As Lime burrowed through the tree, heading downward.
Outside the tree, a massive doll was swinging its arms about wildly.
Unsurprisingly, it was none other than Daesik, piloting the supersized Alice.
If there had been another doll, that itself would have been strange enough.
When Daesik gently swung the doll’s soft hand, an bizarre creature—neither bird nor bat—rushed in foolishly and with a dull thud, was transformed into strawberry jam.
The creature, now reduced to jam, returned to the tree, streaming down it in a state of emotional bliss, shedding tears of gratitude.
It looked unbearably sorrowful, but probably unconscious, leaving no time for sorrow.
Having become a master jam craftsman, Daesik detached his hand indifferently and looked around.
Just moments before, the monsters had been charging at him recklessly, but now they fluttered their wings hesitantly.
Even though the supersized Alice was gigantic, she couldn’t fly, making the flying creatures unreachable.
With no immediate danger of more creatures attacking him, Daesik began to scratch the tree vigorously as he pondered. The tree bark that had been torn by his hand had already been devoured by some nearby Jellies who found it scrumptious.
Daesik, deep in thought, realized something upon watching the Jellies enjoy the bark.
Ah, scraping the bark will work!
Even Daesik realized that felling the tree by himself would be hard. No matter his size, trees many times larger would be tough to take down.
Perhaps if he had a sharper body, he could’ve chopped it like an axe—but that seemed unwise.
Why not?
For some reason, Daesik felt an intuition that felling the tree wouldn’t be good. Though after some thought, he couldn’t figure out why.
He decided to just scrape the bark, then.
Daesik thought that walking through the village like this might feel like stepping on LEGO bricks, thus it seemed difficult, leaving him little choice.
Besides,
scraping the bark turned out to be surprisingly fun.
Each time the doll’s hand scraped the surface of the tree, a satisfying sound of peeling bark echoed, providing almost a pleasurable sensation.
It was a primal pleasure Daesik had never felt while sitting on the couch watching TV.
Moreover, it was endearing to watch the small Jelly-like creatures joyfully gather the falling bark.
Each time a piece of bark fell, the Jellies would gleefully rush over, making Daesik feel content.
Their tiny movements as they scavenged the bark made Daesik chuckle.
This reminded Daesik naturally of Lime.
—Huh?
Why can I only recall the times Lime stole my remote and teased me?
Without realizing it, Daesik began to scratch the tree even harder, reminiscing about his interactions with Lime.
Only after much deliberation did memories surface of Lime sharing food and sleeping together resurface.
Phew, lucky. But what exactly am I lucky about?
Daesik couldn’t understand why he had felt this odd restlessness while reflecting upon the memories but did feel comfort.
Lime was an entity that, despite being considerably smaller by his current standards, always seemed immense. Though Lime played pranks on him, Daesik couldn’t help but feel fond.
Though Daesik couldn’t articulate it, just being with Lime made him feel warm and at ease, as it did the Jellies.
The good memories of Lime brought a smile to Daesik’s face.
Thus, with the intention of making his “little siblings” happy, Daesik worked more enthusiastically at scraping the tree.
Whenever the sweet bark, which smelled of cinnamon, fell, nearby Jellies would gather like pigeons to their feed.
One would wonder who would protect the humans, but the monsters hunting them now found themselves hunted instead, and they retreated into the air, out of the reach of Daesik’s giant doll.
The monsters had managed to hold their own against the Jellies, but since Daesik’s appearance, the situation had turned completely against them.
Every time the giant doll swung its hand, the monsters were crushed like flies. Yet signals for help kept coming from the main body, forcing the creatures to keep trying.
Of course, these signals were because of Lime gnawing inside. But as long as Daesik stayed in the way, it didn’t matter.
The tree bark was being scraped continuously.
The Jellies celebrated this bounty.
Even the humans, hidden inside the buildings, came out to curiously witness the scene, unknowingly drawn closer.
The monsters, powerless to intervene and unable to reach the festivities, hovered anxiously in the air, out of Daesik’s reach.
“What are they eating?”
“Tree bark…?”
“It smells like cinnamon….”
“No, that’s not cinnamon, it’s cinnamon.”
“They’re the same!”
“They’re not!”
“They are!”
Despite the giant doll’s presence offering the safest spot, humans joined the party along with the Jellies.
Perhaps their bodies were drawn by the worry that if the Jellies left, monsters might return.
After all, the Jellies and Daesik were technically protecting them even if they were in the same anomaly.
This left the monsters in an absurd position.
Their prey was gathered, mocking the tree, eating its bark.
It was like teasing them with the smell of food.
One monster that landed later to claim its portion ended up as jam beneath Daesik’s doll hand, dripping back down the tree.
“Yikes! What is that!?”
“Jam? It smells really sweet….”
“Wait, those were the creatures above weren’t they? Oops.”
Regardless of the humans’ reactions, the Jellies happily smeared the jam and ate the bark.
Watching them enjoy it so much made even the humans unconsciously salivate.
From within the oversized Alice, Daesik felt the urge to join, but with the flying creatures buzzing above and the Jellies below, protecting the humans and Jellies was his priority.
Recalling Lime’s past bravery—well, somehow—it fueled Daesik to swing the doll’s fists at the monsters.
A clear warning: approach, and be turned into jam.
Indeed, the creatures—whether insects or birds—dared not come closer.
In the midst of this one-sided standoff,
the tree, now stripped bare, began to tremble.
As if suffering the cold without its bark.
The humans gathered around could sense its uneasiness.
A horde of crimson creatures then swarmed the branches, biting into themselves as they clung to each other.
It was unclear from the ground, but Han could certainly see that the crimson creatures had merged into one massive form.
Creak. Crack.
An unsettling sound filled the air.
—
—
—
—
—*
It’s deeper than I thought.
Just how deep are the roots of this wretched tree? It seems there’s no end.
Truthfully, I’d prefer to just swoosh down quickly, but the dense, vein-like structures keep impeding my progress.
It might just be that I’m small, making it feel deeper.
Still, the tree must have deep roots and a strong core to support such a massive body.
If what’s visible above is just the tip of the iceberg, this ordeal might not end anytime soon.
At least it isn’t boring.
The tree is incredibly delicious, offering generously.
The deeper I go, the sweeter it gets. It’s clear even to me, as a Jelly, that this tree is absorbing nutrients from the ground.
I wonder if the plant-grower in the village hasn’t dried up. Either way, it’s best to handle this quickly.
The intricate structure of the tree makes swift movement impossible.
It’s not because I’m enjoying eating the tree.
It’s the helmet on my head that’s the problem!
The veins that pulse like arteries keep catching on my helmet.
Every hop gets snagged, like someone pulling my hair.
It’s so unpleasant I want to rip the helmet off, but with all the people above, I hesitate.
Still, it seems I’m almost there.
Because the tree is now convulsing as if in its final throes, squeezing me tightly.
Like pressing juice from a sugar cane, it squeezes hard, but it’s futile.
The helmet merely dents a little with no chance of squashing me into a pancake.
If it can’t crush a helmet, how could it crush me?
Instead, the path has become narrower, making it harder to descend.
Yet this final resistance confirms I’m almost there, and that I’ve taken the right path.
Had I chosen to go up, I’d likely have suffered for nothing.
I am clever, indeed.
What about the others up there?
It’s worrying.
How long I’ve been descending this cramped space is unclear, but—
Ka-thump! Ka-thump! Ka-thump!
A loud, pulsating sound began to ring out clearly.
