A swarm of black dots emerged from the world tree's body—what seemed to be a whole host of black beetles.

The world tree lived in symbiosis with a large number of bugs and insects, who lived off the tree's sap and the pests that tried to harm it. When the world tree was in trouble, they were its first line of defense.

If the devil trees were like commoners and soldiers, then the black beetles were the imperial guards.

They were present in large numbers and had speed and agility far surpassing the devil trees'. The beetles that emerged from the world tree would be able to devour all the devil trees in the world if they wanted...