Third Outer World Story Series: Pumpkin Sorcerer - Chapter 122

Translator: MadHatter Editor: MadHatter

“I see… This is indeed rather huge…”

Without deviating from the path, being attacked by magical beasts that prowled the forest, or having to make a detour due to the terrain, Pumpkin flew over the trees, a journey that would normally have taken a week, and after almost a full day of flying, he succeeded in reaching the enormous tree that Gorky had reported.

Although he was positioned at a distance away from the tree, he could see it was large—or more accurately, abnormally massive Gorky had noted.

The adjacent trees were 20 to 30 meters high… but the tree in issue was at least several hundred meters taller than those around.

To put it bluntly, it was too gigantic.

“So, the magic power and structure are exactly as reported.”

Even while the tree’s sheer size was nearly overwhelming, as Gorky pointed out, its summit carried a tremendous amount of magic power, and in Pumpkin’s eyes, it appeared as though it was veiled in mist or another form.

The tree was growing in such a way that it was entwined with the building, which was the result of the structure of the tree, which had some sort of building at its core.

When examined more closely, it became clear that the structure’s core was made up of many steel frames, which were presumably given a magical boost in terms of strength and resilience to the environment. It can be determined that it was a tower with some kind of use for which it was constructed by combining such steel frames.

The fundamental coloration was red and white, based on the portion that was visible between the trunk and branches.

Yeah. It’s an enormously tall tower in red and white… There’s something about it that keeps nagging at the back of my memory but it’s not surfacing to my recollection…

Well, perhaps something in my previous life has stuck with me since I don’t have any memory of being stuck in this life, but it’s been awhile since I reincarnated in this world… It’s inevitable that there are things about my former life that I have forgotten.

“For now, it would be best… not to fly too close to it.”

With his magic vision level lowered, Pumpkin observed the top of the tree.

Around the peak of the tree, large-scale turbulence has been generated, which may be due to the influence of the magic power emitted from the tree, and whoever attempted to approach the tree would be tenaciously driven away and knocked to the ground, throwing them off balance.

It may be possible to obstruct the wind by forcibly halting the movement of the air, like the soundproofing magic he once employed with his magic power but… the other party was likewise generating wind with magic power… When considering the likelihood of a catastrophe as a result of the strange interference of mutual magic power, it would be perilous to rush head-on into a confrontation.

“Hmm?”

This was when the sensation of a gaze was felt on Pumpkin’s back that prompted him to turn his head.

The presence of the other person, though, was not to be found even as he looked back.

In light of the possibility that the other party was performing some kind of magic to conceal their presence, Pumpkin gradually raised his magic vision ability, but no particular magic power was in sight.

The only explanations he can come up with are that it was all in his head or that the other side’s superior ability to manipulate magic power was fooling his sight.

“Or, rather, I’ve now noticed that the magic power in this area appears to have undergone a number of modifications.”

As a result of his enhanced magic vision ability, the magic power contained in the ground in this area was apparently altered by someone who erected this tower, leading to the existence of several strangely linear streams of magic power within the ground.

And the magic power flow ended up at…

“And the magic power amassed in this way is being concentrated in that tree.”

It was, not surprisingly, directed to that huge tree.

That tree has apparently grown to that size by consolidating all the magic power in the area.

It was not confirmed whether it was to adjust the flow of magic power or simply to utilize the underground space, yet it seemed that there were various materials buried in the ground in this area and that strangely small and neat spaces were created.

In terms of the concentration of magic power, it gave off such an impression.

“Now, what should I do…”

So, after reviewing that much, Pumpkin returned his magic vision ability to its normal level.

At this point, there were two actions he should take.

First, it was an immediate investigation of the tree. The other step would be to search for the person who was staring at him.

While a chance of it being purely in his head existed, in all honesty, he thought the odds of that being the case were slim. Nevertheless, as a sorcerer, he took pride in his first-rate skills.

And as there were various kinds of magic that can be cast on an object through the gaze, such as the magic eye, it was easy to incorporate magic power in the gaze, and amateurs would inevitably contain a trace of magic power in their gaze.

Therefore, as a sorcerer with a high ability to detect magic power, the sensation of being watched by someone was not something that can be underestimated.

Pumpkin was unable to determine their present location, though, so he was compelled to conclude that the other party possessed a considerable amount of capacity as well.

“Well, I don’t see any signs of them trying to pull anything on me. I guess I will move on according to my initial plan.”

While he would have liked to have dismissed any lingering fears, it would be too inefficient to wait for the other party to make some sort of move or for him to try to seek them out.

As such, Pumpkin began to move toward the base of the tree while heightening his level of alertness to his surroundings.