Chapter 284: The Under-Roots
The Root Parasite lunged, a blur of chitin and clicking mandibles.
On the surface, in the Zone of Silence, this would have been a desperate struggle against physics. But here, the rules had changed again.
"Strike!" I shouted.
Leon didn’t hesitate. He swung the [Breaker’s Hamr] in a flat, horizontal arc.
BOOM.
The impact was disproportionate. The mont the iron head connected with the insect’s carapace, a shockwave of teal light rippled through the air. The Ancient Mana in the cavern wasn’t just passive; it was reactive. It amplified the kinetic energy of the blow tenfold.
The parasite didn’t just break; it liquefied. The massive insect was blasted sideways, smashing into a wall of glowing roots with a wet crunch that echoed like a thunderclap.
"Whoa..." Leon stumbled back, staring at the hamr. He looked drunk, his eyes wide and pupils dilated. "Did you see that? I barely touched it!"
"Don’t get used to it," I snapped, sheathing my sword. I didn’t relax. I scanned the darkness, waiting for more. When silence returned—save for the low, rhythmic thrumming of the roots—I finally exhaled.
The breath tasted sweet. Cloyingly sweet. Like inhaling pure oxygen mixed with crushed flowers and ozone.
[System Alert: Mana Toxicity rising.]
[Current Saturation: 15%]
"Masks off," I ordered, pulling the scarf from my face. "But control your breathing. In, hold, out. Don’t gulp it down."
"It’s hot," Ren murmured. He was already peeling off his white camouflage sheet. Beneath it, his combat suit was slick with condensation.
He was right. The temperature shift was violent. We had gone from forty degrees below zero to a humid, tropical thirty degrees in the span of a minute. The air was heavy with moisture, creating a haze that diffracted the bioluminescent light into shimring halos.
We stripped off our heavy winter coats, dropping them into a pile on the mossy floor. They were useless weight now.
"Where are we, Michael?" Leon asked, wiping sweat from his forehead. He looked around, his mouth slightly open. "This isn’t... this isn’t a cave."
I looked up.
We were standing inside a biological cathedral.
The "walls" were titans of timber—roots the size of skyscrapers, woven together in a chaotic yet structural lattice. They pulsed with veins of teal light that acted as the nervous system of the World Tree. High above, through the gaps in the weave, I could see pockets of darkness that stretched on for miles.
Ferns the size of trees grew from the moss.Glowing spores drifted through the air like lazy fireflies. It was a subterranean jungle, thriving in the dark, fed by the raw vitality of the earth.
"The Under-Roots," I said, checking my status window. My [Mana Capacity] was no longer grayed out. It was glowing a dangerous, oscillating red. "We are walking through the capillaries of the planet."
"It makes feel..." Leon clenched his fist. Sparks of holy fire danced between his fingers, uncontrolled. "Strong. Too strong. I feel like I could punch through a mountain."
"That’s the intoxication," I warned, stepping closer to him. "Ancient Mana is unrefined. It’s wild. If you try to channel a spell here without focus, you won’t just cast it. You’ll detonate it. Your circuits will fry."
I looked at Ren. The assassin was usually a statue of composure, but even he looked flushed. His movents were twitchy, faster than usual.
"Ren, check your stealth," I said.
Ren nodded and engaged [Shadow Cloak].
Usually, he would vanish into a blur of gray. Here, the shadows seed to greedily swallow him. He didn’t just disappear; the darkness physically coiled around him like a living shroud.
"Effectiveness increased by 200%," Ren’s voice ca from nowhere. "But the drain... it’s negligible. The environnt feeds the skill."
"Good," I said. "But be careful. The environnt feeds everything. Including the enemies."
I turned to the crushed remains of the Root Parasite. It was already decomposing—or rather, being consud. The moss on the floor was moving, tiny tendrils reaching up to break down the biomass, reclaiming it for the Tree.
"We move," I said, pointing deeper into the bioluminescent tunnel. "The tear is in the Heart Chamber. That’s down. Always down."
We began to walk.
The terrain was treacherous. The floor wasn’t stone; it was layers of compacted humus and smaller roots. It was spongy, giving way slightly under our boots.
As we walked, I let my mind drift into the analysis mode.
In the ga, this dungeon was a mid-to-late ga raid called "The Root Labyrinth." It was famous for two things: the endless jumping puzzles and the [Mana Sickness] chanic. Players had to manage a toxicity ter. If it hit 100%, your character exploded into a tree.
Currently, I was at 18%.
"Michael," Leon whispered after ten minutes of silent trekking. "Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"The humming. It changed pitch."
I stopped. I closed my eyes, filtering out the sound of our breathing and the squelch of boots on moss.
Thrum-thrum... Thrum-thrum...
The heartbeat of the tree.
But Leon was right. There was a discordance now. A scratching sound, like dry leaves skittering over pavent, layered underneath the rhythm.
"I hear it," Ren said, appearing out of the shadows. "Movent. All around us."
I opened my eyes and looked at the wall to my right.
A massive root, thick as a barrel, was pulsing. But it wasn’t just the light moving.
The wood itself was shifting. The bark twisted, forming knots that looked disturbingly like closed eyes.
"The dungeon knows we’re here," I said softly. "We aren’t intruders in a building. We’re viruses in a body. And the white blood cells are coming."
"White blood cells?" Leon asked, gripping his hamr.
"taphor," I said. "Keep moving. Don’t touch the walls."
We navigated a narrow pass where two massive roots squeezed together. The gap was barely wide enough for Leon’s shoulders.
As I squeezed through, my hand brushed against the surface of the root.
ZAP.
A shock of pure energy traveled up my arm, rattling my teeth.
Flash.
For a split second, my vision went white. I saw images that weren’t mine. A forest burning. A golden elf weeping. A black rot spreading from the deep earth.
"Michael?"
I stumbled out the other side, gasping.
"I’m fine," I lied, rubbing my numbing hand.
The vision faded, but the feeling remained. The Tree was in pain.
"Look," Ren pointed ahead.
The tunnel opened up into a massive cavern. And there, blocking our path, was a sight that made the earlier parasite look like a gnat.
The floor of the cavern was moving. It was a carpet of chitin and legs. Dozens—no, hundreds—of the Root Parasites were swarming over a massive, decayed section of the root network. They were feeding on the rot, but they stopped the mont we entered.
Hundreds of multifaceted eyes turned toward us. The teal light reflected in them, creating a sea of starry hunger.
"That’s a lot of bugs," Leon said, his voice surprisingly steady. The intoxication was doing its job; he wasn’t afraid. He was excited.
"Don’t get happy," I warned, drawing my sword. "Rember what I said. Don’t use fire."
"Why not?" Leon asked, the holy fla already licking at his fingers. "One [Purifying Wave] could clear the whole room."
"Because," I said, looking at the glowing, volatile sap dripping from the ceiling. "We are inside a giant wooden structure filled with compressed oxygen and flammable mana."
I looked him in the eye.
"You cast a fireball in here, Leon, and you won’t just kill the bugs. You’ll turn this entire root system into the world’s largest pipe bomb."
The swarm shrieked. A sound like a thousand violins snapping at once.
They charged.
"Hamr only!" I roared. "Ren, keep them off the tank! Let’s grind!"
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