The message was pretty ominous. In particular, losing 1 health per second plus a decrease in combat power just because I was not in the land overflowing with the energy of death was really fatal because it meant that no matter how small this decrease was, I had to keep managing my health not only in battle but also during rest times.

Moreover, the real problem was that the statue was constantly emitting the energy of death.

According to the message, it was possible that not only New York, but the entire American continent, including the United States, Canada, Mexico as well as South America, would turn into a land of death. And at that point, it would be impossible to destroy the statue.

"By the way, if the continent here refers to the whole continent of earth, it's going to affect other continents beyond the American continent…'

I had no choice but to murmur at the stark reality.

At that moment, I heard cries of pain around me.

"Khuuuuuuuuk!"

"Kheeeeeeeeek!"

Flop! Flop!

Since I was in reality, there were lots of ordinary people around.

As soon as they were exposed to the red energy, they began to collapse, their hands grasping at their chests. Of course, there were still some people who seemed fine for the moment. Like me, they seemed to be Revival Legend players.

In other words, they had enough health to endure for now.

"Damn it! I'm finished..", one person cursed.

Even I felt the same thing, staring at the statue whose eyes were now wider than before.

Inside the huge building where the statue was located.

"…"

If the statue's eyes were as big as the frog's eyes, I might have thought a little differently. However, the statue's eyes were extremely normal in size. So, even though the statue's eyes were not even half-open at this stage, I did not dare to immediately prod at the Holdridge Group to collect more exchanged coins, or trade tens or hundreds of billions of golden rings for coins.

Of course, I didn't think I screwed up completely because I still had other options to break through this bottleneck where all my ice-type attacks had been blocked. I still had Blink with zero cooldown and the Roots.

But Blink with zero cooldown would not be very effective here.

So I desperately searched for the Roots.

However, the Roots that I desperately searched for the moment Ice Wave didn't work didn't appear even when the eyes of the statue were almost 80% open.

So, I had no choice but to think of giving up.

At that moment, however, I heard a very strange sound.

Kuuuuuuuduk-

Of course, it wasn't difficult for me to find the source of that strange sound, for it was right below my feet.

And finally, the Roots appeared from below my feet and began to coil around the statue like a whip.

Just like an anaconda suffocating a huge crocodile, the Roots began to choke the statue tightly.

[...]

Of course, I expected to hear the harsh screeching sound of the statue straining under pressure when the Root's coiled, which were thick and loose and first, tightened with immense strength in no time.

However, the Roots did not cause any significant damage to the statue.

Meanwhile, the eyelids of the statue, which seemed like the heaviest thing in the world at this moment, continued to open without stopping.

So, I thought this was the end of the world when I noticed something appearing between the Roots.

At that moment, there was an emergency situation unfolding at the top floor of the Holdridge headquarters.

"Damn it! Carry out Plan B immediately!"

"Yes, sir!!"

"Understood!"

When the statue originally emitting a red haze began to emit red energy beams instead, the top executives of Holdridge immediately gave the order to carry out Plan B.

Then they opened their mouths, looking at each other.

"If that statue demonstrates even 10% of the power the message indicated, we will face tremendous criticism."

"Of course, we have to keep it secret."

"Absolutely!"

"Good. Let's assume we succeed in keeping it to ourselves. But can we stop Asirante from revealing it?"

"We have to stop him by all means."

"…"

"…"

"…"

There was a momentary silence among them. But the silence didn't last long.

"Let's evacuate first. We can solve this matter later."

"Sure."

After they finished the meeting, the top five executives of Holdridge got up from their seats.

Holdridge had not suffered any noticeable damage yet, so there were only a couple of things that they had to do in order to move the entire properties of Holdridge to somewhere else.

Inside the huge building where the statue was located.

The so-called Roots.

When I first acquired them, they were general grade, the lowest among all grades, with the simple message that if I ate them, I could obtain roots. So I forgot them completely for a long time. The Roots didn't show up even after I actually ate them.

Then, the first time I confirmed their existence with my own eyes was when I was forcibly exiled to Region 0 by a guy named Pablo.

Obviously, thanks to the Roots, I could advance to a higher round than I expected.

This didn't mean that the Roots played any big role in killing the countless monsters that appeared. All it did was detect traps and scout dangers that appeared in front of me. It had only one strand, and it was thin and short, so I did not really expect much else from it at that time.

What's more, they didn't show up even if I wanted them to.

However, the Roots, which I had forgotten for some time, disappeared after helping me clear the last limited quest of level 900 completely. I was dumbfounded at that time.

After that, I briefly felt really sorry and even guilty for letting the Roots disappear like that.

Then, when I was still feeling sorry and guilty about its disappearance, I obtained the Roots again from the treasure box that I received as a reward for the quest from the Root's sacrifice.

Of course, there were other messages when I obtained the Roots again.

The message said that extreme pain and stress were often a springboard for new growth.

At the end of that message, there was a line that the Roots would be upgraded later.

But I did not notice the change of the Roots right away. I only noticed it much later when I was fighting with Smith's party. Back then, the Roots literally showed a tremendous change. It wasn't just a simple big change. The Roots turned into a completely new creature.

And not long ago, I received another message about the Roots.

[Currently, you hold the Roots.

-The Roots become even stronger by absorbing the remnants of the parasite.]

When I was just over level 1100, devouring the parasite instantly gave me 60 levels and over 3000 remaining stat points. I didn't know it at the time, but later I found out that the parasite was like a huge gift, and it was like a tree that kept giving. Of course, there was nothing like an upgrade that would make the Roots stronger just like when I obtained the Roots again from the treasure box. But there was clearly a message that the Roots would become stronger.

Somehow, it seemed that the Roots before my eyes were the same one that I had seen previously. In other words, the Roots right now were all dark brown.

The Roots that appeared when I fought Smith's party or when I attended my brother's wedding ceremony were all dark brown. But one strand of the Roots that appeared before my eyes was not dark brown, but perfectly white. Since it was so different from other roots, I could not help but notice it.

At that moment, the white root charged at the statue suddenly.