost. It was the same as the first barrier, but its strength wasn’t much stronger than cling wrap. William couldn’t wait any longer. He used his fingers, injected with immense amounts of mana, to easily tear it apart.

But just as he easily tore open the barrier and was about to step over, the barrier instantly recovered, keeping him out.

It wasn’t repaired or reconstructed.

It was as if someone had taken a video of a mirror shattering and played it in reverse..

William fell silent.

...

In his mind, there was only one spell that could cause such an effect—the peak Frost spell, Inverse Entropy.

In the game, this spell would rewind time within a certain range to the state five seconds prior. Whether it was the state of the body, everyone’s position, or the cooldown of spells, everything would be returned to five seconds ago, without discrimination between friend or foe. However, it should be noted that this spell could only affect the living and could not revive the dead through rewinding.

Since transmigrating, William had discovered that he could control the exact range (not exceeding the maximum casting range) and duration (within five seconds) more precisely.

To William’s knowledge, only one other person in this world had learned Inverse Entropy.

That person, who had obtained the title of Frost Lich because of their attainments in Frost spells.

“Nehe, is that really you?”